A NEW LOOK AT RIGID CONCRETE PAVEMENT DESIGN

The traditional rigid pavement model has long been firmly established as the design basis for both unreinforced and reinforced (jointed and continuous) concrete pavements. It is well proven and has served designers well for many years. However, the efficacy of pavement designs for joint spacing and reinforcement is less certain. The paper therefore compares design procedures for drying shrinkage and thermal effects for pavements with well-established design procedures for other slab structures including ground slabs and examines how pavement design could benefit from this experience and expertise. The comparisons are both useful and informative and provide a number of proposals that could clearly improve design for the long-term performance of concrete pavements, especially continuously reinforced concrete pavements.