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Abstract


A highway pavement is a structure consisting of superimposed layers of processed materials above the natural soil sub-grade. In India, flexible pavements are preferred for road constructiondue to lower construction costs and speedy construction as compared to rigid pavements.However, the maintenance costs of the rigid pavements are relatively lower as compared to themaintenance costs of flexible pavements. The rigid pavements are constructed by casting cement concrete slabs over dry lean concrete or granular sub-bases. The cement concrete pavements are designed to withstand traffic loads and environmental loads during its service life. The environmental factors that are considered in the concrete pavement analysis are temperature, humidity, precipitation and frost/heave. The stresses induced in the concrete pavements on account of daily temperature variation are termed as curling stress. The curling stresses are as important as axle loads in the concrete pavement analysis as they alone can trigger the failure of the cement concrete pavements. 


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