Public Roads: A Journal of Highway Research, Vol. 24, No. 8

Aaron, Henry; Bohannan, C.D.; Cashell, Harry D.; Critz, Paul F.; Dimmick, Thomas B.; Eager, William L.; Goode, Joseph F.; Halstead, W.J.; Jackson, F.H.; Kellermann, W.F.; Kelley, James A.; Lewis, Richard H.; Lynch, J.T.; Marshall, H.E.; Moore, R. Woodward; Pauls, J.T.; Pryor, William T.; Rex, H.M.; Runner, D.G.; St. Clair, G.P.; Serafin, P.J.; Spencer, W.T.; Sutherland, Earl C.; Swain, Robert O.; Taragin, Asriel; Welborn, J.Y.; Willis, Edward A. · 1946 · ROSA P / United States. Government Printing Office

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Summary

This 1946 report by the Public Roads Administration investigates the causes of serious longitudinal cracking in concrete pavements constructed in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois during the 1942–1943 war emergency. The study was motivated by the appearance of cracks approximately three months after these strategic highways opened to exceptionally heavy war traffic. Researchers sought to determine whether the damage resulted from this heavy loading or from specific design modifications necessitated by wartime material restrictions, such as the elimination of distributed reinforcement and load-transfer devices. The methodology involved a cooperative investigation between the Public Roads Administration and the state highway departments of the three affected states. Two primary field surveys were conducted, one in the summer of 1943 (when pavements were roughly nine months old) and another in the summer of 1944. The study examined pavements built in 1942 and 1943, alongside older standard-design pavements subjected to similar traffic for comparison. Data collection included detailed crack surveys, traffic monitoring to quantify heavy vehicle loads, and core drilling at longitudinal joints to assess their structural integrity. Subgrade conditions and drainage were also evaluated to rule out soil-related failures. The findings indicate that longitudinal cracking occurred almost exclusively in panels where the dummy longitudinal joint had failed to fracture or function properly. Core samples confirmed that in cracked panels, the joint remained intact below the surface ribbon, preventing the pavement from separating as designed. In contrast, panels where the joint had successfully fractured showed no longitudinal cracking. The study found that subgrade conditions and drainage were generally good and uniform, ruling them out as primary causes. While heavy war traffic, including army tanks in Kentucky and overloaded trucks in Indiana and Illinois, contributed stress, the cracking was directly linked to the delayed fracturing of the longitudinal joint. Older pavements with standard designs, including metal plate joints and reinforcement, did not exhibit this cracking despite similar traffic loads. The significance of this report lies in its identification of the non-functioning longitudinal joint as the critical factor in pavement failure under heavy loads. It demonstrates that design changes made during the war, specifically the substitution of dummy joints for reinforced ones and the removal of load-transfer devices, left pavements vulnerable to longitudinal cracking when joints did not separate. The findings imply that proper joint functioning is essential for distributing stresses in concrete pavements, particularly under heavy commercial and military traffic, and highlight the risks associated with simplified construction designs during material shortages.

Key finding

Longitudinal cracking in 1942–43 wartime concrete pavements in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois resulted mainly from dummy center joints failing to fracture promptly, allowing restrained temperature warping (not heavy traffic alone) to break slabs along the centerline; thin-film oven tests better predicted asphalt hardening in hot-mix paving than the standard oven test.

Methodology

field_study

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

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