Sensitivity Analysis of Transverse Cracking for Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement: Fid-Bau Portal

Sensitivity Analysis of Transverse Cracking for Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement

Zha, Xudong

Sensitivity analyses for transverse cracking of Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP) were investigated for the CRCP structure of Lei-Yi (Leiyang to Yizhang) Expressway in Hunan Province, China. The investigation included 13 main parameters (slab thickness, elastic modulus of steel, temperature shrinkage coefficient of steel, drying shrinkage strain, compression strength, creep coefficient of concrete, elastic modulus of concrete, temperature shrinkage coefficient of concrete, diameter and spacing of longitudinal reinforcement, base friction coefficient, reinforcement bond strength and temperature differences) at 5 different levels. The average crack spacing, the average crack width and the maximum reinforcement stress were simultaneously calculated with the iterative algorithms according to the one-dimension nonlinear analysis method. It considered the creep action and the nonlinear boundary properties that took into account the bond-slip between reinforcement and concrete, and the friction-slip between slab and base. The sensitivities of CRCP transverse cracking influenced by each factor were analyzed with the relative comparison method quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show that the main factors impacting the CRCP transverse cracking included shrinkage properties of concrete, concrete grade, spacing and diameter of reinforcement, and the grade and type of reinforcement.