Nikhil Saboo, BITS Pilani

Components:
Subgrade, Granular course (Optional), Cement
Concrete slab (P.C.C slab).
 Jointed Plain concrete pavements (JPCP)
Jointed Reinforced concrete pavements (JRCP)

Continuous Reinforced concrete pavements (CRCP)

 Jointed Plain concrete pavements (JPCP)

Dowel bars and Tie bars provided.

No reinforcements

Closely spaced contraction joints.

Most commonly used

 Jointed Reinforced concrete pavements (JRCP)

Longer joint spacing

Reinforcements provided

They do not increase the structural

capacity of pavements but allow
the use of longer joint spacing.
 Continuous Reinforced concrete pavements (CRCP)

No Transverse joints.

Continuous reinforcements
 Temperature stresses
Load stresses
Frictional stresses

Stresses in reinforcements

Pavement designed for critical

flexural stress in concrete
 Day time: the top portion tends to
expand w.r.t neutral axis and the
bottom portion tends to contract
w.r.t neutral axis.
The self weight restrains the movement
Compressive stresses on the top.
Tensile stresses on the bottom.

Nighttime: the bottom portion

tends to expand w.r.t neutral axis
and the top portion tends to
contract w.r.t neutral axis.
 Beam: Stressed only in one direction
Plate: Stressed in both directions

For plate:

x =


Where, is the strain in X direction because of stress in Y

direction and is the strain in X direction because of

stress in X direction.

y =

When the plate is bent in X direction, y = 0 because the
plate is so wide and well restrained that no strain should
occur under near very edge.

y = = 0,

=
x
= i.e., stress in bending direction.
12
 When bending occurs in both the direction, stresses in
both the direction should be superimposed.

Where, t = temp differential, =

coefficient of thermal expansion
 t
x = y =
2
x
Stress in X direction due to bending in X direction: =
12
Et
=
2(12)
Stress in X direction due to bending in Y direction: =
Et
=
2(12)
Total strain in X direction:
Et [1+]
= 2
2(1 )
Et
=
2(1)
 Similarly,

Total strain in Y direction:

Et [1+]
=
2(12)

Et
=
2(1)

The above equation is based on the assumption that

temperature gradient is linear.
 Et
= * [Cx+Cy]
2(12)
Et
= * [Cy+Cx]
2(12)

Where, Cx and Cy are Bradburys coefficient.

Cx =f(Lx/l) and Cy =f(Ly/l) ;

l is the radius of relative stiffness,

is the poissons ratio = 0.15 (at edge = 0);
=10*10-6mm/mm/oC,
t depends on location 0.055-0.077 oC/mm.
Night time temperature diff = 0.5 * day time
 Jointsand steel are used to relieve and take care of curling stresses .
Curling stresses are relieved when the concrete cracks . Minute cracks
will not affect the load-carrying capacity of pavements as long as the
load transfer across cracks can be maintained .

When the fatigue principle is used for design, it is not practical to

combine loading and curling stresses . A pavement might be subjected
to millions of load repetitions during the design period, but the number
of stress reversals due to curling is quite limited.

Curling stresses may be added to or subtracted from loading stresses to

obtain the combined stresses. If the design is governed by the edge
stress, curling stresses should be added to loading stresses during the
day but subtracted from the loading stresses at night. Due to this
compensative effect and the fact that a large number of heavy trucks
are driven at night, it may not be critical if curling stresses are ignored .
 Curling stresses when combined with loading stresses
are so large that they might fail in few repetitions.
 Three methods

Influence charts (Picket Finite element method

Closed form formulas (commonly used in the
and Ray)
present time)

For the first two methods assumption is: Large slabs are placed on
Liquid/Winkler foundation.
 Liquid Foundation/Winkler foundation: : Subgrade is a
set of independent springs. Deflection at any given
point is proportional to force at that point and
independent of forces at all the other points.
 Westergaards Analysis: Concentrated load

=

1 3
=
12
2
2

1 3 =
6

2

3
= which is independent of x.
2
 Westergaards Analysis: Circular loading
3 2 0.6
= 2 [1 ]

2
= [1.1 0.88 ]
2

Where, is the stress due to corner loading, P is

the concentrated load, and h is the thickness
of the slab, is the corner deflection, l is the
radius of relative stiffness, a is the contact
radius, and k is the modulus of subgrade
reaction.
 Westergaards Analysis: Circular loading

3 1+
= [ln + 0.6159]
22

Where, 1 2
= { 1 + ln 0.673 }
82 2 2
(b= equivalent radius of resisting section)

b=a; a 1.724h.

b= 1.62 + 2 0.675; a<1.724h;

 Westergaards Analysis: Circular loading

Solutions for circle and semicircle:

3 1+ 3 4 1 1.18 1 + 2
, = 2
[ln 4
+ 1.84 + + ]
3+ 100 3 2 2
3 1+ 3 4 1 + 2
, = [ln + 3.84 + ]
3 + 2 1004 3 2

2 + 1.2 0.76 + 0.4

, = [1 ]
3
2 + 1.2 0.323 + 0.17
, = [1 ]
3

 Area of each tire for a load Pd and contact pressure q:
Pd
= *(0.3L)2 + 0.4L*0.6L;


L = 0.5227

The area of an equivalent circle is:

2 = 2 0.52272 + 0.6

2 = 0.44542 +

Pd
2 = 0.8521 +
0.5227

1 Pd
= {0.8521 + }
0.5227
 Based on liquid foundations by Pickett and Ray
Used for interior and edge loading
Moment at point O in n direction:

2
M= ;
10,000
Where, q is the contact pressure

Stress is determined by dividing the moment by

section modulus:

6
=
2
Deflection:
0.00054
=

Where, D is the modulus of rigidity

3
D= 12 12
 Friction
between concrete slab and foundation causes
tensile stresses in the concrete, in the steel
reinforcements if any and in the tie bars.

Forplain concrete pavement, the spacing between the

contraction joints should be chosen such that the
stresses due to friction will not cause concrete to crack.

Forlonger joint spacing, steel reinforcements must be

provided to take care of stresses due to friction.
 The
volume change caused by the variation of
temperature and moisture causes:
First,it induces tensile stresses and causes the concrete to
crack.
Second, it causes the joint to open and decreases the
efficiency of load transfer.
 Amount of friction depends on the relative movement of the slab

Zero
at the center where no movement occurs and maximum at
some distance from the center where movement is fully mobilized
 =

1
=
2

= (Value of =1.5)
2

After the solved problem it does not appear that joint

spacing in plain concrete pavements are dictated by
the concrete stress due to friction .
 The spacing of joints in plain concrete pavements depends more on the shrinkage characteristics of the
concrete rather than on the stress in the concrete .

Approximate formulae:
= +
Where, is the joint opening caused by temperature change and drying shrinkage of concrete;

is the coefficient of thermal expansion of concrete, generally 5 to 6 x 10-6 /F (9-10.8 x 10-6/C);

is the drying shrinkage coefficient of concrete, approximately 0.5 to 2.5 x 10-4;

L is the joint spacing or slab length ;

is the temperature range, which is the temperature at placement minus the lowest mean monthly
temperature; and

C is the adjustment factor due to slab-subbase friction, 0.65 for stabilized base and 0.8 for granular
subbase.
 Steel used in concrete:
Reinforcements Based on stresses due
to friction
Tie
bars
Dowel bars

Reinforcement
To increase the spacing of joints
Hold the cracks together and maintain the load transfer
through the aggregate interlock
 When the steel reinforcements are used, it is assumed that all the tensile
stresses are taken up by the steel alone.

Where, is allowable stress in steel,

is Area of steel required per unit width.

= ;
2

= ;
2

The steel is usually placed at mid depth and discontinued at joints.

f =Allowable stress in steel = 2/3 * yield strength
 Welded wire fabric is prefabricated reinforcement consisting of parallel series
of high-strength, cold-drawn wires welded together in square or rectangular
grids .

The spacing and sizes of wires are identified by "style .

A typical style designation is 6 x 12 W8 x W6, in which the spacing of

longitudinal wires is 6 in. (152 mm), the spacing of transverse wires is 12 in. (305
mm), the size of longitudinal wire is W8 with a cross-sectional area of 0.08 in.2
(51.6 mm2), and the size of transverse wires is W6 with a cross sectional area of
0.06 in.2 (38.7 mm2).

Wires are subjected to both bending stress and tensile stress at cracks.

Minimum spacing to permit placement and vibration of concrete.

 Tie bars are placed along the longitudinal joint to tie the two slabs together so that the joint will be tightly
closed and the load transfer across the joint can be ensured.

Where, L is the lane width for 2-3lane highways,

L is the lane width of outer two lanes + 2*lane width of inner lane. (4-lane highway)

Length of tie bars is governed by allowable bond stress.

For deformed bars, an allowable bond stress of 350 psi (2.4 MPa) may be assumed.

The length of bar should be based on the full strength of the bar, namely

1
=2( )

Where, t is the length of the tie bar, is the allowable bond stress, 1 is the area of one bar, and is the bar
perimeter.

Most commonly used: 914mm long, 13mm dia, spaced at 762-1016mm. Add 76 mm for misalignment.
 Mostly based on experience
Diameter of dowel bars 1/8 * slab
thickness
32 mm dowel bars h < 254mm,

38 mm dowel bars h>254mm

32-38mm needed to control faulting by

reducing the bearing stress in concrete.
Used to transfer Loads.

Use of dowel bars can minimize faulting

and pumping.
 Because the concrete is much weaker than steel, the size and spacing of dowels
required are governed by the bearing stress between dowel and concrete.
Allowable bearing stress:

4
=
3

Where, = ultimate compressive strength of concrete,

= allowable bearing stress,
d=diameter of dowel.
Bearing stress on one dowel:
If the load applied to one dowel is known, the maximum bearing stress can be
determined theoretically by assuming the dowel to be a beam and the concrete to
be a Winkler foundation.
 Maximum deformation of concrete under the dowel (Timoshenko, Friberg (1940)) :

2 +
=
43

Where, is the deformation of the dowel at the face of the joint, is the load on one
dowel, z is the joint width, is Young's modulus of the dowel, is the moment of
inertia of the dowel, and is the relative stiffness of a dowel embedded in concrete .

1
= 4
64
 4
=
4
Where, k = modulus of dowel support (81.5 to 409 GN/m3)

The bearing stress is proportional to the deformation

=k*
Bearing stress < Allowable bearing stress,
Else, if the actual bearing stress is greater than allowable, then larger dowel bars or
smaller dowel spacing should be used.
By limiting the bearing stress, the amount of faulting can be reduced to the allowable
limit .
 When a load W is applied on one slab near the joint, part of
the load will be transferred to the adjacent slab through the
dowel group.

Ifthe dowels are 100% efficient, both slabs will deflect the
same amount and the reactive forces under both slabs will be
the same each equal to 0 .5W, which is also the total shear
force transferred by the dowel group .

If the dowels are less than 100% efficient, as in the case of old
pavements where some dowels become loose, the reactive
forces under the loaded slab will be greater than 0 .5W, while
those under the unloaded slab will be smaller. than 0.5W. As
a result, the total shear force on the dowels is smaller than 0
.5W.

Therefore, the use of 0 .5W for the design of dowels is more

conservative.
 Based on Westergaard's solutions, Friberg (1940) found that the
maximum negative moment for both interior and edge loadings
occurs at a distance of 1.8 l from the load, where l is the radius of
relative stiffness.
When the moment is maximum, the shear force is equal to zero . It
is therefore reasonable to assume that the shear in each dowel
decreases inversely with the distance of the dowel from the point of
loading, being maximum for the dowel under or nearest to the point
of loading and zero at a distance of 1.8 l.