Title:
Hiperpave/Guidance to Avoid Early-Age Cracking in Concrete Pavements
Author(s):
S. W. Forster
Publication:
Symposium Paper
Volume:
192
Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
1109-1122
Keywords:
concrete pavements; environments; mix proportioning;
DOI:
10.14359/5804
Date:
4/1/2000
Abstract:
Concrete can be used to construct durable, long-lasting pavements; every day the traveling public experiences, first-hand, examples to verify this statement throughout the world. There are also, however, examples of concrete pavements that have not lived up to our expectations, often due to uncontrolled cracking occurring very early in their life. The Federal Highway Administration conducted a study to investigate this problem, and develop guidelines to help avoid it in future pavement construction. The resulting guidelines are in the form of a user-friendly computer program (HIPERPAV) which uses job-specific input in the areas of material selection and mix proportioning; pavement design; environmental conditions; and construction procedures. Through a series of models the program predicts the tensile stress and tensile strength development in the pavement over the first 72 hours and the resultant possibility for early-age uncontrolled cracking. This paper provides an overview of the development of HIPERPAV, including the scope of the problem addressed; areas of consideration for inputs to the program; incorporation of the inputs into the guidelines through modeling, and an example analysis by HIPERPAV. The program allows the engineer to consider a number of scenarios during the mix design and pavement design process, so that the pavement ultimately placed will have the best chance of surviving those first three critical days in a crack-free condition. Additional modules will continue to be added to HIPERPAV, to consider the effects of other factors, such as early-age loading, on long-term performance of the pavement.