Pavement at Curve Problems

[Geof]

I've been asked to look at concrete paving in my town and make recommendations for repairs.

One item that is "interesting" is the growth of cracks and expansion joints at street curves. Intersections don't seem to have the problem.

I found one reference that states "Thermal expansion effects are most pronounced at curves, where the roadway is pushed outward from both tangent ends." It seems to describe the problem, although it seems to affect some curves more than others.

The question: Recommended references describing solutions to this problem. It seems to be neglected in all of my current references.

 

[GeoPaveTraffic]

We have the same problem with curves and with straight sections on some hills. The problem appears to be more pronounced in some soil conditions than others.

We have found no solutions to the problem, mearly treatment of the problems it creates. Mostly, we replace concrete drive approns with asphalt in the areas that are moving, this prevents the house from being pushed off the foundation. Don't laugh it has happened.

Otherwise, when we are replacing streets we put a 2-inch thick, full depth, isolation joint at the begining and ending point of each curve, at the head of cul-de-sacs, and at each leg of an intersection. To help with the concrete stresses, we also increase the concrete thickness by 2 inches at these locations.

Hope this helps. By the way we call it "street creep", and I have posed about it in one of the forms in the past.