Abstract

The primary objectives of this project included the collection of information on continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) behavior and performance in Texas to calibrate the mechanistic-empirical pavement design procedure for CRCP developed under TxDOT research study 0-5832, and the overall evaluation of rigid pavement performance in Texas, including special and experimental sections. To achieve the objectives, extensive field evaluations were conducted to identify the mechanisms of structural distress in CRCP and to investigate CRCP behavior at transverse cracks using falling weight deflectometer (FWD). Calibration of the distress prediction model in the new CRCP design procedure was made with a development of a transfer function. It was also observed that the most of the distresses in CRCP were due to the quality control issue of materials and construction. Jointed concrete pavement (CPCD) performance is satisfactory, except that most of the distresses were at transverse contraction joints, indicating construction quality issues. In addition, field evaluations were conducted on various experimental sections where the effects of design (steel percentages), materials (coarse aggregate type), and construction (placement season, early-entry saw cuts) variables on CRCP structural responses and performance were investigated. Furthermore, research efforts were made to examine the performance and behavior of a number of special test sections TxDOT has built over the years. The special PCC sections addressed in this project include post-tensioned concrete pavement (PTCP), precast PTCP, bonded (BCO) and unbonded (UBCO) concrete overlays, fast-track concrete pavement (FTCP), whitetopping sections, 100% recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) concrete pavement, and roller-compacted concrete (RCC) pavement sections. Lastly, this project developed an advanced and userfriendly database called the Texas Rigid Pavement Database (TxRPDB). This database is webbased, GISoriented, and application-integrated. This database includes all the information obtained in this project in an organized manner, with a query function.

Project PI:Moon Won

Post-Docs:

Sung Woo Ryu
Pangil Choi

Research Assistants:

Afshin Esmaeilzadeh
Sureel Saraf
Manan Shah
Sean Davis

Student Assistant:Sasha Seiyvani