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Construction Practices of Short Paneled Concrete Pavements (SPCP) for High

Volume Roads

Conference Paper · December 2021

DOI: 10.33593/nm6f236m

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Construction Practices of Short Paneled Concrete
Pavements (SPCP) for High Volume Roads
Sridhar Reddy Kasua,1 , Amaranatha Reddy Muppireddyb , and Nilanjan Mitrac
a
Research Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur ; b Professor, Department of Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology
Kharagpur ; c Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

This manuscript is licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0 License.

The state of research on narrow and non-dowel short jointed pan- The objective of this study is to present information and
eled concrete pavements (SPCP) is gaining attention on a large scale lessons learned about the first field demonstration and im-
across the different parts of the world especially in Chile, the USA, plementation of SPCP on highways. This information was
and India. The jointed plain concrete pavements (JPCP), which are developed from an extensive research study, combined with
designed with slab sizes around 3.5 m x 4.5 m results in thicker the experience of researchers and stakeholders, involvement of
slabs with a thickness of paving quality concrete (PQC) layer rang- NHAI, industry experts, the contractors and Indian Institute
ing from 280-330 mm depending on load and temperature stresses of Technology Kharagpur (IIT KGP) researchers, performed
on Indian highways. In addition to thicker slabs, JPCP requires dow- to identify good construction practices and develop guidance
elled joints, which increases the initial cost of pavement. In order to for the construction of SPCP for futuristic projects.
reduce the thickness and initial cost of construction, the use of cast-
in-situ SPCP laid on a strong foundation consisting of a dry lean A. Concept of short paneled concrete pavement (SPCP).
concrete (DLC) base, cement treated sub base (CTSB) and subgrade Short paneled concrete pavement is the cast-in-situ panels
is being studied. The square short slabs of size: 1 m, 1.5 m and are in the order of 0.5 x 0.5 m to the sizes of less than 3 x 3
2 m joint spacing and of thickness 180 to 220 mm were designed m using M40 grade of concrete, similar to JPCP, placed on
and constructed as two full-scale test sections of SPCP on national DLC, CTSB, and subgrade, thus forming a strong foundation
highways (NH-2 and NH-33) in India. Slabs were constructed by intro- compared to conventional JPCP for same design traffic. Panels
ducing an initial vertical saw-cut of 3 to 5 mm wide and to a depth of are formed by introducing a saw-cut or an insert of 3 to 4
1/4th to 1/3rd of the thickness. The adopted construction practices mm width and to a depth of 1/4th to 1/3rd thickness of the
through field demonstration and implication of SPCP for highways is slab (Raoufi et al. 2008) within 8 to 16 hours (Zollinger et
the main thrust of the paper which helps the practitioners, designers al. 1994) of placement of concrete. The purpose of saw-cut
for adopting such projects in the future. is to reduce the constraint for drying shrinkage stresses and
produce controlled full depth cracks, which can be maintained
Joint Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCP) | Short Paneled Concrete periodically. After partial isolation of slabs (panels), load
Pavements (SPCP) | Dry Lean Concrete | Saw Cutting | Construction transfer in SPCP is ensured by aggregate interlocking or shear
practice action of those cracked faces and hence SPCP does not require
any load transfer devices such as dowel bars unlike JPCP
1. Introduction making it an economical solution as well. As the length of the
slab decreases, the thermal stresses will decrease significantly
Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCP) is the common type for short paneled concrete, however, load stresses will increase
of concrete pavement adopted in India and other parts of the when slab thickness and length are reduced (Roesler et al.
world. The JPCP is typically constructed with a transverse 2012). The strong foundation provided below the SPCP layer
joint spacing of 4.5 m and a longitudinal joint spacing of 3.5 m, will able to resist the induced load stresses. Dowel and tie
with dowel bars and tie bars provided across transverse and bars at these formed contraction joints are not required and
longitudinal joints, respectively. Due to the larger size of slabs thus there is cost-saving.
(3.5 x 4.5 m) of JPCP, the field experience has shown that Figure 1 illustrates the plan and elevation of SPCP de-
cracks occur over time due to settlement issues which later picting the wheel load distribution on different panels, which
escalate due to the overloading of vehicles. Repairing such are expected to have smaller bending stresses and therefore,
cracked JPCP is also cumbersome and also a safety hazard result in smaller thicknesses. Although the SPCP serves with
due to larger areas of work. In order to mitigate these issues, optimized geometry, the load transfer between any two panels
there is a need to develop an alternative solution in concrete depends on the degree of interface bond between surface and
pavement technology, which can be more sustainable and less DLC base. Therefore, the slab dimensions, thickness, and
repair intensive. One of the alternative solutions can be cast-in- interfacial bond conditions will be the input variables for the
situ short concrete panels laid on a strong foundation consisting design of SPCP.
of a dry lean concrete base (DLC) and cement treated sub
base (CTSB), whose another variant “white topping” (SPCP B. Comparison of JPCP and SPCP. The fundamental differ-
overlay on bituminous bases) has a proven track record. In ences between SPCP and JPCP are (i) slab size, (ii) slab
India, white topping pavements have gained popularity since
early 2010 especially on urban roads as a part of overlay for
distressed bituminous pavements. Hence, it is imperative to Authors declare no conflict of interest with the material in this manuscript.
study the new type of pavement system and the feasibility of
adoption. 1
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected]

DOI: 10.33593/nm6f236m Proceedings of the 12th ICCP (978-0-578-33418-9) | December 31, 2021 | 151–157
 to carry out a detailed study on SPCP, both analytical and
full-scale field experiments, to evaluate the performance of
SPCP to demonstrate its performance similar to JPCP.

2. Research Significance
Most of the available guidelines (AASHTO 1993, IRC58 2015)
provide the analysis and design of conventional slab sizes of 3.5
x 4.5 m or even larger dimensions. The philosophy of the design
addresses transverse cracking because of the length along the
traffic direction is more than the lateral dimension of the
slab. But the performance of the small-sized slabs on highway
pavements is still unknown and remains as a gap. Some
guidelines like OptipaveTM commercial package is available
for the mechanistic design of short jointed paneled concrete
Fig. 1. Plan and profile views of short paneled concrete pavements (SPCP) pavements calibrated for Chilean climatic and specific traffic
conditions (Salsilli et al. 2015). In addition to this, square
slabs with short joint spacing, un-dowelled slabs, and slabs
with the number of discontinuities in the form of contraction
joints are not discussed in any of the guidelines. Further,
the methodology and construction practice for high volume
roads is also a research gap in the literature. Hence the SPCP
field-based trials and their performance under Indian traffic
conditions are highly desirable, which requires full-scale field
trials covering different design variables as shown below.
Design variables for SPCP:
Fig. 2. Response of SPCP and JPCP under wheel loading

• Design traffic
thickness, (iii) load transfer mechanism, and (iv) behavior un-
der traffic loading in combination with temperature gradients. • Number of lanes
Larger the slab size, JPCP is more susceptible to mid-panel
and random cracking under the repetitive loads. Smaller the • Size of the panel (concrete slabs)
slab size, as in the case of SPCP, less susceptible to distresses
due to flexural fatigue and thermal action, and consequently • The thickness of the panel
results in the smaller thickness of the slab for the same loads
or design life. When subjected to loads, SPCP with short • The interfacial bond between PQC and DLC
slabs undergoes flexure with a vertical deflection (i.e. com-
pressive strength of concrete is utilized), whereas JPCP with
• Type of base layer
standard slab sizes bend as depicted in Figure 2, (deflection
is more) where the flexural strength of concrete is utilized to
the maximum extent. Such bending with little vertical com- • Lateral wheel wander
pression causes more pressure on the base and subbase layers.
The deflection on the short panel is shown more as compared Considering the above design variables and studying their
to JPCP, so base or sub-base shall be stronger below short effects, which certainly help to understand SPCP from mecha-
panels. While designing base and subbase, lateral drainage of nistic and functional requirements.
the pavement structural section must also be considered along
with its stiffness against the pressure. Hence, there is a need
3. Description of The Pilot Projects
for a non-erodible stiff base and subbase layers in the SPCP
system to avoid plastic deformation. A. NH-2 Project. The pavement section of six-lane highway
During the construction of concrete pavements, irrespective (three lanes with paved shoulder, 13 m wide) was constructed
of the type, it can be expected to have unfavorable climatic during April-July 2016, Panagarh bypass, West Bengal, India
conditions such as high wind speed, temperature, and low rel- on NH-2. The coordinates of the city are 23◦ 26’ 37.5" N, 87◦
ative humidity. Under such conditions, concrete work requires 28’ 37.3" E. It has three parts (shown in Table 1) placed over
controlling measures on surface drying soon after finishing. the total length of about 380 m to study the effectiveness of
The present practice is to add various additives/evaporation SPCP with different interface conditions. The first part of it
reducing agents and fibers to control the shrinkage cracking. was laid by placing a geotextile layer between the surface layer
A number of studies were conducted to study the effect of addi- and DLC. Second, by applying an emulsion of rapid setting
tives in concrete especially on shrinkage and only limited work (RS-I) grade between surface and DLC layers. Third, surface
has been done on fatigue behavior for pavement applications and DLC layers were in the fully bonded (directly placed on
in SPCP. Owing to several advantages of the SPCP layer on base). This is the first SPCP on highways in India with a
the strong foundation on theoretical concepts, it is worthwhile porous DLC layer.

152 | DOI: 10.33593/nm6f236m Kasu et al.

 Table 1. Combinations of SPCP test section on NH-02 • Groove cut was made to form joints in SPCP
within 8-16 hours of concrete placement. The
Panel Size, Thickness, Interface b/w Chainage, Length,
object of a selection of this time corresponds to
Sq.m mm Panel and DLC km m
the time duration for the increase in the rate
Nonwoven Geotextile 519+316 to 519+450 134
1x1 180 Emulsion of RS-I 519+450 to 519+550 100
of flexural stress is less than the increase in the
Bonded 519+550 to 519+700 150 rate of flexural strength gain in the mixture.
The two-level joint cutting system was adopted
Table 2. Gradation of the aggregates used in porous DLC base on to avoid random cracking, initially at an inter-
NH-02 val of 3 m in both longitudinal and transverse
directions. Then at secondary level cutting was
Sieve Size, mm 25.4 19 12.5 9.5 4.75 2.36 0.075 made to form the joints for short panels. Fig-
AASHTO 67
100 90-100 – 20-55 0-10 0-5 – ure 3 shows various layers of construction of
Cement treated base SPCP on NH-2, which is the first of its kind
and finished appearance.
A.1. Pavement composition for test section on NH-02.

• Subgrade of 500 mm thick was prepared and B. NH-33 Project. The pavement section of the four-lane high-
compacted to 98% maximum dry density with way (two lanes with paved shoulder) was constructed during
an effective California Bearing Ratio of 8% July-August 2017 in Ghatshila, Jharkhand on NH-33. The
(CBR of 8%). coordinates of the city are 22◦ 21’ 36" N, 86◦ 17’ 24" E. The
climate is tropical. When compared with winter, the summers
• Cement treated GSB of 150 mm thick, with have much more rainfall. The average temperature in Ghat-
2% cement targeting minimum unconfined com- shila is 26.7 ◦ C. The average annual rainfall is 1241 mm. The
pressive strength of 3 MPa at 7 days was laid driest month is December, with 1 mm of rain. In August, the
with the help of grader. precipitation reaches its peak, with an average of 302 mm.
Every combination has a test section of the length of 300
• Cement treated drainage layer (open-graded, m, in which 150 m was fully bonded, and the rest of 150
porous concrete), called as porous DLC of 150 m was built with a geotextile bond-breaking layer between
mm thick with 130 kg/m3 cement content hav- surface course and dry lean concrete. The various combina-
ing 7 MPa target compressive strength at 7 tions of panel sizes, panel thicknesses, and interface conditions
days was laid with the help of paver. The sealed and unsealed joints for the understanding of the relative
adopted gradation of the aggregates for the behavior are given in Table 3.
porous DLC base presented in Table 2. Then
the mixture was obtained from the batch mixing B.1. Pavement composition for NH-33 section.
plant, placed, and compaction effort with two
passes over dry lean concrete drainage layer and • Subgrade of 500 mm thick was prepared and
one pass with screed vibrator was used. Spe- compacted to 98% maximum dry density with
cial care was taken during the compaction of an effective California Bearing Ratio of 8-10%
open-graded DLC to avoid rolling of aggregates (CBR of 8-10%).
along with the roller drum.
• 150 mm thick GSB treated with 16 bags of ce-
ment for every 10 m length by plowing method
• Paving Quality Concrete (PQC) with M40 with the help of ripper and grader targeting
grade concrete with 1 kg/m3 fibrillated minimum unconfined compressive strength of
polyester fiber (12 mm length) of 180 mm thick 3 MPa at 7 days. This actually provides good
laid over a bond breakage layer of nonwoven support for the short panels and solves the
geotextile (200 GSM). Ready-mix concrete pro- drainage purpose.
duced in the batch mixing plant was trans-
ported to the site with the help of revolving • DLC of 150 mm thick with 130 kg/m3 cement
drum type trucks. Manual paving operation content targeting 7 MPa compressive strength
with pre-planned carefully, fixed forms with a at 7 days was laid with the help of paver. The
facility of provision for tie and dowel bar cages. dense gradation of the aggregates for the DLC
Plain dowel bars of 32 mm dia., with a length base was considered from MoRTH (2013). Then
of 450 mm are placed at a spacing of 240 mm the mixture was obtained from the batch mixing
was used at every construction joints along the plant, placed, and compaction effort of two
length of the stretch and the deformed tie bars passes with drum type roller and one pass with
of 12 mm dia., with a length of 640 mm are a vibratory roller was used. Finished DLC was
placed at a spacing of 500 mm was used across then cured for 7 days, dried, and cleaned with
the longitudinal joints at an interval of 3 m. a broomstick to ensure the surface clean from
Then the mixture was placed, dispersed uni- any dirt. Before placing PQC, to make use of a
formly with a simple hand screed, compacted bond breakage layer nonwoven geotextile (200
with a plate vibrator, texturing was done with GSM) mat was laid and pinned to the DLC
the help of brush type finisher. to avoid the crumbs in it, wherever is required.

Kasu et al. Proc. 12th ICCP | 153

 Table 3. Combinations of SPCP test section on NH-33

Panel Size, Panel Thickness, Presence of Chainage, Length,

Interface
mxm mm Sealant km m
180 Bonded Yes 5+200 to 5+125 75
180 Bonded No 5+125 to 5+050 75
1x1
180 Geotextile No 5+050 to 4+975 75
180 Geotextile Yes 4+975 to 4+900 75
200 Geotextile Yes 4+900 to 4+825 75
200 Geotextile No 4+825 to 4+750 75
200 Bonded No 4+750 to 4+675 75
1.5 x 1.5 200 Bonded Yes 4+675 to 4+600 75
220 Bonded Yes 4+600 to 4+550 50
220 Geotextile No 4+550 to 4+475 75
220 Geotextile Yes 4+475 to 4+450 25
220 Geotextile No 4+450 to 4+375 75
1x1
220 Geotextile Yes 4+375 to 4+300 75
220 Geotextile Yes 4+300 to 4+225 75
220 Geotextile No 4+225 to 4+150 75
2x2
220 Bonded No 4+150 to 4+075 75
220 Bonded Yes 4+075 to 4+000 75
220 Bonded Yes 4+000 to 3+925 75
1x1
220 Bonded No 3+925 to 3+850 75
220 Bonded No 3+850 to 3+775 75
1.5 x 1.5 220 Bonded Yes 3+775 to 3+750 25
220 Geotextile Yes 3+750 to 3+700 50

The overall construction of DLC was completed joints for short panels, and is delayed at few
in two lane construction with a longitudinal locations in order to cope with the regular plan.
construction joint. Figure 4 shows various layers of construction of
SPCP on NH-33 and its finished appearance.
• Pavement quality concrete mix with polyester
fibers of 1 kg/m3 was designed for M40 grade,
produced in the batch mixing plant was trans- 4. Summary and Research Directions
ported to the site with the help of dumper type
A. Summary. The goal of this study was to identify and docu-
trucks. Measured slump at the site was 20-25
mm, the temperature of the mixture at the ment the useful information and experiences related to the first
site was around 28-300 C laid over DLC. Slip field implementation of SPCP on two high volume roads (NH-2
form paving operation with string lines to guide and NH-33) as a part of the National Highway Authority of
the laser-based screed was used to construct the India (NHAI) sponsored research project. Such information
PQC. Full-width paving was done with the help gained through comprehensive study and interaction with the
of a paver train; it has 24 horizontal needle-type stakeholders can establish the best design and construction
vibrators to compact the mix properly. No tie practices to help the construction industry in developing SPCP
bars and dowel bars were provided only at con- specifications for high volume roads.
struction joints. Plain dowel bars of 32 mm dia.,
B. Field observation from the construction. The following ob-
with a length of 450 mm are placed at a spacing
servations are made from the construction of two test sections
of 300 mm and were used at every construction
of SPCP on NH-2 and NH-33.
joints along the length of the stretch. How-
ever, the construction joint was made manually • Mechanized paving with an Inset slip form paver was
by arranging fixed forms with the provision of found to be the best approach compared to the manual
dowel slots. Texturing was done with the help paving for constructing short paneled concrete slabs, it
of brush type finisher. Finally curing compound was challenging to get a laser screed for thin layer con-
based on the aluminized synthetic resin was ap- struction (180-220 mm thick layers).
plied for the prevention of premature water loss
from concrete. • For mass paving operations, manual paving needs shut-
tering, needle and plate vibrators and manual texturing
• Groove cut was made to form joints in SPCP brushes were difficult to handle efficiently and the process
within 8-16 hours of concrete placement. The is very slow. For the construction of 382 m length, three
two-level joint cutting system was adopted to lanes with the paved shoulder on NH-2 was executed in
avoid random cracking, initially at an interval 10 days with manual operation.
of 3 m (in the case of 1 m and 1.5 m panels)
and 4 m (in the case of 2 m panels) in both • While the construction time for 1500 m length, two lanes
longitudinal and transverse directions. Then at with the paved shoulder on NH-33 was executed in five
secondary level cutting was made to form the days with a slip form paver or laser screed paver. Full

154 | DOI: 10.33593/nm6f236m Kasu et al.

 width paving rather a lane by lane construction will be the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
ideal way of avoiding the number of construction joints The authors would like to acknowledge Late Prof. BB Pandey,
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology
and therefore can avoid the re-bars (Dowel/Tie rods). Kharagpur for his constant support, motivation, and suggestions
However, the use of dowel and tie bars cannot be avoided during the experimental study. The work carried out in this research
at construction joints. was financially supported by the National Highway Authority of
India (NHAI), Government of India. The authors are grateful to
the stakeholders in building the test sections, NH-2 project: IL&FS
• Slip form paving would be the best option for enhancing Transportation Networks Ltd, NH-33 project: Dilip Buildcon Ltd.
construction with proper finishing and at a faster rate.

• Joint cutting must be within the proper time frame at AASHTO (1993). “Guide for Design of Pavement Structures.” American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials.
designated interval spacing, in order to form a short panel. IRC: 58 (2015). “Guidelines for the Design of Plain Jointed Rigid Pavements for Highways”.
These joint cutting locations function as stress relievers The Indian Roads Congress, New Delhi.
and or weaker paths against the thermal and moisture Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) (2013). “Specifications for Road and
Bridge works”, fifth revision, The Indian Roads Congress, New Delhi.
changes due to heat of hydration. Late or too early or Raoufi, K., Radlinska, A., Nantung, T., & Weiss, J. (2008). Methodology for determining the
shallow saw cuts would lead to joint spalling and random timing of saw cutting in concrete pavements. Transportation Research Record, 2081(1), 110-117.

cracking. Roesler, J. R., Cervantes, V. G., & Amirkhanian, A. N. (2012). Accelerated performance
testing of concrete pavement with short slabs. International Journal of Pavement Engineering,
13(6), 494-507.
• The two-level joint cutting system found to be effective to Salsilli, R., Wahr, C., Delgadillo, R., Huerta, J., & Sepúlveda, P. (2015). Field performance
avoid random cracking, initially at an interval of 3 or 4 m of concrete pavements with short slabs and design procedure calibrated for Chilean conditions.
International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 16(4), 363-379.
depends on panel size in both longitudinal and transverse Zollinger, D. G., Tang, T., & Xin, D. (1994). Saw cut depth considerations for jointed concrete
directions. Then at secondary level cutting makes the pavement based on fracture mechanics analysis. Transportation Research Record, (1449).
final stage of joint formation for short paneled concrete
pavements.

• The timing of these two-level joint cutting system can

be employed within 8-16 hours of laying PQC only. This
time corresponds to the time duration for the increase in
the rate of flexural stress is less than the increase in the
rate of flexural strength gain in the mixture.

• Two lane construction of DLC will have a longitudinal

construction joint at 4.5 m offset from the median, must
match with SPCP mid-longitudinal joint on bonded sec-
tions. SPCP mid-longitudinal joint mismatch with the
construction joint of DLC in two lanes with paved shoul-
der case, resulted in reflective longitudinal cracking at
few locations in PQC when PQC is bonded with DLC.
To prevent reflective cracks, separation membrane (non-
woven geotextile of 5 mm thick) between PQC and DLC
was found to be effective.

• Short joint spacing, un-dowelled, unsealed early entry

narrow contraction joints (3-5 mm width) are the key
advantages in arriving at less thickness, cost and material
saving of dowel and tie bars, cost-saving from secondary
saw cuts and sealants.

• Application of SPCP on low to high volume road pave-

ments have demonstrated and implemented successfully
and can be extended to use as industrial floors, airport
exit, and entryways. Hence, SPCP will become an effec-
tive alternative to conventional JPCP.

C. Research Directions. Further, IIT KGP research team will

continue to investigate the structural and functional perfor-
mance of un-dowelled short panels during the extreme seasons
(winter and summer). It is to investigate and understand the
short slab joint efficiency and obtain historical performance.
The authors will also investigate the effect of geometry (slab
thickness, dimensions), bonded and un-bonded conditions on
load transfer efficiency of the joints and their failure patterns.
The anticipated benefit of using a non-woven geotextile separa-
tion layer to mitigate the problem associated with premature
reflective cracking that may occur from the DLC layer.

Kasu et al. Proc. 12th ICCP | 155

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