Fracture Behavior of Concrete Materials for Rigid Pavement Systems

The main focus of this thesis is to determine fracture properties of concrete mixtures used in three projects ??? specifically functionally graded concrete materials (FGCM) for twolift rigid pavement construction, UTW composite material behavior, and fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) pavements ??? and the evaluation of mixture design selection to assist engineers in optimizing field performance. Concrete mixture designs from several rigid pavement projects were evaluated in the laboratory for their strength and fracture properties. The paper reviews the current design philosophy of concrete pavements, presents an argument for use of fracture testing of concrete materials, and finally reviews three relatively new rigid pavement systems.unpublishedis peer reviewe