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EFFECTS OF NONLINEAR TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION ON THERMAL STRESSES IN CONCRETE PAVEMENTS

Wei LIU Research Scholar Center for Transportation Research National University of Singapore 10 Kent Ridge Crescent SINGAPORE 119260 Fax: 65-6779-1635 E-mail: engp2472@nus.edu.sg Tien Fang FWA Professor Center for Transportation Research National University of Singapore 10 Kent Ridge Crescent SINGAPORE 119260 Fax: 65-6779-1635 E-mail: cvefwatf@nus.edu.sg

Abstract: Pavement temperature differential causes thermal stresses to be developed in concrete pavements. This paper employs a closed-form model to analyze the effect of nonlinear temperature distribution on thermal warping stresses in concrete pavements. This model was developed at the National University of Singapore for a single rectangular slab with four free edges resting on a Pasternak foundation. It takes into consideration the exact slab dimensions, the effect of subgrade inter-locking action and the effect of transverse shear deformation. The effects of the following factors on warping stresses in concrete pavement are analyzed: (a) horizontal slab dimensions, (b) slab thickness, (c) slab elastic modulus, (d) modulus of subgrade reaction, and (e) temperature profile across slab thickness. For each of the factors analyzed, the difference between stresses computed based on linear and nonlinear temperature profiles respectively are computed and the need for considering nonlinear temperature distribution is assessed. Keywords: Pavement thermal stresses, nonlinear temperature distribution, closed-form solution

1. INTRODUCTION Temperature is an important factor influencing the functioning of concrete pavements. Variations in temperature across the concrete slab thickness can cause horizontal and vertical displacements as well as warping stresses in concrete pavement slabs. Teller and Sutherland (1935) reported the results of tests conducted on concrete pavements to study the effects of variations in temperature and moisture. Their results showed that temperature distribution across the pavements thickness is highly nonlinear, and that measured stresses arising from restrained temperature warping are equal in importance to those produced by the heaviest legal wheel loads. Temperature effects on concrete pavement appear to have been first treated by Westergaard (1926). Under the assumption that temperature varies linearly across the thickness of a pavement slab, he developed solutions of warping stresses in slabs supported on Pasternak foundation for the following cases: (a) a slab infinite in both the x and y direction; (b) a slab
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infinite in positive y and both positive and negative x direction; (c) a slab with finite width b along y direction and infinite in both positive and negative x directions. Based on the work by Westergaard, Bradbury (1938) developed an approximate formula to estimate the maximum warping stresses in a concrete pavement slab with finite dimensions in both x and y directions by superposition of the case (c) solutions. Choubane and Tia (1992, 1995) carried out extensive investigation and analysis on the properties of non-linear temperature distribution in concrete pavement slabs. Their calculations based on finite element analysis showed that by considering the non-linear temperature effect, the calculated maximum tensile stresses in concrete pavement could be 11 percent larger during the period from late night to morning. Mohamed and Hansen (1997) also developed a model to discuss the effect of non-linear temperature distribution. They concluded that the real temperature distribution along the slab depth was important in the analysis of the effect of temperature variation, but not the temperature difference between the top and bottom surfaces of pavement slabs, which is the basic consideration in the analysis by linear temperature distribution assumption.

Nonlinear Temperature Distribution

(a) Component causing axial expansion or contraction

(b) Linear part of temperature profile causing

(c) Nonlinear part of temperature profile

Fig 1 Three Components of a Nonlinear Temperature Distribution This paper employs a closed-form theoretical model developed at the National University of Singapore (Zhang et al. 2003) to analyze the effect of non-linear temperature distribution on warping stresses in concrete pavements. This model is developed for a single rectangular slab with four free edges resting on a Pasternak foundation. It takes into consideration the exact slab dimensions and the effect of transverse shear deformation. The non-linear temperature distribution across the slab thickness is divided into three components (as shown in Fig 1) based on the following assumptions: (a) A uniform temperature part that produces axial expansion or contraction; (b) A linear part that causes bending and (c) A non-linear part of the temperature distribution that does not cause any deformation in the pavement slab, and the stress caused by this part can be obtained directly by multiplying the negative nonlinear

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temperature component by the coefficient of thermal expansion and the modulus of elasticity of concrete. The stresses caused by the linear part of temperature distribution are analyzed based on the Reinsser thick-plate theory and Pasternak foundation model. The pavement slab can be represented by two elemental slabs chosen for the problem (as shown in Fig 2). The solutions of elemental slabs with unknown coefficients are derived from fundamental equations. The solution of the pavement slab is obtained by superposition of the solutions of the two elemental slabs. After forcing the solution of pavement slab with unknown coefficients to satisfy the boundary conditions, the unknown coefficients can be decided and the warping stresses caused by the linear component of temperature distribution can be obtained. The final total warping stresses are obtained by adding up the stresses caused by the two parts of the temperature distribution.

b/2 a/2

b/2 y

Actual Slab y x x

a/2

b/2

b/2 Mx2 My2 o

b/2

b/2

a/2

a/2 My1

Mx1

Elemental Slab TE1

Elemental Slab TE2

Fig 2 Superposition of Elemental slabs for slab TA

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2. ANALYSIS OF NONLINEAR QUADRATIC EQUATION

TEMPERATURE

DISTRIBUTION

BY

To study the effects of a non-linear temperature distribution, it is convenient to apply a mathematical model that can best describe the non-linear temperature distribution. In this study, we express the temperature as a function of a quadratic equation. The general form of quadratic equation used to describe a non-linear temperature distribution is

t = At + Bt z + C t z 2

(1)

where t is the temperature in degrees, z is slab depth, with z = h/2 at the slab top and z = -h/2 at the slab bottom, where h is the slab thickness. At, Bt and Ct are unknown coefficients that can be derived from measured temperature data. Since three points can define a quadratic equation, the unknown coefficients At, Bt and Ct can be determined by matching the general form of quadratic equation with measured temperatures at three points. If these three temperatures are taken at the slab top (tt), at the middle point of the slab depth (tm), and at the bottom of the slab (tb), the coefficients At, Bt and Ct can be derived as follows:

At = t m
Bt =

(2a)
tb ) h

(t t

(2b)

Ct =

2(t t + t b 2t m ) h2

(2c)

After the coefficients have been determined, the temperature distribution can be divided into three components. The temperature distribution component which causes axial expansion or contraction can be obtained by integrating the temperature distribution across the slab section and dividing the integral by the slab thickness as follows:
t axial =

C h2 1 h2 At + Bt z + C t z 2 dz = At + t h h 2 12

(3)

The linear part of temperature distribution that causes bending of pavement slab is determined by first obtaining the difference between the axial component from the total distribution of temperature, and then finding a linear temperature distribution along the slab depth that would produce the same moment about the mid-depth of slab as that due to the difference. That is, t total t axial Ct h 2 = Bt z + C t z 12
2

(4)

And the moment is

h C h2 B h3 M t = h2 Bt z + C t z 2 t zdz = t 12 12 2

(5)

The linear temperature distribution that varies from +Tcurling at the slab top to Tcurling at the

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slab bottom, and produces the same moment as Equation (5) is given by,

Mt =

h2 Bt h 3 = Tcurling 6 12

(6)

can be derived, and the corresponding expression for tlinear at 2 any depth z can be found to be: t linear = Bt z Finally, the nonlinear part of the temperature distribution can be obtained as follow: t nonlinear = t total t axial t linear = C t z 2 Ct h 2 12 (8) (7)

Bh from which Tcurling = t

3. STRESS ANALYSIS PROCEDURE BASED ON NONLINEAR TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION

As described in Section 2, the non-linear part of temperature distribution does not cause any deformation in the pavement slab since the cross-section of slab is assumed to remain plane. Thus, the non-linear part of temperature distribution will cause stresses in the slab as if the slab were restrained from any kind of deformation. The thermal stresses caused by non-linear part of temperature distribution can be determined directly as follow:

nonlinear = E t t nonlinear

(9)

where nonlinear is the stress caused by the nonlinear part of the temperature distribution, E is the elastic modulus of concrete, t is the coefficient of thermal expansion, and t nonlinear is nonlinear part of temperature distribution. By dividing the temperature profile into 3 components, it is apparent that the non-linear part of temperature distribution has no influence on the bending of the pavement slab. The effects of this non-linear part of temperature distribution on the total stresses in the pavement slabs are independent of the effects of the linear part of temperature distribution and other factors. Thus, we can determine the stresses caused by the non-linear and linear parts separately and find the solutions of total stresses by adding algebraically these two sets of stresses. The stresses caused by the linear part of temperature distribution can be obtained by using the NUS model developed by Zhang et al. (2003). First, the special elemental slabs (Fig. 2) for this problem are selected, and the corresponding solutions of different elemental slabs with unknown coefficients are derived. Next, the solutions of slab are expressed as superposed solutions of the corresponding elemental slabs with unknown coefficients. Finally, the unknown coefficients in the solutions of the slab are determined by forcing the solutions to satisfy the boundary conditions. After the unknown coefficients have been determined, the

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warping stresses caused by linear part of temperature distribution can be obtained as follows:

( x )linear

6[M x1 + M x 2 ] h2 6 M y1 + M y 2

(10a)

( )

y linear

(10b)

where M x1 , M x 2 , M y1 and M y 2 are as defined in Fig. 2. Finally, the total warping stresses caused by temperature gradients can be obtained by adding up the stresses caused by the two parts of the temperature distribution given by Equation (9) and Equations (10a) and (10b).

4. PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS OF EFFECTS OF NONLINEAR TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION 4.1 Effect of Horizontal Slab Dimensions

This section compares the warping stresses of concrete pavement slabs of different sizes. The properties of all slabs are: the slab thickness h=0.23m, modulus of subgrade reaction k = 81MN/m 3 , elastic modulus of concrete E = 3.1 10 4 MPa , Possions ratio = 0.2 , and the coefficient of thermal expansion t = 11 10 6 /C . Temperature profile data reported by Choubine and Tia (1992) are used in the analysis. The temperature data measured at 1:00pm that represent daytime temperature profile and 7:00am that represent nighttime temperature profile are selected. The temperature data set measured at 1:00pm were: temperature at slab top t top = 25.13C ; temperature at middle point of slab depth t middle = 16.73C ; temperature at slab bottom t bottom = 12.22C . The temperature data set measured at 7:00am were: temperature at slab top t top = 4.68C ; temperature at middle point of slab depth t middle = 10.77C ; temperature at slab bottom t bottom = 15.11C . Nine different horizontal slab dimensions are analyzed and the results are shown in Table 1 and Table 2. In Table 1 and Table 2, the results show that the maximum warping stresses increase with the slab dimensions when the slab length is less than 7.5m and the maximum warping stresses decease as the slab dimensions increase when the slab length is bigger than 7.5m. The comparisons show that as the slab becomes narrower, the warping stresses caused by the temperature gradient tend to decease. The comparison between linear and nonlinear temperature profiles indicates that for the 1:00pm temperature profile, the results based on linear temperature distribution underestimate the maximum warping stresses at the top surface by 19% to 54% and overestimate the maximum warping stress at bottom surface by 19% to 54% for all cases analyzed. For the 7:00am temperature profile, the corresponding range of percent difference is 10% to 30%. The biggest difference for the maximum warping stresses between linear and nonlinear temperature distribution analysis occurs in the 3m 3m slab.

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Table 1 Effects of Horizontal Slab Dimensions For Temperature Data Measured at 1:00pm by Choubine and Tia (1992)
Maximum Warping Slab Slab Stresses In Top Surface Difference (MPa) Linear 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 3 4.5 6 7.5 9 5 7.5 10 12.5 15 -0.175 -0.390 -0.490 -0.500 -0.486 -0.442 -0.490 -0.476 -0.463 -0.461 Nonlinear -0.269 -0.483 -0.593 -0.593 -0.579 -0.536 -0.593 -0.569 -0.556 -0.554 54% 24% 21% 19% 19% 21% 21% 20% 20% 20% Width (m) Length (m) Maximum Warping Stresses In Bottom Surface (MPa) Linear 0.175 0.390 0.500 0.486 0.486 0.5 0.500 0.476 0.463 0.461 Nonlinear 0.083 0.297 0.407 0.392 0.392 0.407 0.407 0.383 0.370 0.368 -54% -24% -21% -19% -19% -21% -21% -20% -20% -20% Difference

Positive stress represents compressive stress and negative stress represents tensile stress.

Table 2 Effects of Horizontal Slab Dimensions For Temperature Data Measured at 7:00am by Choubine and Tia (1992)
Maximum Warping Slab Slab Stresses In Top Surface Difference (MPa) Linear 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 3 4.5 6 7.5 9 5 7.5 10 12.5 15 0.142 0.321 0.396 0.404 0.392 0.358 0.404 0.384 0.374 0.373 Nonlinear 0.184 0.363 0.438 0.446 0.434 0.399 0.446 0.426 0.416 0.415 30% 13% 11% 10% 11% 11% 10% 11% 11% 11% Width (m) Length (m) Maximum Warping Stresses In Bottom Surface (MPa) Linear -0.142 -0.363 -0.396 -0.404 -0.392 -0.358 -0.404 -0.384 -0.374 -0.373 Nonlinear -0.100 -0.280 -0.354 -0.362 -0.350 -0.316 -0.362 -0.342 -0.332 -0.331 -30% -13% -11% -10% -11% -11% -10% -11% -11% -11% Difference

Positive stress represents compressive stress and negative stress represents tensile stress.

4.2 Effect of Slab Thickness

This section compares the warping stresses of concrete pavements with different thickness. A 6.1m 3.7 m slab is analyzed to determine the effect of changes in slab thickness. The
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modulus of subgrade reaction k, elastic modulus of concrete E, Poissons ratio and coefficient of thermal expansion t are the same as those in Section 4.1. The same temperature data sets and temperature differences between the top and bottom surfaces of the slab are also used. The maximum warping stresses obtained at one of the corner points of the top surface are shown in Figure 3a and Figure 3b. From Figure 3a and Figure 3b, the comparison for different slab thickness shows that in general the maximum warping stresses decrease with an increase in slab thickness. As the slab thickness increase from 15cm to 35cm, the maximum warping stress decrease by about 17%. The comparison between linear and nonlinear temperature distribution shows that that the results based on linear temperature distribution underestimate the maximum warping stresses at top surface and overestimate the maximum warping stress at bottom surface by 9% to 20%.
Maximum Warping Stress (MPa) 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 15 20 25 30 35 40 Slab Thickness (cm) BL BN TL TN

(a) For Temperature Data Measured at 1:00pm

Maximum Warping Stress (MPa) 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 15 20 25 30 35 40 Slab Thickness (cm) TN TL BN BL

(b) For Temperature Data Measured at 7:00am Note: BLBottom surface warping stresses based on linear temperature distribution; BNBottom surface warping stresses based on nonlinear temperature distribution; TLTop surface warping stresses based on linear temperature distribution; TNTop surface warping stresses based on nonlinear temperature distribution; Fig 3 Effects of Slab Thickness on Maximum Warping Stresses

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4.3 Effect of Slab Elastic Modulus

This section compares the warping stresses of concrete pavements with different elastic moduli. A 6.1m 3.7 m 0.23m slab is analyzed to determine the effect of elastic modulus. The slab thickness, Poissons ratio , coefficient of thermal expansion t and the temperature distribution are the same as those in Section 4.1. The results for maximum warping stresses obtained at one of the corner points of top surface and bottom surface are shown in Figure 4a and Figure 4b.
Maximum Warping Stresses (MPa) 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 -1 0 5000 10000

BL BN TL TN

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

Elastic Modulus of Slab (MPa)

(a) For Temperature Data Measured at 1:00pm

Maximum Warping Stresses (MPa) 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 0 5000 10000

TL TN BN BL

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

Elastic Modulus of Slab (MPa)

(b) For Temperature Data Measured at 7:00am Note: BLBottom surface warping stresses based on linear temperature distribution; BNBottom surface warping stresses based on nonlinear temperature distribution; TLTop surface warping stresses based on linear temperature distribution; TNTop surface warping stresses based on nonlinear temperature distribution; Fig 4 Effects of Elastic Modulus on Maximum Warping Stresses In Figure 4a and Figure 4b, the comparison for the effects of different elastic moduli on warping stresses shows that the maximum warping stresses increases with the elastic modulus of concrete slab. The maximum warping stresses at the top surface increase almost as much as 100% when the elastic modulus changes from 20,000MPa to 40,000MPa. The same trend also

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occurs in the maximum warping stresses of the bottom surface. The comparison between linear and nonlinear temperature distribution shows that that the results based on linear temperature distribution underestimate the maximum warping stresses at top surface and overestimate the maximum warping stress at bottom surface by 9% to 17%.
4.4 Effect of Modulus of Subgrade Reaction

This section compares the warping stresses of concrete pavements with different moduli of subgrade reaction. A 6.1m 3.7 m 0.23m slab is analyzed to determine the effect of subgrade reaction. The slab thickness, Poissons ratio , coefficient of thermal expansion t and the temperature distribution are the same as those in Section 4.1. The results for maximum warping stresses obtained at one of the corner points of top surface and bottom surface are shown in Figure 5a and Figure 5b.
Maximum Warping Stresses (MPa) 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 0 20 40 60 80 100
3

BL BN TL TN

120

140

Modulus of Subgrade Reaction (MN/m )

(a) For Temperature Data Measured at 1:00pm

Maximum Warping Stresses (MPa) 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 0 20 40 60 80 100
3

TN TL BN BL

120

140

Modulus of Subgrade Reaction (MN/m )

(b) For Temperature Data Measured at 7:00am Note: BLBottom surface warping stresses based on linear temperature distribution; BNBottom surface warping stresses based on nonlinear temperature distribution; TLTop surface warping stresses based on linear temperature distribution; TNTop surface warping stresses based on nonlinear temperature distribution; Fig. 5 Effects of Modulus of Subgrade Reaction on Maximum Warping Stresses Figure 5a and Figure 5b show that the maximum warping stresses increase with the increase

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with the modulus of subgrade reaction. However, the increasing trend tends to level off after k reached 80 MN/m3. The increases of the maximum warping stresses from k of 20 MN/m3 to 80 MN/m3 is about 25%. The comparison between linear and nonlinear temperature distribution shows that that the results based on linear temperature distribution underestimate the maximum warping stresses at top surface and overestimate the maximum warping stress at bottom surface by 11% to 16%.
5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

By means of a closed-form theoretical solution, the significance of considering nonlinear temperature distribution in computing thermal warping stresses in concrete pavement has been evaluated against the linear temperature distribution assumption adopted in conventional concrete pavement analysis. The evaluation was made by considering the following factors: horizontal slab dimensions, slab thickness, slab elastic modulus, and modulus of subgrade reaction. All the cases analyzed concluded that the assumption of linear temperature distribution would lead to underestimate of the maximum warping stresses at the top surface of pavement slab, and overestimate of the maximum warping stresses at the bottom surface of the pavement slab. Based on the cases analyzed, the magnitudes of overestimation or underestimation due to the linear temperature distribution assumption were found to vary as follows: For slab dimension varying from 3m 3m to 15m 15m , the underestimation or overestimation ranged from 10% to 54%, where the higher percentages occurred in smaller slabs. For slab thickness varying from 15cm to 35cm, the underestimation or overestimation ranged from 9% to 20%. For slab elastic modulus varying from 20,000 MPa to 40,000 MPa, the underestimation or overestimation ranged from 9% to 17%. For modulus of subgrade reaction varying from 20 MN/m3 to 120 MN/m3, the underestimation or overestimation ranged from 11% to 16%. The results obtained from this study clearly suggest that the effects of nonlinear temperature distribution on warping stresses calculation are significant. For accurate assessment of thermal stresses in concrete pavement, it is recommended that the actual nonlinear temperature distribution, instead of the conventional linear temperature distribution assumption should be adopted for concrete pavement design and evaluation.

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REFERENCES

1. Bradbury, R. D. (1938). Reinforced Concrete Pavements. Wire Reinforcement Institute, Washington, D. C., USA. 2. Choubane, B. and Tia, M. (1992). Nonlinear Temperature Gradient Effect on Maximum Warping Stresses in Rigid Pavements. Transportation Research Record, 1370, pp.11 19. 3. Choubane, B. and Tia, M. (1995). Analysis and Verification of Thermal-Gradient Effects on Concrete Pavement. Journal of Transportation Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 121, No. 1, pp. 75 81. 4. Mohamed, A. R. and Hansen, W. (1997). Effect of Nonlinear Temperature Gradient on Curling Stress in Concrete Pavements. Transportation Research Record, 1568, pp. 65 71. 5. Teller, L. W., and Sutherland, E. C. (1935). The structure design of concrete pavements, part 2: observed effects of variations in temperature and moisture on the size, shape, and stress resistance of concrete pavement slabs. Public Roads, 16(9), 169-197. 6. Westergaard, H. M. (1926). Analysis of Stresses in Concrete Pavement Due to Variations of Temperature. Proceedings. Highway Research Board, Vol. 6, pp. 201 215. 7. Zhang J., Fwa T.F. and Tan K. H. (2003). Model for Nonlinear Thermal Effect on Pavement Warping Stresses. Paper accepted for publication in Journal of Transportation Engineering, ASCE.

Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol.5, October, 2003