TEMPERATURE RESPONSE OF CONCRETE PAVEMENTS

Displacements of concrete pavement slabs are mainly associated with temperature. Slab curling and joint movements greatly influence the response of concrete pavements to traffic loads. Idenifying the times and temperature conditions at which the pavement system offers the least resistance to traffic loads should be a prime concern to pavement engineers. Therefore research has been initiated to analyze pavement temperatures and evaluate the vertical and horizontal displacements in the pavement slabs. At the Bureau of Materials and Research of the Florida Department of Transportation, a specially designed test road was constructed to simulate actual design features of Florida highways. This test road was instrumented with linear variable differential transformers and thermocouples at various locations. A data acquisition and control unit was used to record and store simultaneously the pavement displacements and the temperatures at specified time intervals. Pavement temperatures collected over a period of years were analyzed. Vertical displacements at slab corners, edges, and centers were evaluated. Horizontal slab movements at doweled and undoweled joints were also determined. This paper may provide some understanding of pavement response to temperature and further strengthen awareness of the effect of temperature on pavement system stiffness.