Evaluating the Effect of Concrete Slab Curling on Joint Load Transfer Responses
Abstract
Past and current rigid pavement thickness design procedures used by the FAA use single-slab free-edge loading stress analysis as the basis of design. The FAA's rigid pavement design methods have assumed a 25% reduction in free-edge bending stress to account for the ability of properly designed joints to transfer load from slab to slab and reduce bending stress from heavy wheel loads. This percentage of reduction is actually changing continuously as a function of slab temperature, joint type, pavement age, and traffic. A systematic procedure is used to evaluate the joint load transfer percentage of stress reduction factor in greater detail with falling weight deflectometer (FWD) measurements, slab curvature measurements, and finite element method (FEM) structural analysis. Field measurements of joint stiffness and slab curling are presented and compared with FEM simulations calibrated to reproduce field measurements. With the use of calibrated FEM models, the full range of expected load transfer percentages is demonstrated for single-wheel loads, two-wheel gears, and four-wheel gears for a wide range of possible joint stiffness values. Top-down and bottom-up slab cracking stresses are compared. Slab curling measured from test sites is compared with slab curling calculated from FEM models. The calibration of an FEM model to reproduce detailed site measurements of joint stiffness, load transfer efficiency, and slab curvature combined is demonstrated.
Get full access to this article
View all access and purchase options for this article.
References
1. Byrum C.R., Gemayel C. A., Tayabji S., Kohn S. D., Barton P.J., Ye D., Rollings R., and Ioannides I.A. Joint Load Transfer in Concrete Airfield Pavements. Report IPRF-01-G-002-05-2. Innovative Pavement Research Foundation, Rosemont, Ill., August 2011.
2. Brill D. R. Development of Advanced Computational Models for Airport Pavement Design. DOT/FAA/AR–97/47. Office of Aviation Research, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1998.
3. Brill D. R. Calibration of FAARFIELD Rigid Pavement Design Procedure. DOT/FAA/AR-09/57. Office of Research and Technology Development, Washington, D.C., 2010.
4. Advisory Circular AC 150/5320-6D: Airport Pavement Design and Evaluation. FAA, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1995 (with four official changes).
5. Advisory Circular AC 150/5320-6E: Airport Pavement Design and Evaluation (Canceled). FAA, U.S. Department of Transportation, 2010.
6. Lockbourne No. 1 Test Track, Final Report. Rigid Pavement Laboratory, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Ohio River Division, 1946.
7. Parker F. Jr. Barker W., Gunkel R., and Odom E. Development of a Structural Design Procedure for Rigid Airport Pavements. FAA-RD-77-81. U.S. Department of Transportation, 1979.
8. Rollings R. S. Developments in the Corps of Engineers Rigid Airfield Pavement Design Procedures. Proc., 4th International Conference on Concrete Pavement Design and Rehabilitation, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., 1989, pp. 405–418.
9. Ioannides A.M., and Khazanovich L. Nonlinear Temperature Effects on Multi-Layered Concrete Pavements. ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering, Vol. 124, No. 2, 1998, pp. 128–136.
10. Burns C.D., and Hutchinson R.L. Multiple-Wheel, Heavy Gear Load Pavement Tests. Volume II. Design, Construction, and Behavior Under Traffic. Technical Report No. S-71-1. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Miss., 1971.
11. Hutchinson R. L. Basis for Rigid Pavement Design for Military Airfields. Miscellaneous paper no. 5–7. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Ohio River Division Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1966.
12. Sale J.P., and Hutchinson R.L. Design of Rigid Pavement Design Criteria for Military Airfields. Journal of the Air Transportation Division, Vol. 85, No. 3, 1959, pp. 129–151.
13. Mellinger F.M., and Carlton P.F. Application of Models to Design Studies of Concrete Airfield Pavements. In Highway Research Board Proceedings 34, HRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1955, pp. 57–64.
14. Teller L.W., and Sutherland E.C. The Structural Design of Concrete Pavements. Part 2. Observed Effects of Variations in Temperature and Moisture on Size, Shape, and Stress Resistance of Concrete Pavement Slabs. Public Roads, Vol. 16, No. 9, 1935, pp. 169–197.
15. Teller L.W., and Sutherland E.C. The Structural Design of Concrete Pavements. Part 3. A Study of Concrete Pavement Cross Sections. Public Roads, Vol. 16, No. 10, 1935, pp. 201–221.
16. Teller L.W., and Sutherland E.C. The Structural Design of Concrete Pavements. Part 4. A Study of the Structural Action of Several Types of Transverse and Longitudinal Joint Designs. Public Roads, Vol. 17, No. 7, 1936, pp. 143–171.
17. Ioannides A.M., and Hammons M.I. Westergaard-Type Solution for Edge Load Transfer Problem. In Transportation Research Record 1525, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1996, pp. 28–34.
18. Skarlatos M. S. Deflections and Stresses in Concrete Pavements of Airfields with Continuous Elastic Joints. Report AD628501. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Ohio River Division Laboratories, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1949.
19. Byrum C. R. Measuring Curvature in Concrete Slabs and Connecting the Data to Slab Modeling Theory. In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2094, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2009, pp. 79–88.
20. Byrum C. R. A High-Speed Profiler-Based Slab Curvature Index for Jointed Concrete Pavement Curling and Warping Analyses. PhD dissertation. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2001.
21. Westergaard H. M. Analysis of Stresses in Concrete Roads Caused by Temperature. Public Roads, Vol. 8, No. 3, 1927, pp. 54–60.
22. Rufino D.M., Roesler J., and Berenberg E. Mechanistic Analysis of Pavement Responses From Denver International Airport. COE report no. 26. FAA Center of Excellence for Airport Technology, Urbana, Ill., 2004.
Cite article
Cite article
Cite article
OR
Download to reference manager
If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice
Information, rights and permissions
Information
Published In
Article first published online: January 1, 2012
Issue published: January 2012
Authors
Metrics and citations
Metrics
Journals metrics
This article was published in Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.
VIEW ALL JOURNAL METRICSArticle usage*
Total views and downloads: 31
*Article usage tracking started in December 2016
Altmetric
See the impact this article is making through the number of times it’s been read, and the Altmetric Score.
Learn more about the Altmetric Scores
Articles citing this one
Receive email alerts when this article is cited
Web of Science: 0
Crossref: 4
- Study of Structural Characteristics of Asphalt Overlays on Airport Pav...
- The role of temperature differential and subgrade quality on stress, c...
- Responses of snow-melting airfield rigid pavement under aircraft loads...
- Effect of joint type on rigid airfield pavement behavior
Figures and tables
Figures & Media
Tables
View Options
Get access
Access options
If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:
loading institutional access options
Alternatively, view purchase options below:
Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.
Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.
