Automated crack control analysis for concrete pavement construction

The focus of this research is on the control of random cracking in concrete paving by using sawcut notch locations in the early stages of construction. This is a major concern in concrete pavement construction. This research also addresses a probabilistic approach to determine the optimum time and depth of sawcutting for newly constructed portland cement concrete pavements. Variability in climate conditions and material characteristics during the hardening process affects the potential of cracking at any sawcut depth. Several factors affecting the probability of crack initiation are material strength parameters, method and quality of curing, slab/subbase stiffness, the amount and depth of steel reinforcement, friction between the slab and the subbase, and concrete shrinkage. Other factors relevant to concrete mixture characteristics such as cement content and type of coarse aggregate affect development of early aged stresses caused by shrinkage and thermally induced contraction. A probabilistic analysis of the factors that affect crack control using sawcut notches is presented in relation to different weather conditions (concrete placement temperature) at the time of construction, and concrete mixture characteristics such as fly ash replacement (FA) and cement factor (CF). Both of these significantly affect sawcut timing and depth requirement. The determination of crack initiation is based on fracture mechanics. Estimation of the time of cracking is based on predicted tensile strength and stress in the concrete at the bottom of the sawcut notch to assess the feasibility of crack control in the early stages of construction.