The experimental study of precast concrete panel connection system for rigid pavement in Indonesia

Abstract

Since 2014, Indonesian government has made a program to accelerate infrastructure construction for all regions in Indonesia. However, highway constructions using the existing technologies (flexible or conventional rigid pavement) often fail to reach their design service lives. For rigid pavement system using precast concrete panels, the early damage of their connections is the main problem leading to shorter pavement service lives. Thus, the current pavement technologies that are normally employed in road construction in Indonesia are considered not quite effective in supporting the accelerated road construction program. This condition has stimulated the development of a new pavement system using a combination of continuously reinforced concrete pavement and precast prestressed concrete pavement technology. This study focuses on the connection system used to connect pavement panels. The proposed connection system used the dowel called dowel activator. The connection system was designed against three actions of axial tensile force, shear force and bending moment. The experimental program was developed to measure the structural performance of the connection system against three actions of internal forces. The results show that the connection system has actual strength higher than that of design strength.