Design and construction of oblique prestressed concrete pavement: a case study in China

Prestressed concrete pavement can reduce slab thickness, eliminate transverse joints and enhance durability compared to traditional concrete pavement. Traditional prestressing or precast prestressing in the longitudinal direction requires additional space for anchorage and adds more joints. This study proposed an oblique prestress concrete pavement, in which prestressed tendons were distributed with an angle to the road direction so that the prestress can be applied in both the transverse and longitudinal directions. The detailed design of the oblique prestress concrete pavement, including the selection of raw materials, design of cement concrete, anchorage area, size and distribution of prestressed tendons, stress analysis within the concrete slab, sliding layer, side reinforcement, and regular reinforcement at top and bottom are all included in this study. The slab thickness, diameter, distribution angle, and spacing of tendons were obtained based on the stress analysis to meet the requirement of fracture criteria and fatigue criteria. A demonstrative road pavement section, which has performed well after three years of traffic opening, was constructed according to the design. A step-by-step description of the construction was also presented in the study.