A PROBABILISTIC APPROACH TO SAWCUT TIMING AND DEPTH REQUIREMENTS FOR NEWLY CONSTRUCTED PORTLAND CEMENT CONCRETE PAVEMENTS

Abstract

This paper presents the details of an approach to account for the factors that have been found to affect the ability and probability of paving contractors to control cracking due to sawcutting in newly constructed concrete pavements. Variability in climate conditions and material characteristics during the hardening process affects the potential of cracking at any sawcut depth. Several factors such as material strength parameters, method and quality of curing, slab/subbase stiffness, and concrete shrinkage affect the probability of crack initiation. Others are relevant to concrete mixture characteristics that affect development of early aged stresses caused by shrinkage and thermally induced contraction. This paper also presents the results of a probabilistic analysis of the factors that affect crack control using sawcut notches. A fundamental approach using a fracture mechanics is used to assure crack initiation in this paper.