PURPOSES: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the degree of restraint (DOR) of longitudinal steel at continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) against environmental loadings. METHODS : To measure the longitudinal steel strain, 3-electrical resistance and self-temperature compensation gauges were installed to CRCP test section (thickness = 250mm, steel ratio = 0.7%) and continuously measured 10 min. intervals during 259 days. In order to properly analyze the steel strains first, temperature compensation process has been conducted. Secondly, measured steel strains were divided into 12 phases with different events such as before paving, during concrete hardening, and after first cracking, etc. RESULTS : Thermal strain rate (TSR) concept is defined as the linear strain variations with temperature changes and restraints rate of longitudinal steel against environmental loadings (especially thermal loading) with different cases is defined as degree of restraint(DOR). New concept of DOR could be indirect indicator of crack width behaviors of CRCP. CONCLUSIONS: Before paving, DOR of longitudinal steel is almost same at the coefficient of thermal expansion of steel (12.44m/m/℃) because of no restraint boundary condition. After concrete pouring, DOR is gradually changed into -1 due to concrete stiffness developing with hydration. After first cracking at crack induced area, values of DOR are around -3~-5. The negative DOR stands for the crack width behavior instead of steel strain behavior. During winter season, DOR reached to -5.77 as the highest, but spring this values gradually reduced as -1.7 as the lowest. Based on this observation, we can presume crack width decreased over time within the time frame of this study. This finding is not consistent with the current theory on crack width variations over time, so further study is necessary to identify the causes of crack width reducing. One of the reasons could be related to concrete stress re-distribution and stress relaxation.

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to analyse the longitudinal steel strain and stress of continuously reinforced concrete pavement(CRCP) with longitudinal and transverse direction at early age using stress dependent strain analysis method. METHODS : To measure the longitudinal steel strain, 9-electrical resistance and self-temperature compensation gauges were installed to CRCP test section (thickness = 250mm, steel ratio = 0.7%) and continuously measured 10min. intervals during 30days. In order to properly analyze the steel stress first, temperature compensation process has been conducted. Secondly, measured steel strains were divided into stress dependent strain (elastic strain) and stress independent strain (thermal strain) and then stress dependent strain was applied to stress calculation of longitudinal steels. RESULTS: Steel strains were successfully measured during 30days. To verify the accuracy of temperature compensation process, measured coefficient of thermal expansion(COTE,11.46×10-6m/m/℃) of longitudinal steel before paving was compared with that of unrestrained steel. Max. steel stress in the transverse direction shows about 266MPa at 23days after placement. CONCLUSIONS: Steel stresses in the longitudinal and transverse direction have been evaluated. In longitudinal direction, steel stress from the crack was rapidly reduced from 183MPa at crack to 18MPa from 600mm apart the crack. From this observation, stress effective length can be identified as within 600mm apart from the crack. In transverse direction, max. stress point was located near the center of pavement width and stress level(266MPa) is about 66% of yield stress of steel

PURPOSES: The objective of this study is to evaluate construction issues and design for transverse steel in continuously reinforced concrete pavement(CRCP). METHODS : The first continuously reinforced concrete pavement(CRCP) design procedure appeared in the 1972 edition of the“ AASHTO Interim Guide for Design of Pavement Structures,”which was published in 1981 with Chapter 3 “Guide for the Design of Rigid Pavement” revised. A theory that was accepted at that time for the analysis of steel stress in concrete pavement, called subgrade drag theory(SGDT), was utilized for the design of reinforcement of CRCP - tie bar design and transverse steel design - in the aforementioned AASHTO Interim Guide. However SGDT has severe limitations due to simple assumptions made in the development of the theory. As a result, any design procedures for reinforcement utilizing SGDT may have intrinsic flaws and limitations. In this paper, CRCP design procedure for transverse steel was introduced and the limitations of assumptions for SGDT were evaluated based on various field testing. RESULTS: Various field tests were conducted to evaluate whether the assumptions of SGDT are reasonable or not. Test results show that 1) temperature variations exist along the concrete slab depth, 2) very little stress in transverse steel, and 3) warping and curling in concrete slab from the field test results. As a result, it is clearly revealed out that the assumptions of SGDT are not valid, and transverse steel and tie bar designs should be based on more reasonable theories. CONCLUSIONS : Since longitudinal joint is provided at 4.1-m spacing in Korea, as long as joint saw-cut is made in accordance with specification requirements, the probability of full-depth longitudinal cracking is extremely small. Hence, for transverse steel, the design should be based on the premise that its function is to keep the longitudinal steel at the correct locations. If longitudinal steel can be placed at the correct locations within tolerance limits, transverse steel is no longer needed.

PURPOSES : This paper numerically evaluates the contribution of transverse steel to the structural behavior of continuously reinforced concrete pavements to understand the role of transverse steel. METHODS: Two-lane continuously reinforced concrete pavements with and without transverse steel were analyzed through finite element analysis with the aid of commercial finite element analysis program DIANA; the difference in their structural behavior such as deflection, joint opening, and stress distribution was then evaluated. Twenty-node brick elements and three-node beam elements were used to model concrete and steel, respectively. Sub-layers were modeled with horizontal and vertical tensionless spring elements. The interactions between steel and surrounding concrete were considered by connecting their nodes with three orthogonal spring elements. Both wheel loading and environmental loading in addition to self-weight were considered. RESULTS : The use of transverse steel in continuously reinforced concrete pavements does not have significant effects on the structural behavior. The surface deflections change very little with the use of transverse steel. The joint opening decreases when transverse steel is used but the reduction is quite small. The transverse concrete stress, rather, increases when transverse steel is used due to the restraint exerted by the steel but the increase is quite small as well. CONCLUSIONS : The main role of transverse steel in continuously reinforced concrete pavements is supporting longitudinal steel and/or controlling unexpected longitudinal cracks rather than enhancing the structural capacity.