PURPOSES : The purpose of this study was to improve the performance of concrete pavements by measuring the unit-water content with an Internet-of-Things (IoT)-based unit-water content measurement device at an increased precision compared with that of existing measuring equipment. METHODS : We calculated the properties of concrete that varied according to variations in the unit-water content. To confirm the change in the performance of concrete pavements, we compared and analyzed the fatigue cracking rate and international roughness index of concrete pavements at the 20-year point of public use according to the changes in properties using the Korea Pavement Research Program(KPRP). RESULTS : We confirmed that IoT-based measurement equipment can improve the performance of pavements without changing their mixing designs or specifications. We confirmed that the performance of the concrete pavements changed significantly, even with unit-water content variations within the range of quality standards. According to IoT-based unit-water content management, we confirmed that the performance of the concrete pavement (fatigue cracking rate and international roughness index) improved without changing the mixing design. CONCLUSIONS : We confirmed that by using IoT-based unit-water content management, pavement performance can be improved. It is necessary to consider whether the application of this concept to other concrete property management items, such as the chloride content, is possible. Considering the changes in concrete properties according to the unit-water content based on laboratory tests and considerations of various load conditions will be necessary for future research.

PURPOSES : During the summer of 2018, a heat wave (temperatures > 33°C) lasted for more than 30 days, causing blow-ups at eight different locations in South Korea. The blow-up phenomenon occurred when the internal temperature of the concrete slab increased. Simultaneously, as the concrete slab expands excessively, the length of the end of the slab increases, thus resulting in a lateral compressive force; when the slab cannot withstand this force, it rises or breaks. Blow-up is caused by a variety of factors, including increased temperature and humidity, accumulation of incompressible substances inside discontinuous surfaces, alkali–silica reactions, and aging of the concrete pavement. Several researchers have presented models to forecast blow-ups, such as the A. D. Kerr and G. Yang models, which have been applied to explain the blow-up phenomenon. However, this model has some limitations. This paper discusses a method to overcome these limitations. METHODS : Buckling, the most important theory describing the blow-up phenomenon, was reviewed, and the buckling principle was confirmed. Subsequently, the input variables of the Kerr and Yang models and the mechanism for predicting the occurrence of blow-ups were identified. The PGBA program was used to confirm the lifetime of the expansion joint and the blow-up occurrence time based on the expansion joint spacing to review the limitations of the two studied models. RESULTS : The Kerr and Yang models did not consider variables such as the expansion joint spacing or length of the integrated adjacent slab. In other words, it is necessary to reconsider the appropriateness of blow-up time predictions in relation to changes in expansion joint spacing and slab length. The expansion joint lifetime and blow-up occurrence time were predicted using the PGBA program. It was confirmed that as the expansion joint spacing increases, the expansion joint lifetime decreases. However, the blow-up occurrence time was shown to be the same (equal to 59 years), which is a limitation of the Kerr and Yang models used in the PGBA program. This resulted in a limitation in which variables for the expansion joint spacing cannot be used. CONCLUSIONS : Through blow-up simulation experiments and actual field data, an appropriate slab length should be determined, and a blow-up model should be developed based on the slab length. If a blow-up prediction based on concrete slab length and a blow-up model based on are developed, the blow-up prevention technology will be applied to the appropriate blow-up time and location to avoid traffic accidents and reduce human and property damage.

PURPOSES : The initial smoothness of concrete pavement surfaces must be secured to ensure better driving performance and user comfort. The roughness was measured after hardening the concrete pavement in Korea. When the initial roughness is poor, relatively large-scale repair works, such as milling or reconstruction must be performed. Hence, a method to measure the roughness of the concrete pavements in realtime during construction and immediately correct the abnormal roughness was developed in this study. METHODS : The profile of a concrete pavement section was measured at a construction site using sensors that were attached to the tinning equipment of the paver. The measured data included outliers and noise caused by the sensor and vibration of the paving equipment, respectively, which were further calibrated. Consequently, the calibrated data were input into the ProVAL program to calculate the roughness based on the international roughness index (IRI). Additionally, the profile of the section was re-measured using another method to verify the reliability of the calculated IRI. RESULTS : The profile data measured at the concrete pavement construction site were calibrated using methods, such as overlapped boxplot outlier removal and low-pass filtering. The outlier data from the global positioning system (GPS), which was installed to identify the construction distance, was also calibrated. The IRI was calculated using the ProVAL program by matching the measured profile and GPS data, and applying the moving average method. The calculated IRI was compared to that measured using another method, and the difference was within the tolerance. CONCLUSIONS : A method to measure the roughness of the concrete pavements in real time during construction was developed in this study. Hence, the performance of concrete pavements can be improved by enhancing the roughness of the pavement considerably using the aforementioned method.

PURPOSES : In this study, a method to use magnesium phosphate ceramic (MPC) concrete for the surface maintenance of airport pavements with jointed concrete is developed. METHODS : To investigate the application of a material incorporated with MPC for the surface maintenance of airport pavements with jointed concrete, structures with various cross-sections and thicknesses were constructed. The cross-section of the structure was modeled for the surface maintenance of four types of pavements and typical pavement construction processes, such as cutting, cleaning, production and casting, finishing, hardening, and joint reinstallation. Subsequently, the hours required for each process was determined. RESULTS : The MPC concrete used for the surface maintenance of airport pavements with jointed concrete demonstrate excellent performance. The MPC concrete indicates a compressive strength exceeding 25 MPa for 2 h, and its hydration heat is 52.9 ℃~61.2 ℃. Meanwhile, the crushing and cleaning performed during the production and casting of the MPC require a significant amount of time. Specifically, for a partial repair process, a total of 6 h is sufficient under traffic control, although this duration is inadequate for a complete repair process. CONCLUSIONS : MPC concrete is advantageous for the surface maintenance of airport pavements with jointed concrete. In fact, MPC concrete can be sufficiently constructed using existing concrete maintenance equipment, and partial repair works spanning a cross-sectional area of 11 m2 can be completed in 1 d. In addition, if the crushing and cleaning are performed separately from production and construction, then repair work using MPC concrete can be performed at a larger scale.

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of concrete pavement behaviors and performance depending on the group-axle types of heavy vehicles, such as single-, tandem-, and tridem-axles. METHODS : The concrete pavement performance indices (such as the rate of fatigue cracking and surface smoothness) according to the different group-axle types of heavy vehicles were predicted using the Korean pavement design program. It was assumed that the load magnitude was the same for each axle, and that the equivalent single-axle traffic volumes were the same for the different group-axle types. The concrete pavement stresses depending on the different group-axle types of heavy vehicles were also analyzed using a finite element analysis program. RESULTS : Based on the design criteria, the concrete pavement performance was the highest under tandem-axle traffic and lowest under single-axle traffic, although the difference in performance was not significant. Based on the structural analysis criteria, the tensile stress of the concrete pavement was the largest under the single-axle load and smallest under the tridem-axle load when the load magnitude of each axle was the same. CONCLUSIONS : Based on the results obtained from considering both the design and analysis criteria, it was concluded that the groupaxle types (such as the tandem- and tridem-axle configurations of heavy vehicles) would not increase the stress or decrease the performance of concrete pavements relative to the single-axle configuration.

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study was to investigate the long-term trend of internal strain within the continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) based on measurements. METHODS : The strains of the concrete and reinforcing bars were measured at two induced cracks and one construction joint. The analysis was performed using data accumulated over five years from the concrete placement. The effects of the initial construction conditions were investigated by comparing the strains and stresses at each location. RESULTS : In the long-term behavior, the highest tensile strains of the concrete and rebar were observed from December to January, and the lowest tensile or the highest compressive strain was observed from July to August. A lower rebar stress was measured in the construction joint, which has a higher steel ratio than that of cracks. As the distance from the crack and joint increased, the rebar strains decreased. Higher tensile strains of the concrete and rebar were measured where a higher concrete setting temperature occurred. A gradual decrease in the maximum concrete tensile strain was observed in the five-year measurements. However, in the case of reinforcing bars, stress reduction with time was not observed in the long-term behavior. CONCLUSIONS : Although a gradual decrease in concrete strain was revealed by long-term measurements, it is predicted that minimizing the concrete setting temperature to reduce the initial tensile strain could effectively increase the fatigue strength of CRCP