Laboratory Study of the Effect of Nonuniform Foundation Support on Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements.

摘要

Design of continuously reinforced concrete pavements is a procedure that involves numerous variables. To evaluate these variables,several steps must be taken,such as observations of the effects of environmental factors and the behavior of soil supports that affect the pavement performance during its service life. Different steps to evaluate the pavement behavior must be followed in an effort to design pavements with longer good service condition life. The laboratory is one of the principal means the designer has for developing relationships for pavement behavior in the field. A precursory laboratory experiment concerning CRC pavement performance was performed under NCHRP Research Project 1-15. However,the precursory study was done with fully supported slabs. One of the most important variables that affects CRC pavement performance is the loss of support under the slab,specifically when voids are created beneath the pavement due to swelling clay or subbase settlement. This report presents a study of loss of support of small dimension laboratory slabs. The purpose of the experiment is to compare and observe the behavior of experimental laboratory slabs with voids beneath them of various dimensions and to compare these slabs with uniformly supported slabs previously tested under NCHRP 1-15. A theoretical approach is included in the experiment in an effort to model all the laboratory inputs and outputs that can give solutions close to the ones obtained through the experimental physical test. At the end,both the theoretical solutions and the laboratory observations are analyzed and their accuracy is defined. Finally,observations,conclusions,and recommendations are presented in an effort to implement the study solutions within the design of CRC pavements.