Abstract
A structural evaluation and analysis of instrumented plain portland cement concrete pavement was performed in a rural primary highway subjected to heavy dynamic loads. Two full-scale slabs were constructed and tested to verify the dynamic analysis of the computer program UPR-PAVI2, which was developed at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez using finite elements. It has the capability to analyze the effect of temperature differential, dead load, and dynamic and static trucks on rigid pavements. UPR-PAVI2 can consider different soil stiffness under the slab, the slab geometry, and multiple trucks and their longitudinal paths, velocities, stiffnesses, geometries, and load distributions. The instrumented slabs included both doweled and undoweled. Their material properties were obtained through laboratory and field tests. The subbase course consisted of a cut section in limestone bedrock for the doweled slab and borrowed material from limestone rock for the fill section used in the undoweled slab. The base course was composed of two layers of nonerodable black bituminous base. The slabs were constructed with concrete with a compressive strength of 34 MPa (5,000 psi) at 28 days. A loaded truck generated the established repetitions by moving over the instrumented slabs at different velocities, producing static and dynamic deflections that were measured with a data acquisition system. The replication and behavior of the response were analyzed, and the validated data were compared with the response obtained using UPR-PAVI2. The results obtained from this simulation were in good agreement with the field data.
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