LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE STUDY OF RIGID PAVEMENTS

Abstract

This paper reports the performance of two types of concrete pavements throughout their complete life cycles. The pavements were constructed in Houston and have received a relatively large amount of traffic volume and loads. The two pavement types are a Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement (JRCP) and a Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP). The jointed pavement was a part of the Gulf Freeway constructed in 1947 and rehabilitated in 1985, after 38 years of service. The continuously reinforced pavement was constructed on IH610 Loop frontage roads in 1964 and is still in service after 24 years. Both pavements were considered to have experimental features at the time of construction. The jointed pavement was constructed with both the flexible subbase and the embankment soil being "wrapped" in an asphalt membrane. The continuously reinforced pavement contained several experimental sections in which the coarse aggregate type, the percent steel, and the preformed crack spacing was varied. The paper describes the study given to each experimental feature and suggests design and construction aspects which were developed from the analysis.