Monitoring Early Age Behavior in the Construction of Joint Plain Concrete Pavement

Abstract

The temperature variation of the concrete pavement in the early age significantly affects the initiation and propagation of its early age cracks. The measurement and analysis of ealy age temperature trend are necessary to examine the causes of early age cracks in the jointed concrete pavement(JCP). In this study, it is investigated how the early age temperature trend in the concrete pavement affects the random crack initiation and behaviors of saw-cut joints using the KEC test road. After placing the concrete pavement, the ambient air temperature and temperatures in the concrete pavement were measured and the random crack initiation in concrete slabs and early behaviors in the joints were surveyed. The results indicate that the first random crack was initiated at one of the slabs placed in the early morning. In addition, the joints that were saw-cut in the morning were cracked more rapidly than those saw-cut in the afternoon.