Temperature Sensitivity of Precast Concrete Panels Used for the Repair of Rigid Pavements

Utilization of the precast concrete slabs can potentially provide expeditious solutions for repairs of damaged rigid pavements. The work presented in this paper was performed mainly to analyze the influence of temperature variation during one day in the performance of three installation techniques using two different leveling materials. The synergistic influence of material properties and construction techniques on the performance of the repaired sections were evaluated by comparing three identical repaired patches installed differently with no traffic prior to testing. The repaired patches were subjected to heavy weight deflectometer (HWD) for back-calculations of the layer moduli and the orthogonal load transfer efficiencies at the two sides of joints for all permutations of the experiment design. Analysis of load transfer efficiencies between the repaired sections and the pre-existing slabs at different temperatures provided valuable insight on the temperature sensitivity and load transfer devices importance in the performance of the repaired sections.