Two Days International Seminar on

“Construction and Rehabilitation of Rigid Pavement-Current Practice and Way Forward”

18th and 19th January, 2019 at New Delhi (India)

Necessity of Establishing
the Built-in Temperature Gradient
in Concrete Pavements
Venkata Jogarao Bulusu,
Prof. K. Sudhakar Reddy,
Prof. M. Amarnatha Reddy,
Late Prof. B.B. Pandey

Presenter: Venkata Jogarao Bulusu,

Research Scholar, IITKharagpur
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Introduction
• Built-in temperature gradient (BiTG) : Temperature
gradient present in the slab at the time when the
cement concrete mix hardens

• If the temperature gradient in hardened concrete slab

is equal to the built-in temperature gradient, then the
curling stress in the slab will be zero

• So, the BiTG is also called zero stress temperature

gradient

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Introduction
• Establishment of BiTG is very important to estimate the
magnitude of curling stress in concrete slab for a given
temperature gradient

• If the magnitude of BiTG is “+x “ and the temperature

gradient is “+y”, the curling stress has to be calculated
for an effective temperature gradient of “y-x”

• Similarly if the temperature gradient is “-y”, the

effective temperature gradient will be “-y-x” or “-(y+x)”

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Slab curling due to positive
temperature differential

Built-in Curl

Positive built-in temperature gradient Slab curling due to negative

temperature differential
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Problem statement

• In India, concrete pavement design is done according

to the design equations given in IRC: 58-2015
guidelines

• IRC: 58-2015 takes into account the axle load and the
effective temperature gradient for estimating the
stresses

• IRC: 58-2015 indicates that an average value of the

built-in temperature gradient of 5°C can be
considered for design
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Problem statement
• Majority of the Indian concrete pavement designs are
done considering the 5°C built-in temperature gradient
only.

• However, this assumed value is taken in design as there

is no established data available on built-in temperature
gradient

• This assumption may lead to either over-estimation or

under-estimation of the magnitude of curling stress,
depending on the difference between the assumed and
actual values of built-in temperature gradient
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 Methodology
• Selection of a period of construction to have a negative
BiTG

• Selection of a method to establish the time for

measurement of BiTG

• Measurement of BiTG

• Estimation of stresses using assumed and observed BiTG

values

• Calculating the difference in stress magnitude

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Selection of parameters
• A winter night in the month of January was selected

• Section constructed in the evening was selected as

the temperature drops after laying

• 180 mm thick concrete overlay over bituminous

pavement was considered for the study (our test
section)

• Temperature measurements were taken at the

surface as well as at three different depths
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Initial temperature measurements

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Temperature measurements during observation period

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 Temperature measurements (Schematic)

Concrete layer

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Establishing approximate time of measurement of BiTG

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Test protocol: ASTM C 403 Pavements, Organized by IRC
BiTG Observations

Date Chainage (km)  54+050 54+100

Time of laying 5:00 PM 6:39 PM
29th Mix temperature °C 27.8 26.8
January 2018 Air temperature °C 28.6 21
time of hardening 2:00 AM 3:00 AM
Air temperature at time of
30th January 2018 hardening °C 18 13

Time lapsed 9 hours 8.5 hours

Drop in air temperature °C 10.6 8

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BiTG Observations

Chainage Km 54+050 Chainage Km 54+100

Temperature in Temperature in
Depth in mm °C Depth in mm °C
0 17.8 0 15
70 24 25 17.1
120 27 90 25.5
165 28.9 170 28
BiTG in °C (-) 11.1 BiTG in °C (-) 13

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BiTG Observations (Graphical representation)

(a) Time of laying 5:00 PM (a) Time of laying 6:39 PM

Variation of Temperature with Different Depths at BiTG

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Variation of temperature differential during a day in the month of May

Maximum positive temperature differential of 15.7 °C is observed

Maximum temperature differential suggested for the state of Jharkhand is

16.8 °C as per IRC: 58-2015
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Maximum temperature differential suggested for the state of
Jharkhand is 16.8 °C as per IRC: 58-2015

For comparing the stresses due to a BiTG of -13 °C and 5 °C,

stresses in the case of bottom up cracking were calculated at temperature
differential values of 16.8 °C and 29.8 °C (16.8+13)

Pavement slab thickness of 28 cm is assumed for the study

Maximum value of Modulus of subgrade reaction (k) of 300 MPa/m given in

IRC:58-2015 is considered

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The stress calculations were done with the following set of input parameters

With tied concrete shoulder √

Effective modulus of subgrade reaction of foundation, MPa/m 300
Unit weight of Concrete, kN/m3 24
28-day Flexural strength of cement concrete, MPa 4.5
Max. day-time Temperature Differential in slab, °C (for bottom-up
cracking) 16.8
Night-time Temperature Differential in slab, °C (for top-down
cracking) = day-time diff/2 + 5 13.4
Trial Thickness of Concrete Slab, m 0.28

Generally taken value of BiTG 5

BiTG observed -13
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Variation in the Flexural Tensile Stresses for Single Axle Loads

Variation in the Flexural Tensile Stresses for Tandem Axle Loads

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 Conclusions
• The built-in temperature gradient (BiTG) observed in the field
on January night above location in Jharkhand was (-)13 °C,
which is very different from the popular assumption of
average (+) 5 °C taken in pavement design.

• The percentage increase in the stresses, when observed BiTG

is considered in the design instead of the assumed value, is as
high as 42 % for single axle loads (80 kN) and 50 % for tandem
axle loads (170 kN) for lower axle loads.

• This increase is as high as 27% for single axle loads (190 kN)
and 32% for tandem axle loads (390 kN) for higher axle loads
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Conclusions
• The presence of BiTG of - 13 °C, makes the usually
designed (BiTG 5 °C) pavements grossly inadequate,
leading to early transverse cracks

• The design thickness for the measured BiTG of - 13 °C is

40-50% higher than the design thickness for BiTG of 5 °C

• There is a need to establish the BiTG for different seasons

and different geographical regions, so as to have an
appropriate design for the corresponding conditions

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Acknowledgements
Late Prof. B B Pandey, (for inspiration, support and guidance)
Advisor, SRIC, Department of Civil Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

National Highway Authority of India (NHAI),

Government of India (for funding the project titled: “Laboratory and field
investigation of paneled cement concrete pavements for highways” and supporting
in all respects)

Dilip Buildcon Ltd, Bhopal, India

(for executing the work as per our requirements, providing support at all stages of
testing)

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 References
 Grasley, Z. C., Lange, D. A., & Matthew, D. D. (2006). “Internal relative humidity and drying stress gradients in
concrete”, Materials and Structures, 39(9), 901.
 IRC:58-2015, “Guidelines for the design of plain jointed rigid pavements for highways”, IRC, New Delhi
 Rao S and Roesler J, (2005), “Characterizing Effective Built-In Curling from Concrete Pavement Field
Measurements”, J. Transp. Eng., 2005, 131(4): pp. 320-327
 Teller, L W, Sutherland, E C (1935), “The structural design of concrete pavements”, part 2. Public Roads, vol.16,
no.9. BY THE DIVISION OF TESTS, BUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS, https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/25580,
accessed on : 18th September 2018
 Transportation Officials. (2008). “Mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide: A manual of practice”.
AASHTO.
 Subramanian V.V (1964), “Investigation on temperature and friction stresses in bonded cement concrete
pavement”, Ph.D. Thesis, Transportation Engineering Division, Civil Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur
 Wells, S. A., Phillips, B. M., & Vandenbossche, J. M. (2006). “Quantifying built-in construction gradients and
early-age slab deformation caused by environmental loads in a jointed plain concrete pavement”. International
Journal of Pavement Engineering, 7(4), 275-289.
 Westergaard, H. M. (1926), “Stresses in concrete pavements computed by theoretical analysis”, Public Roads.Vol
7, No 2, pp 25-35

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Thank you
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