Temperature Stress of Roller Compacted Concrete Base of Durable Asphalt Pavement

Earlier research has demonstrated that rigid base, when properly applied, can enhance the cracking and rutting resistance of asphalt concrete layers in pavements. This study focussed on developing the temperature stress distribution of roller compacted concrete(RCC) base by conducting appropriate experiments and developing a simplified theoretical model in the case of the transient loading situation. To demonstrate the effect of the length, width, thickness of roller compacted concrete plate, temperature shrinkage coefficient, modulus, temperature gradient and the thickness of asphalt layer, a series of three-dimensional finite element simulations were conducted. To demonstrate the temperature shrinkage performance of RCC, a large number of laboratory tests were conducted. The results indicated that changing the variables of RCC influenced the temperature stress distribution in laboratory specimens. Increasing the width, thickness of roller compacted concrete plate and decreasing the other factors can assited in reducing the temperature stress. In addition, laboratory tests showed that compared with the traditional semi-rigid base, the temperature shrinkage coefficient of RCC is less, the cracking resistance of RCC is better, and the decrease amplitude of temperature stress is 40%. It can realize the durability of RCC base of asphalt pavement by reasonable construction technology and structure design.