Performance of Concrete Pavements with Optimized Slab Geometry

Abstract

15. Supplementary Notes The typical slab dimensions for a concrete pavement are 12 ft wide by 15ft long with slab thicknesses ranging from 6 to 14 inches depending on the level of traffic. The required thickness is primarily dependent on the axle weight and number of load repetitions, concrete strength, slab length, and curling stresses. A new methodology for designing concrete pavements has recently been proposed to optimize the slab dimensions, e.g., 6 ft by 6 ft panel sizes, which concurrently decreases the load and curling induced tensile stresses in the slab. This concomitant reduction in stresses enables a thinner concrete slab and subsequently the economical viability of concrete pavements is improved. It has also been proposed that these pavement systems don’t need any man-made load transfer devices across the transverse contraction joints. This new way of designing concrete pavements has been referred to as “Thin Concrete Pavements (TCP) ” or concrete slabs with optimized geometry. Full-scale test sections of this new concrete pavement system have been constructed and tested under accelerated pavement loading conditions. The design and concrete material factors that have been subjected to repeated loading in this research are the following: concrete thickness of 4, 6, and 8 inches; aggregate base or asphalt concrete base;