Thermal performance of jointed plain concrete pavements in urban areas considering shade from buildings

Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCPs) are widely used in India’s highways and urban areas due to their durability and low maintenance requirements. However, their performance is significantly influenced by the development of non-linear temperature distributions caused by environmental conditions. These temperature distributions induce stresses that can lead to fatigue damage and cracking, ultimately reducing pavement service life. While the effects of factors like solar radiation and albedo on JPCP temperatures have been well studied, the role of urban shading, particularly from buildings, remains underexplored. This study investigates the impact of urban shading on the thermal performance of JPCP. A two-part methodology was adopted: (i) a field study on a college campus in Gandhinagar, where pavement surface temperatures were measured across various shading conditions, and (ii) a numerical analysis incorporating prototypical urban geometries based on Local Climate Zones (LCZs), ray-tracing for modelling shadows, and thermal simulations with 30 years of historical weather data. The study was performed for two cities, Chandigarh and Chennai. Temperature distributions were analyzed to compute equivalent linear differences (∆T) and critical eigenstresses (ESRc) in the pavement, which are indicative of curling and self-equilibrating stresses, respectively. The results show that shaded configurations significantly reduce both ∆T and ESRc, improving long-term JPCP performance. This effect was more pronounced in denser urban geometries with taller and more closely spaced buildings, especially during summer months. However, even sparser urban geometries showed improved performance compared to the case without shading. These findings underscore the importance of accounting for urban geometry and shading in JPCP design and performance assessment, particularly in dense settings.