Field Investigation into Early Age Behavior of Joint Plain Concrete Pavement

The temperature variation of the concrete pavement in the early age significantly affects the initiation and propagation of its early age cracks. This implies that the measurement and analysis of early age temperature trend are necessary to examine the causes of early age cracks in the concrete pavement. In this study, it is investigated how the early age temperature trend in the concrete pavement affects the random crack initiation and behaviors of saw-cut joints using the actual construction site which is located at the KHC test road. During 72 hours after placing the concrete pavement, the ambient air temperature and temperatures at the top, middle, and bottom in the concrete pavement were measured and the random crack initiation in concrete slabs and early age behaviors in the joints were surveyed. The investigation results indicate that the first random crack was initiated at one of the slabs placed in the early morning which have higher temperature changes during early 72 hours. In addition, the joints that were saw-cut in the morning were cracked more rapidly than those saw-cut in the afternoon.