Load Transfer Characteristics of Roller-Compacted Concrete Pavement Joints and Cracks

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ design procedure for roller-compacted concrete (RCC) pavements assumes that no load transfer is achieved at RCC joints or cracks. This is in contrast to the Corps of Engineers’ rigid pavement design procedure for airfields, parking areas, and open storage areas, where a 25 percent load transfer is assumed for all joints and cracks. The no-load-transfer assumption for RCC pavements is conservative and is based upon limited data that indicated that RCC pavement joints did not achieve a 25 percent load transfer. The purpose of this study was to identify common types of RCC pavement joints and cracks, to determine the load transfer characteristics of these joint and crack types at 12 RCC pavement test sites using the falling weight deflectometer and to indicate the effect of incorporating these load transfer characteristics within the corps’ RCC pavement design procedure. Thirteen RCC pavement joint and crack types were identified. The mean load transfer achieved at these joints and cracks varied from 4 percent to 32 percent, and was no less than 10 percent for the most common joints and cracks found. In two design examples comparing the existing corps RCC pavement design procedure with a modified version incorporating 10–15 percent load transfer, the design RCC pavement thickness decreased 8–17 percent.