49258 Pavement Design and Analysis Week 2

49258 Pavement Analysis and Design

LECTURE 2
INTRODUCTION TO PAVEMENT DESIGN

UTS CRICOS PROVIDER CODE: 00099F uts.edu.au

WHAT IS A PAVEMENT?
 A multi-layer system which distributes the
vehicular loads over a large area.
 Pavement is upper part of roadway, airport or
parking area
 It includes all layers resting on the original
ground.

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MAJOR PAVEMENT CATEGORIES

Road (motorway, highway, street) pavements

Industrial pavements
– airports and ports
– container facilities
– bulk cargo areas
– factory and warehouse floors
– mine haul roads

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AUSTRALIAN ROAD NETWORK

 Australia has a vast road network consisting of over 817,000
km of roads, 70% forming the rural network and 30% the
urban network.
 Two thirds of all roads are unsealed.

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DID YOU KNOW?

 Australia's national road network is a $280 billion-plus asset.
 More than three quarters of all passenger kilometres travelled
in Australia occur on roads.
 Over 95 per cent of Australia’s road freight is carried in heavy
vehicles (i.e. vehicles weighing 4.5 tonnes or more).
 Public transport is a major user of our road network.
 Light vehicles account for approximately 92 per cent of vehicles
on the road .
 source: Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) (2013)

courtesy: http://www.roads.org.au

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AUSTRALIAN PAVEMENTS - HISTORY

The earliest Australian pavement types were based on the method adopted by the
French engineer, Tresaguet, in which large (200 mm) pieces of stone were placed on the
natural formation, very much in the way of a road paved with large paving stones.
Smaller stones were then hammered into the gaps and also placed on top of the large
stones to provide a running surface (see Figure A 1).

Pebbles and broken stone

Figure A1: Early practice - Tresaguet pavement

(Lay 1998)

Taken from Austroads Guide to Pavement Technology ‐ Part 1

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AUSTRALIAN PAVEMENTS - HISTORY

By the mid-1850s, the Telford method was being used. Whilst this was based on the early
French method, the use of large stones was avoided, but the use of prepared cubical
stone of equal size carefully placed on the existing ground was retained. Drainage was
provided in the form of a trench (Figure A2). Telford's other major contribution to road
making was to emphasize that the layout of new roads must take account of the
capabilities of the vehicles intended to use it.

20 mm max size
gravel and broken stone

Figure A2: Telford pavement

(Source: Lay 1998)

Taken from Austroads Guide to Pavement Technology ‐ Part 1

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AUSTRALIAN PAVEMENTS - HISTORY

The macadam pavement was introduced in 1822. The term is a corruption of the
designer's name - McAdam - and is contemporary jargon for any open graded, including
single-sized, crushed rock material. McAdam used only small, angular broken stone (less
than 35 mm) spread on the natural formation to a thickness of about 200 mm (Figure A3).
The method relied heavily on interlock between the stone pieces.

20 mm broken stone

Figure A3: Macadam pavement

(Source: Lay 1998)

Taken from Austroads Guide to Pavement Technology ‐ Part 1

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AUSTRALIAN PAVEMENTS - HISTORY

The demand for smoother, dust free roads to cater for higher-speed pneumatic-tyred
vehicles, and mechanised construction, led to the use of smaller stone sizes and hence
the development of a 'maximum density' grading where a range of stone sizes was used
to pack together into a dense, tight mass.

Figure A4: Construction of Princes Highway in 1924

(Source: Lay 1998)

Taken from Austroads Guide to Pavement Technology ‐ Part 1

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PAVEMENTS – WORLD HISTORY

Measuring stones for the first macadam road in
the United States. Image credit: USDOT

Construction of a Roman roadway

Image credit: David Macaulay

Ancient Greek roads: grooves and large stone

blocks. Image credit: CE9305 Highway Engineering

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PAVEMENTS – WORLD HISTORY Marquette–Negaunee Road with its hand‐painted

centerline, the first in US in 1917.
Image credit: Wikipedia

State Highway, Westfield Mass. Laying Telford

foundation. (From photograph loaned by the
Massachusetts Highway Commission).
Image credit: Wikipedia

Construction of a Roman roadway Built between

146 and 120 B.C.
Image credit: The Hindu

Ancient engineers did such a good job that the

Via Egnatia remained in use for 2,000 years!

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PAVEMENTS HISTORY - SUMMARY

Image courtesy: CET, Bhubaneshwar (India)

© Ozroads 2003‐2012.

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Which are standards used in

Australia for pavement design?

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AUSTROADS

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AUSTROADS TECHNOLOGY GUIDES

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GUIDE TO PAVEMENT TECHNOLOGY

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PART 2: PAVEMENT STRUCTURAL DESIGN

This Part of the Guide addresses:

– the design of flexible pavements for conventional
highway traffic
• flexible pavements consisting of unbound granular
materials
• flexible pavements that contain one or more bound
layers
– the design of rigid pavements for conventional
highway traffic.

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PAVEMENT DESIGN IN THE AUSTRALIA

SRA Supplement to

AUSTROADS Guide

AUSTROADS GUIDE TO PAVEMENT TECHNOLOGY

PART 2: Pavement Structural Design (2012)

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Which are materials used in

pavements?

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PAVEMENT MATERIALS

• Unbound granular
– Natural gravels
– Crushed rock
• Bound
– Cemented materials – using lime, cement,
bitumen, slag, fly ash as a binder
– Asphalt ‐ dense graded, open graded, SMA using
bitumen based binders
– Concrete – plain, lean mix, fibre reinforced

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ROAD PAVEMENT (STRUCTURE) - DEFINITION

The portion of the road, excluding

shoulders, placed above the design
subgrade level for the support of, and to
form a running surface for, vehicular
traffic.
Austroads Glossary of Terms (August 2010)

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PAVEMENT STRUCTURE

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HEAVY DUTY PAVEMENT STRUCTURE

RMS terminology Wearing Surface (may be top of base layer)

Base
Pavement
Structure
Subbase

Selected Material Zone (SMZ)

Upper Zone
of Formation UZF Material (optional)
(UZF) Subgrade

Other Fill or In situ Subgrade

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PAVEMENT COMPONENTS

• Wearing surface
– Must withstand loading and environmental effects
– Provides safe and functional riding surface
– May provide reduced spray and noise
– Types
• sprayed (or chip) seals
• asphalt
• concrete
• interlocking concrete pavers (low speed urban)

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TYPES OF WEARING SURFACINGS

Sprayed seal Concrete Asphalt Pavers

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PAVEMENT COMPONENTS

• Base
– Main load carrying course
• Subbase (flexible pavements)
– Also a load carrying course
– Lower quality is related to economics and lower stress
levels
– Provides support for the base and reduces
stress/strain applied to the subgrade
• Subbase (rigid – concrete pavements)
– Provides uniform support to the base
– Resists erosion and pumping
– Enhances load transfer across joints
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PAVEMENT TYPES

• Flexible
– Unbound granular
– Stabilised
– Asphalt
• Rigid
– High strength concrete base with joints and/or steel reinforcement
– RMS specifies a lean mix concrete subbase
• Composite
– Flexible pavement with a concrete subbase
– Designed as a flexible pavement

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What are the inputs to pavement

design?

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AUSTROADS PAVEMENT DESIGN SYSTEM

3. LIGHTLY TRAFFICKED
PAVEMENTS
Chapter 12

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LIMITATION OF DESIGN PROCESSES

Design processes cannot guarantee outcomes as:

– Design models are not perfect
– Design inputs are gross simplifications of complex
and variable properties
– No construction process can produce a pavement in
complete conformance with a design configuration

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DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS

• Pavements are designed in accordance with the

Guide
• Pavements are constructed in accordance with
standard specifications
• Materials used meet standard specifications

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PROJECT RELIABILITY

• Rigid design – Load Safety Factor (LSF) linked to

project reliability
• Flexible design –Reliability Factor (RF) in asphalt &
cemented materials performance relationships
• No traffic multiplier

Road Type Minimum

Project
Reliability (%)
Freeway, Motorway or Highway 95
Other than above where Lane AADT > 2000 90
Other than above where Lane AADT <2000 85
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PAVEMENT FUNCTION

• To support the applied traffic loading within

acceptable limits of riding quality and
deterioration over its design life
• To do this the structure must spread the
concentrated wheel loads to the foundation
(subgrade) such that:
– Pavement materials and subgrade do not
deform excessively
– Pavement courses do not crack excessively

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Sturt Highway near

Wagga Wagga in 1956

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STRESS AND STRAIN

STRESS:
Due to the normal force, the normal stress is
=NA

DEFORMATION/DISPLACEMENT:
The rod will elongate in its longitudinal
direction. Its length will change by a
displacement, .

STRAIN:
The strain is now defined as
=L

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ELASTIC MODULUS (E)

• As long as yielding does not
occur, the relation between 
and  is linear.
• The modulus (also called
Young’s modulus or modulus
of elasticity (E) is then defined
such that
E=
• E is the slope of the  ‐  curve
• Note: If the load N is applied
repeatedly, a different
modulus value will be
obtained. In pavement
technology, it is called the
resilient modulus (Mr)
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POISSON’S RATIO ()

• The normal force will not only
cause the rod to elongate in its
longitudinal direction. It will also
cause the rod to contract in its
radial direction.
• There is a relation between the
longitudinal strain and radial strain:
 = − ( radial   longitudinal)
• Here  is Poisson’s ratio. Due to the
minus sign, Poisson’s ratio is always
positive.

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TYPICAL UNITS

Mass kg, tonne

Load kN (kilo Newton)
Stress kPa (kiloPascals), MPa (megaPascals)
Displacement mm, m
Strain Dimensionless, but may be microstrain (10-6)
Modulus kPa (kiloPascals), MPa (megaPascals)
Poisson’s ratio Dimensionless, in decimals

Note: Most computer applications require inputs in compatible units

e.g. kN, m, kPa

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STATIC FAILURE
• Under the application of an
increasing tensile load, a steel rod
will be slowly stretched until its
breaking strain is reached.
• Prior to failure, the modulus of the
material is changing (as indicated
by the slope of the tangent to the
curve).
• Failure of this kind does not happen
in pavement structures since
pavement layers are not subjected
to a single pure tension load.
• In pavement design we usually
assume a linear elastic condition, so
E does not change with increasing
permanent strain.
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FAILURES IN PAVEMENT

• Pavement layers are subjected to complex loading

conditions.
• A wheel load produces varying compressive, tensile and
shear stresses within each layer, depending on the
modulus and Poisson’s value of each layer.
• Failure is generally manifested in : excessive rutting
(accumulation of permanent deformation) and fatigue
failure.
• Under repeated wheel stresses, fatigue failure can occur at
loads considerably lower than the tensile strength of a
material under a static load.
• The possibility of fatigue failure can be minimised by
limiting the applied stress magnitude to a fatigue limit.

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FATIGUE FAILURE IN PAVEMENTS

fatigue

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Pavements are engineered structures

Pavement function

Pavement response

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MULTI-LAYERED SYSTEM

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PAVEMENT TYPES AND LOAD RESPONSES

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TYPICAL RMS HEAVY DUTY FLEXIBLE

PAVEMENTS

Roads and Maritime Supplement to Austroads Guide to Pavement Technology

Part 2: Pavement Structural Design - RMS 11.050 Version 3.0 | August 2018

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TYPICAL RMS HEAVY DUTY RIGID

PAVEMENTS

Roads and Maritime Supplement to Austroads Guide to Pavement Technology

Part 2: Pavement Structural Design - RMS 11.050 Version 3.0 | August 2018

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RIGID PAVEMENT TYPES

Plain concrete

Jointed
reinforced

Continuously
reinforced

Steel fibre
reinforced
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CONSTRUCTION & MAINTENANCE

CONSIDERATIONS
• Extent and type of drainage
• Surfacing type
• Availability of equipment – especially material
mixing, placing and compaction plant
• Use of staged construction
• Use of stabilisation
• Pavement layering considerations
• Transverse variations in pavement design
• Aesthetic and environmental requirements
• Social considerations
• Construction under traffic
• Maintenance strategy
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ENVIRONMENT

• Environmental factors which significantly

affect pavement performance are:
– moisture
– temperature

• Freeze / thaw conditions are not considered

in the Austroads Pavement Design Guide

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MOISTURE ENVIRONMENT

Factors influencing the moisture regime:

• Rainfall / evaporation pattern
• Subgrade reactivity to variations in moisture content
• Permeability of wearing surface
• Depth to water table
• Relative permeability of pavement layers
• Sealed shoulders
• Proximity of vegetation
• Form of pavement construction
• Pavement drainage DRAINAGE, DRAINAGE, DRAINAGE!

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TEMPERATURE ENVIRONMENT

• Asphalt
– stiff & brittle at low temperatures
– soft & visco-elastic at higher temperatures
– Weighted mean annual pavement temperature (WMAPT)
– daily and seasonal variations

• Cemented and Concrete Layers

– Rate of strength gain
– Induced movements

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PAVEMENT PERFORMANCE

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PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (PMS)

A pavement management system would involve the following:

• Inspecting and monitoring of the performance of the pavements

• Quantifying the pavement deficiencies
• Maintaining an inventory of the pavement deficiencies
• Determining and assessing the priorities for rehabilitation and the
costs involved
• Selecting the appropriate, “optimal” strategy, maintenance
technique

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PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE ASSESSMENT

Traffic-Speed Condition Survey for rutting, surface
texture and cracking

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DEFLECTOGRAPH

Used to assess the structural condition of flexible

pavements (at ~ 4 km/h).

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TRAFFIC SPEED DEFLECTOMETER (TSD)

Used to assess the structural condition of flexible
pavements at highway speeds.

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FALLING WEIGHT DEFLECTOMETER (FWD)

Assessing the structural condition of road pavements

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FALLING WEIGHT DEFLECTOMETER (FWD)

FWD could be used for the following purposes:

• To assess the stiffness of pavement layers of

all pavement types;

• To determine the load transfer efficiency

across joints and cracks in rigid pavements.

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GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR (GPR)

• GPR is a non-destructive tool that can be used to obtain

information about the construction of a pavement and its
internal features.
• This information can be used to enhance pavement
condition information obtained from visual condition,
deflection surveys, coring and trial pits.

• It can also detect:

– changes from hydraulically bound to asphalt base
– hidden trenches covered by bituminous surfacing.

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CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO (CBR)

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DYNAMIC CONE PENETROMETER (DCP)

qc (MPa) and fs (10kPa)
Depth
Friction Ratio, Rf (%)
(m)

0 10 20 30 40 50 0 5 10 15 20
0 Remoulded topsoil (mixed with
sand and marine sediments)
G.W.T. Very loose sand + organics (metastable)
1
Loose muddy sand
2 Medium dense sand with mixture of silt

3 Dense sand

Medium Dense sand

4 Cone Resistance, qc
Dense sand
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6 Medium dense sand

Sleeve Friction, fs
Dense silty sand with organics
7 Medium dense sand to silty sand

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Dense silty sand

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Medium dense silty sand
10
Silty sand to sandy silt
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Sensitive remoulded fine grained soil
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Fine sand and clay with organics
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Medium dense clayey sand with silt
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Clayey silt mixed with sand

15 Dense/stiff clayey sand

Medium dense clayey sand with silt

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CORING
• Determination of layer and total pavement
thicknesses (in conjunction with Ground-
Penetrating Radar);
• Determination of the material type and
condition of the layers;
• Determination of the depth of cracking;
• Determination of the condition of rigid
pavement joints;
• Provision of samples for compositional or
physical tests;
• Provision of access for carrying out
Dynamic Cone Penetration (DCP) in
foundation layers
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THANK YOU 

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Questions
?

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