How Can We Explain Empirical Formulas for Shrinkage Cracking of Cement-Stabilized Pavement Layers

Velasquez E.D.R.; Kreinovich V. · Studies in Systems, Decision and Control (2026) · DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-16494-0_27

Resumen

In pavement construction, one of the frequent defects is shrinkage cracking of the cement-stabilized pavement layer. To minimize this defect, it is important to be able to predict how this cracking depends on the quantities describing the pavement layer and the corresponding environment. Cracking is usually described by two parameters: the average width of the crack and the crack spacing. Empirical analysis shows that the dependence of the width on all related quantities is described by a power law. Power laws are ubiquitous in physics, they describe a frequent case when the dependence is scale-invariant—i.e., does not change if we change the measuring units. However, for crack spacing, the dependence is more complex: namely, the dependence of the logarithm of spacing is described by a power law. In this paper, we provide a possible explanation for this more complex dependence. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.

Instituciones: Universidad de Piura