In the design and full lifecycle operation and maintenance of rigid (cement concrete) pavement engineering in modern high-level airports, the mechanical behavior of the joint system is always the decisive factor determining the overall structural performance.
As a quasi brittle material, cement concrete pavement panels are inevitably subjected to warping and shrinkage stresses caused by environmental temperature gradients and humidity changes during service, and must also withstand multi axle dynamic impact loads from large tonnage, high tire pressure aircraft.
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In order to actively control and release these environmental stresses, the engineering community has established the basic paradigm of manually dividing pavement slabs by cutting or reserving transverse shrinkage joints, longitudinal shrinkage joints, construction joints, and expansion joints.
However, this artificially created physical fracture to alleviate internal stress inevitably damages the overall continuity of the pavement structure, making the joint area the weakest link for stress concentration, deflection mutation, and hydrological invasion.
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