###### Abstract  
Continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) is a pavement structure with a high performance and long service life. However, the corrosion of the longitudinal steel can result in a poor bond relationship between the steel and the concrete, affecting the load transfer efficiency between the adjacent panels and being responsible for the development of CRCP distresses. Basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) is corrosion-resistant and has the potential to be used in CRCP. In this paper, the layout of a CRCP test section with BFRP bars constructed on G330 National Road in Zhejiang Province, China, is presented. An analytical model is proposed to predict the crack behavior of CRCP with BFRP reinforcement, with the predicted results are compared to field-measured ones. A sensitivity analysis of the BFRP design parameters on the crack spacing and crack width is conducted as well. The results show that the mean values for field-measured crack spacing and crack width are 4.85 m and 1.30 mm, respectively, which are higher than the results for traditional CRCP with steel due to the lower elastic modulus of BFRP. The analytical predictions agree reasonably well with the crack survey results. The higher the elastic modulus of BFRP, the reinforcement content (with both BFRP spacing and diameter related), and the bond stiffness coefficient between the BFRP and concrete, the less the crack spacing and crack width will be. Given the same or similar reinforcement content, a lower diameter with a smaller spacing is recommended because of its contribution to a smaller crack spacing and width. continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP); basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP); transverse crack behavior; field survey; analytical model +
Footnote †: journal: Applied Physics Letters  
Article  
Transverse Crack Behavior in Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement with Basalt Fiber Reinforcement  
[PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], Y.  
environmental load, etc., have great effect on the crack spacing and crack width and, as a result, affect the structural performance of the CRCP. Recently, corrosion-resistant materials such as glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) [10] have been proposed as an alternative longitudinal reinforcement in CRCP in order to improve the bond condition between the longitudinal reinforcement and concrete, thus achieving a better crack behavior in CRCP. The first CRCP with GFRP bars as both a longitudinal and transverse reinforcement was constructed in West Virginia and showed a good performance [11]. Based on the test section results, an overall design methodology for CRCP with GFRP bars was proposed [12]. Furthermore, an analytical model of a fully supported reinforced concrete panel was developed to describe the shrinkage and thermal stress distribution in CRCP with GFRP bars, demonstrating the relationship between the crack behavior and the CRCP design parameters [13]. In addition to West Virginia, a GFRP-CRCP test section was built in Canada as well, with GFRP bars as both longitudinal and transverse reinforcements since the corrosion of steel is one design criteria for the CRCP with a long service life [14]. Given the field results after six years of service under actual traffic conditions, the GFRP-CRCP test section in Canada was shown to provide a competitive performance in comparison to CRCP with steel bars [15]. Like GFRP, basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) is also a promising alternative for steel in conventional CRCP due to its great corrosion-resistant characteristics and high tensile strength. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [16] have conducted a serious of pull-out tests to investigate the effect of various ribs and anchorage lengths on the bond performance of concrete and BFRP bars, with the test results verified with the finite element model, showing that a sufficient bond between BFRP and concrete can be achieved for CRCP. However, there are few case studies presenting the field performance of CRCP with BFRP reinforcements.