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.

본 논문은 연속철근 콘크리트포장의 장기 공용성을 향상시키는데 핵심요소인 균열폭에 기초한 철근설계에 대하여 연구하였다. 이를 위하여 텍사스 지역의 21개 주요 도시를 선정하여 지난 10여년간의 온도데이터를 수집하고 수집된 데이터는 PavePro에 의해 제로스트레스 온도가 계산되었다. 계산된 제로스트레스 온도와 콘크리트 최저온도와의 차를 설계온도로 하여 CRCP 프로그램에 의해 균열폭이 수치해석 되었다. 수치해석에 사용된 변수는 콘크리트 슬래브의 두께, 콘크리트의 열팽창계수, 철근비 및 설계온도로서 총 448개의 조합변수가 해석되었으며 각각의 변수조합으로부터 해석된 결과를 회귀분석 하였다. 회귀분석된 결과는 회귀식에 의해 최소 균열폭에 대한 철근량이 역계산 되었고 이로부터 슬래브의 두께, 콘크리트의 열팽창계수, 설계온도에 대한 철근비와 철근간격을 계산하여 설계표를 제시하였다.