Module-1

INTRODUCTION: Desirable characteristics of pavement, types and Components, Difference between Highway
pavement and Air field pavement- Design strategies of variables – Functions of subgrade, sub base – Base
course – surface course and their compositions – comparison between Rigid and flexible pavement.

Introduction to pavement design

A highway pavement is a structure consisting of superimposed layers of processed materials above the natural
soil sub-grade, whose primary function is to distribute the applied vehicle loads to the sub-grade. The pavement
structure should be able to provide a surface of acceptable riding quality, adequate skid resistance, favourable
light reflecting characteristics, and low noise pollution. The ultimate aim is to ensure that the transmitted
stresses due to wheel load are sufficiently reduced, so that they will not exceed bearing capacity of the sub-
grade. Two types of pavements are generally recognized as serving this purpose, namely flexible pavements and
rigid pavements. This chapter gives an overview of pavement types, layers, and their functions, and pavement
failures. Improper design of pavements leads to early failure of pavements a ecting the riding quality.

Requirements of a pavement
An ideal pavement should meet the following requirements:
• Sufficient thickness to distribute the wheel load stresses to a safe value on the sub-grade soil,
structurally strong to withstand all types of stresses imposed upon it,

• Adequate coefficient of friction to prevent skidding of vehicles,

• Smooth surface to provide comfort to road users even at high speed, Produce least noise from moving
vehicles,

• Dust proof surface so that traffic safety is not impaired by reducing visibility, Impervious surface, so
that sub-grade soil is well protected, and

• Long design life with low maintenance cost.

Types of pavements
The pavements can be classified based on the structural performance into two, flexible pavements and rigid
pavements. In flexible pavements, wheel loads are transferred by grain-to-grain contact of the aggregate
through the granular structure. The flexible pavement, having less flexural strength, acts like a flexible sheet
(e.g.bituminous road). On the contrary, in rigid pavements, wheel loads are transferred to sub-grade soil by
flexural strength of the pavement and the pavement acts like a rigid plate (e.g. cement concrete roads). In
addition to these, composite pavements are also available. A thin layer of flexible pavement over rigid
pavement is an ideal pavement with most desirable characteristics. However, such pavements are rarely used in
new construction because of high cost and complex analysis required.

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Flexible pavements
Flexible pavements will transmit wheel load stresses to the lower layers by grain-to-grain transfer through the
points of contact in the granular structure. The wheel load acting on the pavement will be distributed to a wider
area, and the stress decreases with the depth. Taking advantage of these stress distribution characteristic,
flexible pavements normally has many layers. Hence, the design of flexible pavement uses the concept of
layered system. Based on this, flexible pavement may be constructed in a number of layers and the top layer has
to be of best quality to sustain maximum compressive stress, in addition to wear and tear. The lower layers will
experience lesser magnitude of stress and low quality material can be used. Flexible pavements are constructed
using bituminous materials. These can be either in the form of surface treatments (such as bituminous surface
treatments generally found on low volume roads) or, asphalt concrete surface courses (generally used on high
volume roads such as national highways). Flexible pavement layers reflect the deformation of the lower layers
on to the surface layer (e.g., if there is any undulation in sub-grade then it will be transferred to the surface
layer). In the case of flexible pavement, the design is based on overall performance of flexible pavement, and
the stresses produced should be kept well below the allowable stresses of each pavement layer.

Types of Flexible Pavements

The following types of construction have been used in exible pavement:
• Conventional layered flexible pavement,
• Full - depth asphalt pavement, and
• Contained rock asphalt mat (CRAM).

Conventional flexible pavements are layered systems with high quality expensive materials are placed in the
top where stresses are high, and low quality cheap materials are placed in lower layers.

Full - depth asphalt pavements are constructed by placing bituminous layers directly on the soil sub-grade.
This is more suitable when there is high traffic and local materials are not available.

Contained rock asphalt mats are constructed by placing dense/open graded aggregate layers in between two
asphalt layers. Modified dense graded asphalt concrete is placed above the sub-grade will significantly reduce
the vertical compressive strain on soil sub-grade and protect from surface water.

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Typical layers of a conventional flexible pavement includes seal coat, surface course, tack
coat, binder course, prime coat, base course, sub-base course, compacted sub-grade, and
natural sub-grade

Seal Coat: Seal coat is a thin surface treatment used to water-proof the surface and to provide skid
resistance.

Tack Coat:Tack coat is a very light application of asphalt, usually asphalt emulsion diluted with water. It
provides proper bonding between two layers of binder course and must be thin, uniformly cover the entire
surface, and set very fast.

Prime Coat:Prime coat is an application of low viscous cutback bitumen to an absorbent surface like
granular bases on which binder layer is placed. It provides bonding between two layers. Unlike tack coat, prime
coat penetrates into the layer below, plugs the voids, and forms a water tight surface.

Surface course: Surface course is the layer directly in contact with traffic loads and generally contains
superior quality materials. They are usually constructed with dense graded asphalt concrete (AC). The functions
and requirements of this layer are:

• It provides characteristics such as friction, smoothness, drainage, etc. Also it will prevent the entrance of
excessive quantities of surface water into the underlying base, sub-base and sub-grade,

• It must be tough to resist the distortion under tra c and provide a smooth and skid- resistant riding
surface,

• It must be water proof to protect the entire base and sub-grade from the weakening effect of water.

Binder course: This layer provides the bulk of the asphalt concrete structure. It's chief purpose is to
distribute load to the base course The binder course generally consists of aggregates having less asphalt and
doesn't require quality as high as the surface course, so replacing a part of the surface course by the binder
course results in more economical design.

Base course: The base course is the layer of material immediately beneath the surface of binder course and it
provides additional load distribution and contributes to the sub-surface drainage It may be composed of crushed
stone, crushed slag, and other untreated or stabilized materials.

Sub-Base course: The sub-base course is the layer of material beneath the base course and the primary
functions are to provide structural support, improve drainage, and reduce the intrusion of nes from the sub-grade
in the pavement structure If the base course is open graded, then the sub-base course with more nes can serve as
a ller between sub-grade and the base course A sub-base course is not always needed or used. For example, a
pavement constructed over a high quality, sti sub-grade may not need the additional features o ered by a sub-
base course. In such situations, sub-base course may not be provided.

Sub-grade: The top soil or sub-grade is a layer of natural soil prepared to receive the stresses from the layers
above. It is essential that at no time soil sub-grade is overstressed. It should be compacted to the desirable
density, near the optimum moisture content.

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Rigid pavements
Rigid pavements have sufficient flexural strength to transmit the wheel load stresses to a wider area below. A
typical cross section of the rigid pavement is shown in Figure below. Compared to flexible pavement, rigid
pavements are placed either directly on the prepared sub-grade or on a single layer of granular or stabilized
material. Since there is only one layer of material between the concrete and the sub-grade, this layer can be
called as base or sub-base course.

In rigid pavement, load is distributed by the slab action, and the pavement behaves like an elastic plate
resting on a viscous medium. Rigid pavements are constructed by Portland cement concrete (PCC) and should
be analysed by plate theory instead of layer theory, assuming an elastic plate resting on viscous foundation.
Plate theory is a simplified version of layer theory that assumes the concrete slab as a medium thick plate which
is plane before loading and to remain plane after loading. Bending of the slab due to wheel load and
temperature variation and the resulting tensile and exural stress.

Types of Rigid Pavements

Rigid pavements can be classified into four types:

• Jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP),

• Jointed reinforced concrete pavement (JRCP),

• Continuous reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP), and

• Pre-stressed concrete pavement (PCP).

Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement: are plain cement concrete pavements constructed with closely spaced
contraction joints. Dowel bars or aggregate interlocks are normally used for load transfer across joints. They
normally have a joint spacing of 5 to 10m.

Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement: Although reinforcements do not improve the structural capacity
significantly, they can drastically increase the joint spacing to 10 to 30m. Dowel bars are required for load
transfer. Reinforcement’s help to keep the slab together even after cracks.

Continuous Reinforced Concrete Pavement: Complete elimination of joints are achieved by reinforcement.

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