Abstract
The principal mode of structural failure for jointed plain concrete pavements (JPCP) is fatigue cracking. The fatigue cracks initiating at the slab bottom under the edge loading condition were thought to be the only mode of failure. However, under certain combinations of exposure conditions and loading, the critical tensile stress can develop at the slab surface, causing the fatigue cracking to initiate from the top. A detailed evaluation of JPCP response showed that top-down cracking may indeed be the critical failure mode in many cases, but the magnitude of fatigue damage accumulating at the slab surface is very similar to that at the bottom of the slab. Therefore, the past practice of considering only bottom-up cracking is not likely to have resulted in significant prediction errors, especially since mechanistic performance models are typically calibrated with field performance data. Nevertheless, for improved design, consideration of both modes of failure is desirable.
