A Practical Design Guide for Unbonded Jointed Plain Concrete Roads over Deteriorated HMA Roads: Realistic Traffic Loading

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the material properties and the thickness of the layers of an unbonded jointed plain concrete pavement design over a deteriorated flexible pavement that lost its service capability. Maximum principal stresses occurring under the concrete pavement should not exceed the modulus of rupture of the concrete. Three-dimensional finite element analyses using ANSYS (Release 18.1 SAS IP, Inc.) software were carried out with the Taguchi method. The most reliable solution for the pavement design was investigated with whole configuration axle loading that reflects the realistic traffic situation. The stress values under the concrete slab due to the positive temperature gradient neglected in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) method were also investigated. The concrete slabs are exposed to these stresses for longer than the axle loads. Temperature distributions throughout the thickness of the concrete slab were calculated with the bilinear formulas suggested in the study. Axle loadings were applied on both the pavement edge and corner to reflect the most critical loading condition in the pavement design. The critical axle type was found to be 1.2. It was observed that a 0.15 m concrete thickness was appropriate for the concrete class, joint spacing and hot mix asphalt (HMA) elasticity modulus levels used for the 1.22, 1.122, and 1.2 + 111 axle types, but it was not appropriate for the 1.2 axle types. The slab thicknesses calculated with the AASHTO method, and the finite element method were found to be close to each other. It was determined that the concrete thickness significantly affected the maximum principal stress, with a performance statistic (S/N) value of 1692 for the 1.2 axle type. This was followed by the modulus of elasticity of the concrete with an S/N value of 0.356, the modulus of elasticity of the existing flexible pavement with an S/N value of 0.244, and the concrete joint spacing with an S/N value of 0.105. A practical design guide was recommended to extend the service life of a highly deteriorated flexible pavement with the construction of unbonded jointed plain concrete.