Topic 5: Rigid

Pavements
CSE29357
Highway Engineering
Dr. Yuhong Wang
Professor
Fall 2020

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 Contents
 Hong Kong Road Network Facts
 Pictures of Highways around the World
 Definition and Types of Pavement
 Flexible Pavements
 Rigid Pavements
 Comparison between Flexible and Rigid
Pavements

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 Rigid Pavements
 Also known as concrete pavements.
 Composed of reinforced or plain
(unreinforced) concrete slabs laid on the soil
or on a shallow granular bed.

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 Materials for Rigid Pavements
 Portland Cement Concrete (PCC): a
combination of aggregate, water and Portland
cement to form a hard, strong construction
material when set.
 PCC is known by several names including
"cement" and "concrete".
 Note: concrete is a term used to describe materials
that are held together by a binding substance.
Thus, asphalt concrete and Portland cement
concrete are two types of concrete, the first one is
with the "bitumen" and the latter one is with
"Portland cement" as the binding material.

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 Types of Rigid Pavements

JPCP JRCP
Jointed Plain Concrete Jointed Reinforced
Pavement Concrete Pavement

CRCP
Continuously Reinforced
Concrete Pavement

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Typical Rigid Pavement Structure in
Hong Kong
 Rigid Pavements in HK mainly consist of two
layers, the concrete slab and the sub-base.
 Essentially, it’s a JRCP Mesh
reinforcement

Separation
membrane

Subgrade
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 Functions of Each Layer
 Concrete Slab: Used as the running surface of
roads which must meet the minimum strength
requirement.
 Sub-base: The function of a sub-base in a rigid
pavement is not so much to increase the
structural stability of the pavement but to
counteract or correct unsatisfactory subgrade
conditions which could lead to non-uniform
support for the concrete slab. Particular
instance where sub-base is used to provide
uniform, stable and permanent support to the
concrete slab.
 Usually, unbound crushed stones are used in sub-
base. But lean concrete and soil cement are also
sometimes used.
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 Separation Membrane
 Material: normally polythene (plastic
material) sheet
 Purposes:
 Reduction of the friction between the concrete
slab and the sub-base.
 Prevent the loss of fine into a porous sub-base.

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 Joints
 Joints are the deliberate planes of weakness
inserted into the concrete pavement.
 The purposes of installing joints in road slab are
generally as follows:
 To permit contraction and expansion of the concrete
under the action of temperature and moisture
changes.
 To allow warping and curling (twisting or angular)
movements due to moisture and temperature variation
between opposite surfaces of the slab.
 To prevent unsightly irregular breaking of the
pavement.
 As a construction expedient to allow for breaking in
construction at the end of the day's work.

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 Question?
 When the temperature starts to increase
during the day time, is the concrete slab
surface in tension or compression under the
combined effects of vehicle loading and
temperature curling?

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 Joint Types
 According to their directions,
joints can be divided into the
following types: Slab
 Longitudinal Joints: parallel to
the driving direction.
 Transverse Joints:
perpendicular to driving
direction
Reinforcement

Longitudinal joint
Transverse joint

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 Joint Types (Cont’d)
 According to their functions , joints can be
classified into the following categories :
 Expansion Joints
 Contraction Joints
 Warping Joints
 Construction Joints
 The number of joints should be kept to the
minimum as far as possible, because the
construction of joints involves a considerable
amount of extra work and is reliable to interfere
with the progress of work (concreting).

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 Expansion Joints
 Designed to provide space in the concrete to allow for the expansion
of the slab when the temperature rises above the temperature at
which the concrete was laid.
 Expansion joints can help preventing the development of very high
compressive stresses (due to expansion), which can cause the
pavement to buckle or blow up.

 These joints can also be used to isolate pavement intersections and

to isolate structures on the pavement.

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 Expansion Joints (Cont’d)
Filler Sealer

Expansion cap partly

filled with cotton

Dowel bars (painted and greased this

 Joint Filler end)
 Elastic, compressible material without extruding; durable,
sufficiently rigid to facilitate its support during construction.
Example materials for joint filler are fibreboard or cork.
 Joint Sealer
 Good adhesion to concrete, sufficient resistance to traffic
flow, prevent the ingress of stone grit and water. Example
materials for joint filler are rubber-bitumen compound (hot-
poured) or neoprene strips.
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 Dowel Bars

No dowel bar: zero load transfer efficiency

With dowel bar: improved load transfer efficiency

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 Pumping
 When free water gets into boundaries
between the structural layers of the
pavement, each heavy load impact causes
water to move above the interface. Material
such as silt (mud sand) is voided and ejected
out through cracks and joints, producing
channels.

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 Pumping
Direction of
Traffic
Approach Leave
Hydrostatic or Water Jet
Free Water Pressure

Direction of
Traffic
Approach Leave
Water is Violently Displaced
Carrying Suspended Fines
Pumping

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 Contraction Joints
 Designed to prevent on the tension cracking of the
pavement when the pavement contracts due to shrinkage
caused by curing, decrease in moisture content, or a
temperature drop.
 These joints are normally constructed at right angles to
the centre line of the carriageway. But sometimes skewed
joints are also used to help load transfer between slabs.
Induce the crack by the groove on
the top

Paint and grease Bond with

dowel Concrete

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 Warping Joints
 These joints are simply breaks in the continuity of
the concrete which allow a small amount of angular
movement to occur between adjacent slabs.
 These joints prevent excessively high stresses due
to restrained warping and curling. The main purpose
of warping joints is for longitudinal jointing.

Tie Bar

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 Construction Joints
 These joints are required to facilitate the
construction operations. They are formed when
construction work is unexpected interrupted, e.g.
mechanical break down or bad weather.
 These joints are also provided as transverse joints
at the end of each day's work and at other points
where placing of concrete is discontinued.

Paint and grease dowel

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 Spacing of Joint

35.0

27.5

21.0

16.5

2.61 3.41 4.34 5.55

Weight of reinforcement (kg/m2)

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 Size of Dowel Bar
Required Pavement Dowel Bar
Depth, mm Diameter, mm

150 - 170 20
180 - 190 25
200 - 270 30
≥280 40

Note: Dowel bar spacing should be 300mm.

Dowel bar length should be 450mm.

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 Requirement of A Good Joint
1. A joint must be waterproof at all times.
2. A joint should not be permitted ingress of stone
grits.
3. A joint must be permitted to move freely at all
times.
4. A joint should not detract from the riding
quality of a carriageway.
5. A joint should interfere as little as possible in
concreting.
6. A joint should not be the cause of an
unexpected structural weakness in a pavement.

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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A Concrete Pavement Construction
Project

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 Contents
 Hong Kong Road Network Facts
 Pictures of Highways around the World
 Definition and Types of Pavement
 Flexible Pavements
 Rigid Pavements
 Comparison between Flexible and Rigid
Pavements

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 Comparison between
Rigid Pavement & Flexible Pavement
RIGID PAVEMENT FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT
1. Only concrete slab 1. Multi-layers, highest quality
and sub-base. material on top.
2. Able to bridge over 2. Reflects the deformation of
localized area of sub-grade and subsequent
inadequate support.
layers on surface.
3. Structural capacity
from flexural strength 3. Stability depends on
of concrete slab. aggregate interlock, friction
4. CBR of sub-grade not and cohesion.
so critical, load over a 4. Design greatly influenced
wide area of sub- by sub-grade CBR
grade. (California Bearing ratio).
5. Tendency to develop 5. Under extreme heat, liable
surface glaring under
sun. to become soft and creep.

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Comparison between Rigid Pavement
& Flexible Pavement(Cont’d)
RIGID PAVEMENT
6. Joints are vulnerable.
7. Higher initial cost.
Lower maintenance cost.
8. Not easily repairable.
Expensive for utility work
after pavement laid.
9. Surface more durable.
Better visibility at night.
10. Long curing period.
FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT
6. No jointing problem.
7. Cheaper initial cost but
higher maintenance cost.
8. Easily repairable.
Convenient for utility
works.
9. Surface more pleasing.
Usually less noisy.
10. Can be opened to traffic
immediately.
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 Composite Pavements
 The FHWA (Federal Highway Administration, USA)
also identifies a third type of pavement, called a
Composite Pavement.
 Composite pavements are combination of HMA and
PCC pavements.

HMA Overlay on top of PCC PCC Overlay on top of HMA

Also Known as White Topping
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