• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.537-548
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• 2022

It is important to design the pavement thickness considering heavy-duty traffic loads, which can cause excessive stress and strain in the pavement. Port-rear roads and industrial roads have many problems due to early stress in pavement because these have a higher ratio of heavy loads than general roads such as national roads and expressways. Internationally, composite pavement has been widely applied in pavement designs in heavy-duty areas. Composite pavement is established as an economic pavement type that can increase the design life by nearly double compared to that of existing pavement while also decreasing maintenance and user costs. This study suggests a thickness design method for composite pavement using roller-compacted concrete as a base material to ensure long-term serviceability in heavy-duty areas such as port-rear roads and industrial roads. A three-dimensional finite element analysis was conducted to investigate the mechanical behavior and the long-term pavement performance ultimately to suggest a thickness design method that considers changes in the material properties of the roller-compacted concrete (RCC) base layer. In addition, this study presents a user-friendly catalog design method for RCC-base composite pavement considering the concept of linear damage accumulation for each container trailer depending on the season.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.45-52
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• 2017

PURPOSES : The main purpose of this study is to develop a high elastic modulus and low-shrinkage roller-compacted concrete base (RCCB) in order to prevent fatigue cracking and reflective cracking in the asphalt surface layer of composite pavement. Using a rigid base material with low shrinkage can be a solution to this problem. Moreover, a strong rigid base with high elastic modulus is able to shift the location of critical tensile strain from the bottom of the asphalt layer to the bottom of the rigid base layer, which can prevent fatigue cracking in the asphalt layer. METHODS : Sensitivity analysis of composite pavement via numerical methods is implemented to determine an appropriate range of elastic modulus of the rigid base that would eliminate fatigue cracking. Various asphalt thicknesses and elastic moduli of the rigid base are used in the analysis to study their respective influences on fatigue cracking. Low-shrinkage RCC mixture, as determined via laboratory testing with various amounts of a CSA expansion agent (0%, 7%, and 10%), is found to achieve an appropriate low-shrinkage level. Shrinkage of RCC is measured according to KS F 2424. RESULTS : This study shows that composite pavements comprising asphalt thicknesses of (h1) 2 in. with E2 > 19 GPa, 4 in. with E2 > 15 GPa, and 6 in. with E2 > 11 GPa are able to eliminate tensile strain in the asphalt layer, which is the cause of fatigue cracking in this layer. Shrinkage test results demonstrate that a 10% CSA RCC mixture can reduce shrinkage by 84% and 93% as compared to conventional RCC and PCC, respectively. CONCLUSIONS : According to the results of numerical analyses using various design inputs, composite pavements are shown to be able to eliminate fatigue cracking in composite pavement. Additionally, an RCC mixture with 10% CSA admixture is able to reduce or eliminate reflective cracking in asphalt surfaces as a result of the significant shrinkage reduction in the RCC base. Thus, this low-shrinkage base material can be used as an alternative solution to distresses in composite pavement.