Concrete Pavement Design Simplified

[sybie99]

Hi

I am actually a structural engineer but was asked to design a concrete road. The base is a Type 1 fill, bearing capacity of 200kPa. The vehicles will be tipper trucks and also a few unusual loads (its an access road to a dam site) to bring in heavy machinary. Lets say a 100 tonne flat bed truck is the largest vehicle to use the road. Is there a simple way to get a slab thickness and rebar requirements?

Sorry for my ignorance, not my field but trying to find a solution.

Thanks

 

[Ron]

Not sure where you are located, but in the US, the two most prominent references for rigid pavement design are the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and AASHTO. The AASHTO procedure is relatively straightforward.

 

[cvg]

FAA is another prominent reference for really heavy loads on concrete pavement.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/tfhrc/programs/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/rigid.cfm

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/tfhrc/programs/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/rigidorder.cfm

http://www.ltpp.org/rigid.xls

http://www.faa.gov/airports/engineering/design_software/media/rigid_pavement_manual.pdf

 

[BigH]

Besides what Ron added, you might try checking out Yoder and Witczak's book Principals of Pavement Design. Robert G. Packard also wrote a book that can be obtained off the net, I believe (an oldie but goodie), from PCA on Concrete Airport Pavement. Some may think these are a bit dated but they are a good basis to start and may be all that you need.

 

[Ron]

BigH...ah, yes....how could I leave out my man Matt Witczak. Still refer to the book routinely. In 1983, in graduate school, we used Yoder and Witczak. In 1989, his firm and my firm were bought by the same company. Over the next 7 or 8 years I got to work with him on several projects. The Guru!