Design Methodology of Large Cement Concrete Slabs

Due to the brittleness and volume sensitivity, segmentation is necessary for the cement concrete pavement slabs currently in widespread use to mitigate thermal stress and deformation. The dimensions of segmented pavement slabs are typically constrained to 4∼6 m, which results in a large number of joints. These joints cause damages such as corner spalling and fracture under the impact of repeated loads and environmental factors. In addition, maintenance costs are significantly increased due to the numerous joints. To enhance pavement performance and extend service lifespan, this paper proposes a design methodology for large pavement slabs. This method breaks the dimensional constraint and significantly reduces the number of joints, thereby improving comfort and durability, lowering maintenance costs, and meeting the operational requirements of new aircraft types. In this paper, pavement slab thermal stress is divided into curling stress and thermal expansion stress according to different deformation types. The diurnal and annual distributions of these two types of stresses are also investigated. Moreover, the maximum dimension design of pavement slabs comprehensively considers aircraft loads, thermal stresses, and fatigue characteristics. The results indicate that the diurnal and annual distributions of curling and thermal expansion stresses exhibit sinusoidal patterns. Under different temperature gradients and slab thicknesses, the allowable maximum slab dimension is presented. It is feasible to break the 4∼6 m limit for the maximum dimension of the pavement slab, which provides a new reference for improving pavement performance and lifespan.