CRCP ME Design Guide

In this Guide, the history of continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) design methods for slab thickness and longitudinal steel reinforcement is reviewed. It is stated that, in general, CRCP design methods evolved from actual experience or field testing based on more mechanistic analysis. However, CRCP is a complicated system with a number of variables interacting with each other. It appears that CRCP design procedures based on mechanistic analysis with empirical performance information, such as the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) or the TxCRCP-ME, will be the primary design program for the foreseeable future. A table is presented describing the current state of practice for CRCP design in selected states. It shows that most states still use the 1993 AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement Structures for slab thickness design. It also shows that most states determine steel percentages based on experience and use steel amounts between 0.7% and 0.8% except for Texas. In Texas, steel percentage is not as high as in other states. Further discussion in this Guide concerns transverse crack spacing, crack width, load transfer efficiency, and subbase support. The remaining sections of the Guide briefly discuss materials for CRCP and construction of CRCP.