Temperature-Moment Concept for Evaluating Pavement Temperature Data

Abstract

Pavement temperature profile data can be quite useful in the analysis of stresses in jointed concrete pavements produced by temperature gradients within the slabs. Many stress analysis procedures consider the temperature gradients to be linear, though the actual vertical temperature distributions can be quite nonlinear. Errors produced by not considering the actual temperature gradients can be considerable. This work introduces the temperature-moment concept for characterizing temperature gradients in pavements. The procedure for reducing a temperature distribution into a single temperature-moment value is given, and an equation is provided for converting the temperature-moment into the actual moment produced in a pavement by a temperature gradient. An equation is also provided for converting the temperature-moment into the equivalent linear gradient that produces the same moment in the pavement. An example comparison between temperature-moment and measured curvature in a pavement slab is presented to illustrate the potential usefulness of the temperature-moment concept.