Optimum design of sustainable concrete pavements

Abstract

Optimum design of continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) can produce low-maintenance sustainable pavements with extremely long service lives. The advantages for roads and highways include low whole-life cost, economic and social benefits from reduced fuel consumption and pollution, reduced man-hour wastage, user frustration and aggravation. Unfortunately, the full potential of CRCP is not realised with conventional pavement design. Furthermore, very few successful structurally enhancing bonded concrete overlays (BCOs) at even lower whole-life cost have actually been achieved. This paper focuses on the essential requirements for a long-life sustainable pavement and outlines the essential shortcomings and deficiencies in conventional CRCP design. Optimum design can only be achieved if both a semi-rigid pavement model and a rigid pavement model are considered jointly. Furthermore, the abysmal failures of many BCOs can also be explained and rectified utilising various concepts outlined in this paper. Optimum combinations of fibre and bar reinforcement are also considered for even further advances in the future when more experimental data, especially field data, become available.