Abstract
With the advancement in pavement design and performance analysis procedures, the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of concrete has emerged as a significant design input with a direct impact on concrete pavement performance parameters including transverse cracking, joint faulting, and pavement roughness. CTE is the measure of change in concrete volume with temperature change and the resulting curling of concrete pavement slab is directly proportional to CTE. Un-Bonded Concrete Overlay (UBCO) is a cost-effective and sustainable rehabilitation technique on Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCP) to improve the performance of deteriorated concrete pavements. This study examines the effects of variability of CTE on the performance of unbonded JPCP overlays for two different climatic regions. Simulations were conducted using AASHTO pavement ME design software with varying CTE values in the range of 6.8–10.8 micro-strain/°C and keeping all other design variables as constant. The performance predictions were evaluated for different values of CTE and the results indicated that with an increase in CTE value, the performance of UBCO is adversely affected by the increase in pavement distresses. Amongst all the performance parameters, transverse cracking is the most significantly affected parameter with the change in CTE. The impact of geometric properties of overlay pavement including transverse joint spacing and slab thickness on the pavement performance was also analyzed which indicated that these have a direct impact on the performance parameters. The overlay performance can be improved by increased overlay slab thickness or reduced joint spacing and with these modifications, the adverse effects of higher CTE can be compensated. Field performance data of UBCO extracted from the LTPP database showed that the pavement ME design software can accurately predict the performance of UBCO pavement systems.
Highlights
The massive increase in highway traffic volume across the globe has led to the early deterioration of highway pavements and a greater reliance on the rehabilitation techniques of existing distressed/damaged pavements
This shows a significant increase in cracking distress with an increase in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of overlay concrete with all other design variables being constant
The analysis shows that transverse cracking increases as the CTE of overlay concrete increases and the effect is more pronounced in the cold climate
Summary
The massive increase in highway traffic volume across the globe has led to the early deterioration of highway pavements and a greater reliance on the rehabilitation techniques of existing distressed/damaged pavements. UBCO involves placement of an inter-layer of hot mix asphalt (HMA), which acts as a separation layer between the existing concrete pavement and the unbonded overlay. Factors that affect the performance of UBCO include traffic volume, climate, concrete material properties, existing pavement condition, and design life. The calculated damage of the pavement is empirically related to pavement distresses based on the field data of the performance of in-service pavements. It helps simplify the pavement design process and results in improved rigid pavement design [11]
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