Effect of daily temperature variations on the continuous deflection profiles of airfield jointed concrete pavements

Compared with highway roads primarily damaged by repeated vehicle loads, airfield pavements suffer more from heavier aircraft loading, along with environmental factors. In particular, a pavement temperature is one of the critical factors affecting the behavior and response of airfield jointed concrete pavements (JCP). Temperature variations cause curling and expansion/contraction of a slab, which may ultimately influence the in-situ deflection measurements. Along with the pavement temperature, it is well known that other parameters such as subsurface conditions (i.e. stiffness of base/subbase layers), setting temperature of concrete, slab dimensions, and joint/crack width also affect the behavior and response of JCP. The main objectives of this paper are to characterize: (1) the behavior of airfield JCP due to temperature variations in terms of pavement “deflections” (defined as the dynamic movements of a pavement induced by dynamic loading); and (2) the effects of various affecting parameters on the vertical displacement profile of JCP slabs. The primary research means include in-situ pavement deflection measurements at different times of a day. For this purpose, a rolling dynamic deflectometer (RDD) which measures the continuous deflection profiles along a selected pavement section (100% coverage of a tested path) was employed. Also, extensive two-dimensional numerical simulations were performed to provide supporting evidence for the behavior trends generated by RDD.