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Go to Editorial ManagerRigid pavement slabs are erected on a prepared subgrade or foundation layer, providing a hard and continuous surface. Transverse joints made of dowel bars connect them, and longitudinal joints made of tie bars join them longitudinally. This study is an investigation of the impact of soil strength and concrete parameters on the effectiveness of dowel bars in rigid pavements. Moreover, three parameters were examined; California Bearing Ratio (CBR), concrete compressive strength and slab thickness. The analysis was conducted using the Ever FE program and focused on several axle configurations applied to the joint. The results indicate inverse association between the pavement slab thickness and the concrete strength, under the assumption of consistent soil strength. Moreover, an assortment of reduced shear forces on the dowel bars is seen when the soil strength values increase. It indicates that soil strength has a greater impact on the shear load of dowel bars compared to the qualities of concrete. Additionally, the type of axles used and the magnitude of soil strength were shown to have a significant effect on the shear load.
Real-life strategies are applied to assess pavement functionality, high-quality performance, and durability throughout its service life. Estimating pavement maintenance and sustainability is difficult. High-performance continuous reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) structural design and Jordanian natural zeolite (JNZ) as a sustainable supplementary cementitious material (SCM) and unique mixed cement for green manufacturing are researched in this paper. The results obtained from this study showed that replacing cement with JNZ powder at 0%, 10%, 15%, and 20% improved concrete performance. Natural zeolite-mixed cement preserved concrete quality and reduced the need for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and sulfate-resistant cement (SRC) clinker. After that, slab universal testing equipment and Jordanian zeolite-blended cement-reinforced concrete slabs were developed for CRCP performance. Therefore, fresh concrete was tested for partial cement substitution and standard mixture workability. Compressive, tensile, and flexural strength tests on 7 and 28 days and durability test (water absorption) were utilized to assess concrete strength and natural zeolite's potential to reduce resource consumption and carbon footprint while maintaining structural integrity using Open LCA. Sustainable CRCP structure development improved performance, resource conservation, and carbon footprint over the prior mix, according to EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) software and chemical tests. This research improves materials and supports global sustainability goals.
This paper presents experimental investigations to study the behavior of High Strength Reinforced Concrete (HSRC) deep beams with web openings under monotonic and static repeated loading conditions. The experimental work procedure consisted of testing eighteen simply supported HSRC deep beams both with and without web openings. The numerical work procedure consisted of testing ten simply supported HSRC deep beams both with web openings. All beams had the same dimensions and flexural reinforcement. They had an overall length of 1400 mm, a width of 150 mm and a height of 400 mm. The investigated test parameters were concrete compressive strength, shape and size of openings, vertical and horizontal reinforcement ratios, shear span to effective depth ratio (a/d ratio) and loading history. The experimental results reveal that the ultimate load capacities for specimens tested under four different repeated loading regimes decrease in the range between 2% and 19% in regards to the control specimens which were tested under monotonic loading regime. The results indicated that the increase in the severity of loading history leads to a decrease in the ultimate shear strength of the deep beams and causes increases in their ductility ratio. The ultimate loads of HSRC deep beams with square web openings size of (50*50mm, 60*60mm and 70*70mm) tested under the repeated loading history (HS-1) which consisting of five phases decreased by (11.4 %, 24.1% and 26.3 %, respectively) compared to that of identical solid deep beam. The ultimate load of HSCR deep beam with circular web openings shape tested under repeated loading history (HS-1) increases by 8.6 % compared to the equivalent square web openings shape. For numerically analyzed beams under repeated loading history (HS-1), the ultimate load increases by 16% when using area of 2500mm2 of circular web openings shape (equal in area to square web opening size 50mm*50mm) and by 13.5% when using rhombus web openings shape of the dimensions 50*50mm in comparison with the case of 60-mm size square web openings.