Campus Units
Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Institute for Transportation
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
2020
Journal or Book Title
The Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering
Volume
15
Issue
1
First Page
211
Last Page
231
DOI
10.7250/bjrbe.2020-15.468
Abstract
Widened slabs, widely employed in many US states in concrete pavements, have suffered from unexpected longitudinal cracks. These cracks suddenly appeared within 0.60 m to 1.20 m from widened slab edges and could be detrimental to the long-term pavement performance. The primary objective of this study was to identify possible causes for such longitudinal cracking observed on widened concrete pavements. Both field investigation and Finite Element Analysis were performed. Degrees of curling and warping were measured using a Terrestrial Laser Scanner. Concrete cores were also extracted to achieve a better understanding of how the cracking had developed. Field survey and numerical simulation results indicate that such longitudinal cracks could be primarily caused by a combination of excessive traffic loads, a high degree of curling and warping, inadequate support from underlying layers, pavement ageing, and skewed joints. It was also found that 4.30 m widened slabs coupled with tied Portland Cement Concrete shoulders outperformed others in terms of producing less cracking, even when they had experienced higher levels of truck traffic. The sites constructed in late afternoons also showed significantly less longitudinal cracks.
Research Focus Area
Transportation Engineering
Copyright Owner
The Author(s)
Copyright Date
2020
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Yang, Shuo; Zhang, Yang; Kaya, Orhan; Ceylan, Halil; and Kim, Sunghwan, "Investigation of Longitudinal Cracking in Widened Concrete Pavements" (2020). Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Publications. 269.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ccee_pubs/269
Included in
Civil Engineering Commons, Mechanics of Materials Commons, Transportation Engineering Commons
Comments
This article is published as Yang, Shuo, Yang Zhang, Orhan Kaya, Halil Ceylan, and Sunghwan Kim. "Investigation of Longitudinal Cracking in Widened Concrete Pavements." The Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering 15, no. 1 (2020): 211-231. DOI: 10.7250/bjrbe.2020-15.468. Posted with permission.