Heavy Duty Pavements
BY SHU-T’IEN LI*
D uring the past half century the amount of concrete-
pavement mileage placed has grown tremendous-
ly. This growth has been the result of increased axle
loads, increased heavy traffic on the highways and the
development of better road standards to match traffic
requirements. As traffic loads have increased, concrete
engineers have found no substitute for reinforced con-
crete and prestressed concrete slabs resting on elastic
foundations when they need a heavy-duty pavement for
docks, highways and airport runways.
Concrete engineers and the concrete industry must
continue to face the challenge of building still heavier
duty pavements needed for greater fleets of commercial,
industrial, and military vehicles running at higher
speeds and causing more serious dynamic effects.
In this article the most salient requirements for heavy-
duty concrete pavements are set forth with respect to
subgrade, subbases, geometrical configuration, rein-
forced and prestressed concrete, control of concrete for
durability and wear resistance, air entrainment, jointing
practice, and combating frost action.
Subgrade for heavy-duty concrete pavements
Generally, it is more economical to design the slab for
the existing subgrade bearing capacity than to raise the
subgrade support by using an extra-thick subbase.
subbases for heavy-duty pavements
Heavy-duty concrete pavements must not be placed
directly on soils in place, nor on fine-grained plastic
soils. These soils promote mud-pumping which in turn
speeds up the destruction of the concrete pavement
when it is subjected to heavy truck traffic.
More than 50 years’ experience with concrete pave-
ments has shown that neither a blanket course of uni-
formly graded material of low plasticity, nor a granular
subbase will prevent pumping of fine material along the
edges of heavy-duty pavements, unless both materials
meet rigid requirements.
Therefore, the minimum requirements for subbases
for heavy-duty concrete pavements shall be:
1. That the material must be of granular character.
2. That the amount of material passing the No. 200 sieve
must be not over 10 percent; and reduced to not over
5 percent for extremely heavy-duty routes.
3. That low plasticity, optimum gradation, and high den-
sity should be achieved consistent with permissive
economy.
4. That cement-treated subbases may be considered if
the available granular material is of substandard
quality.

This photograph shows what happens when heavy-duty
pavements are placed directly on soils in place or on fine-
grained plastic soils. Here the soil has been pumped out
along the side of the slab.
In designing the subbase, the engineer must regard it
as one component of the two-layer structure that will
transmit dynamic heavy-truck loads to the natural for-
mation of the terrain. The subbase must be able to en-
dure the intensities and frequencies of mechanical ac-
tions as well as natural actions such as temperature and
moisture changes and frost action.
Geometrical configuration of pavements
The geometry of a heavy-duty pavement refers to the
dimensions and the shapes of sections of the concrete
pavement. Since concrete pavements are, in essence,
slabs on elastic foundations between joints, the term
“dimensions” refers to width, thickness, and length of
the slab, whereas “shapes” denote the sectional config-
uration.
In heavy-duty concrete pavement, the width can vary
from 10 to 13 feet. While 10 feet may still be used as an
absolute minimum pavement-lane width under restrict-
ed property conditions, the minimum width per lane on
the primary system must be set at 11 feet. For comfort-
able driving on the interstate system, 12 feet is recom-
mended. To ease passing the 12-foot outer lane, the
passing lane should be 13 feet wide. A minimum of 9
inches in thickness is recommended for all pavements
on the primary and interstate systems. Wherever the in-
tensity and frequency of heavy-duty traffic are especial-
ly pronounced, the thickness should be increased to 9
1/2 inches on the primary system and to 10 inches on
the interstate system. This will minimize maintenance
and repair costs.
Naturally only reinforced concrete and prestressed
concrete slabs are recommended for heavy-duty pave-
ment. The lengths of these slabs will range from 40 to
100 feet depending upon the manner and amount of re-
inforcing and the amplitude of temperature variation.
With distributed reinforcement, the pavements usually
run 60 feet in length. If the pavements have been prop-
erly designed and constructed as continuously rein-
forced concrete pavements, the transverse joints may be
eliminated.
The sectional configuration for heavy-duty concrete
pavement will also vary. If a minimum lane width of 11
to 12 feet and a thickness of 9 to 10 inches is to be used
the distribution of heavy-wheel loads through pneumat-
ic tires to the foundation may best be achieved if the slab
is uniform in thickness throughout its entire width.
However, if property conditions limit a heavy-duty con-
crete pavement to the 10-foot minimum width, a 10-8-
10-inch thickened edge configuration could then be
used.
Reinforced and prestressed pavements
Plain concrete pavements cannot be used for heavy-
duty service because a plain pavement can only be built
in short lengths and does not have flexural resistance.
Generally, conventional reinforced concrete pave-
ment slabs, with lengths 5 or more times the lane width
and with sufficient distributed steel to prevent micro-
scopic opening of cracks, are used today on heavy-duty
routes.
Continuously reinforced concrete pavements may be
designed to eliminate transverse joints entirely. This idea
had its experimental beginning in 1938 in Indiana. By
the middle of 1963, over 500 equivalent two-lane miles
have come into existence. Highway engineers of 14
states have shown a growing interest in this type of rein-
forced concrete pavement.
For extremely heavy wheel loads and for the sake of
eventually saving material and cost on the required
pavement, prestressed concrete slabs should be used.
The first prestressed pavement was constructed im-
mediately after World War II at Orly Airport in Paris by
Eugene Freyssinet. The pavement was both prestressed
and precast, and Freyssinet claimed that a 6 1/2-inch
prestressed slab was capable of supporting loads equal
to those of a 24-inch conventional concrete runway. Fur-
ther, he claimed that his runway could support aircraft
three times the weight of any yet built. Extensive load
tests made on a test slab at the Orly Aerodrome during
1946 conclusively confirmed Freyssinet’s claims by
showing that a load-carrying capacity existed that was
nearly ten times that which could be expected on the
same subgrade with a conventional reinforced concrete
pavement.
Since 1946, the design and construction of prestressed
pavements for runway and highway work has been of in-
creasing interest to engineers.
 A low water/cement ratio is essential
for durable pavements. The severe
cracking in this pavement was
attributed to an excessively low
water/cement ratio. The mix,
reportedly, contained only 2.4 sacks
of cement per cubic yard.
Durability and wear resistance
Concrete for heavy-duty pavements should be of the
driest consistency possible to work with a sawing mo-
tion of the strike-off board. The lowest water content
compatible with thorough compaction can be achieved
as follows:
1. Select a water/cement ratio that will insure the re-
quired compressive strength or degree of durability
desired for a given heavy-duty service.
2. Select aggregate that is graded in such a way that it will
give the densest concrete when mixed with the ce-
mentitious paste.
3. Select an aggregate/cement ratio that will permit a
workable mix to be fully compacted by a particular
method of compaction.
Proportioning should be guided by experience and
quantitatively determined from trial mixes.
Limit the maximum relative water content in the mix
to not more than 4 gallons per cubic foot of any type of
portland cement except high-early-strength cement. If
high-early-strength cement is used, the total quantity of
water in the mix may be raised to not more than 5 gal-
lons of mixing water for each sack of the cement, includ-
ing the moisture in the aggregate.
Excess mixing water reduces the strength and durabil-
ity of concrete because it forms a great number of capil-
laries and a weak surface film that is subject to crazing
and dusting. This dust, siliceous in nature, has a hard-
ness value of 7 and acts as a grinding agent under truck
wheels. This will accelerate mechanical wear of the
pavement. The quantity of mixing water must, therefore,
be carefully gauged, and all the free surface moisture of
the component aggregate must be deducted from the
prescribed amount.
If locally available processed aggregate is used, slight
variations in the mix may be necessary to secure maxi-
mum density and required consistency. These variations
should be determined by trial and standard laboratory
tests.
Since concrete with a low water content requires more
physical exertion to place and consolidate, contractors
are inclined to add too much water especially when
power equipment is not available. A slump test should
be used to control the consistency of the mix. For ex-
tremely heavy-duty pavement, a concrete with “zero”
slump should be adhered to when finishing is performed
with a power trowel. If power equipment is not available
and the traffic over the pavement is not extremely heavy
a slight slump (always less than 1 inch) may be tolerated.
As far as heavy-duty pavements are concerned, a no-
slump mix means a mix that brings only an insignificant
amount of moisture to the surface when a sample is
squeezed in the hand.
Changes in mix consistency should be made by ad-
justing the proportions of fine and coarse aggregate, or
by introducing an air-entraining or a wetting agent, but
never by introducing more water to the mix. In no case
should the amount of mixing water exceed 4 gallons per
bag of normal portland cement or 5 gallons per bag of
high-early-strength cement.
Air-entrainment or wetting agents
Application of air entrainment increases the durabili-
ty of concrete pavements subjected to weathering, en-
hances the resistance of concrete to freezing and thaw-
ing and to the action of sodium and calcium chlorides,
eliminates the development of D-cracks that are usually
attributed to accelerated weathering, and adds to the
concrete’s sulfate resistance.
If maximum size aggregates (3/4 or 1 inch in diameter)
are to be used, an air content of not more than 6 to 8 per-
cent may be introduced into the concrete. When the vol-
ume of mortar is appreciably more or less than that re-
quired for the above maximum size aggregates, the
percentage of air should be increased or decreased to
produce approximately 8 to 10 percent air in the mortar.
In southern climates where pavements are not subject-
ed to severe frost action, a lower air content may be
used.
 The strength of concrete is dependent upon the wa-
ter/cement ratio. If leaner mixtures or mixes with small-
er maximum size aggregates are used and the mix is air-
entrained, considerably less water will be required. The
strength of concrete, then, may even be increased by the
use of air entrainment provided that the sand and water
content is reduced and the cement content kept con-
stant. This strength increase is a direct result of air-en-
trained concrete’s lower water/cement ratio. It is impor-
tant, however, to maintain both a properly proportioned
mix and an appropriate air content throughout the work
when air-entraining materials are used.
Air-entraining agents are somewhat more effective
than wetting agents in improving the workability of a
stiff concrete mix, but wetting agents are capable of im-
proving the dispersion and hydration of the cement as
well as the quality of the concrete.
Joints for heavy-duty pavements
The question of how to best join heavy-duty pave-
ments is a most important one since the joints must not
be the weakest link in an otherwise well-constructed
road. Closely associated with jointing practice are the
methods of constructing a longitudinal joint and trans-
verse joints; the provision for load-transfer devices; and
methods of sawing and forming joints.
In multiple-lane concrete pavements, the load inten-
sity over any lane at any instant during the passage of
traffic is, in all probability, different from the adjacent
lane. Unless a longitudinal joint is formed between the
lanes, sinuous longitudinal cracking would result, and
the cracking would show up even sooner under heavy
traffic..
To eliminate this type of cracking, a weakened plane
should be provided and closely spaced tie bars inserted.
If the pavement is laid lane-at-a-time, two-piece con-
nectors known as “hook-bolts” should be used instead of
bent tie bars. The spacing of these tie bars or connec-
tors should not be wider than 2 1/2 feet on heavy-duty
routes.
Even with a weakened plane, off-center longitudinal
cracking may still form unless this plane is weakened
enough to insure a prompt fracture. Contractors are in-
clined to saw only a shallow longitudinal joint groove
that is usually not sufficient to insure fracture of the
weakened plane. For heavy-duty routes, it is most im-
portant that the depth of the groove be one-third the
thickness of the pavement.
In reinforced concrete pavements, transverse expan-
sion joints may be entirely eliminated except at ap-
proaches to bridges and other structures. Contraction
joints should, however, be used. This subject still con-
fuses some engineers who think, mistakenly, that filler
material will retard restraint cracking and corner
spalling at contraction joints.
Mechanical load-transfer devices are always used with
transverse joints throughout reinforced concrete pave-
ment slabs. These slabs are generally 60 feet or longer in
length. To match the 9- to 10-inch thickness of the slab,
smooth round dowels 1 1/4 inches in diameter and 15
to 18 inches long should be used. These dowels should
be spaced on 12-inch centers.
Joint sawing rather than hand forming and finishing
of joints has become a standard practice today. Equip-
ment has been developed to facilitate the rapid cutting
of joints in hardened concrete and the resulting neatly
finished joints insure better performance under heavy
traffic.
For proper performance under heavy traffic poured
sealers should be used to form dummy grooves. If avail-
able aggregates make concrete difficult and costly to
saw, an insert-type joint former consisting of a light-
weight tubular metal strip may be vibrated into the fresh
concrete. It should be placed flush with the surface, then
crimped to form a groove for sealing after curing the
concrete.
Combating frost action
Many factors enter into the problem of reduction in
load-carrying capacity of roads affected by frost action.
This problem varies with different localities in the north-
ern latitudes. Each highway that may be subjected to
freezing and thawing action must be specifically de-
signed for its circumstances.
In northern states and in Canada, studies have dis-
closed considerable loss of load-carrying capacity due to
frost penetration. In the state of Nebraska, situated be-
tween the latitudes of 40 to 43 degrees North, observa-
tions made during 1952 to 1953 disclosed up to a 65 per-
cent loss in the load-carrying capacity of roads because
of frost action.
Until long-range observations have definitely estab-
lished criteria for each locality, a heavy-duty concrete
pavement that might be affected by frost action should
have its load-carrying capacity increased by 10 to 30 per-
cent. The precise increase will depend upon the depth of
frost penetration and the frequency of
severe winter cycles. [END]
*The author is Professor of Civil Engineering at South
Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
PUBLICATION #C640025
Copyright © 1964, The Aberdeen Group
All rights reserved