STRUCTURAL DESIGN

OF RAILWAYS AND
PAVEMENTS
PAVEMENTS
- refers to a hardened, durable surface
built on top of a natural ground for
various purposes, such as roads,
sidewalks, parking lots, and even
airport runways. It's designed to
support traffi c loads and distribute
stress to the underlying ground.
Fundamentally, a paved surface performs two
basic functions.

1. It helps guide drivers by giving them visual

perspective of the horizontal and vertical
alignment of the travelled path-thus giving drivers
information relating to the driving task and the
steering control of the vehicle.

2. It support vehicle load.

Fundamentally, a paved surface performs two
basic functions.

1. It helps guide drivers by giving them visual

perspective of the horizontal and vertical
alignment of the travelled path-thus giving drivers
information relating to the driving task and the
steering control of the vehicle.

2. It support vehicle load.

PAVEMENT TYPES
1. Flexible Pavements
2. Rigid Pavements

Other types:
3. Composite Pavements
4. Continuously Reinforced Pavements
5. Post-tensioned Pavements
Flexible Pavements
- constructed with asphaltic cement and aggregates and usually
consists of several layers.
Rigid Pavements
- constructed with Portland cement concrete (PCC) aand aggregates, as
shown in the figure.
Flexible Pavement Rigid Pavement
 Post-tensioned Pavements
Composite Pavement

Combination of
different materials to
form a strong and
durable road surface.

Continuously Reinforced Pavements

Pavement System Design: Principles
for Flexible Pavements
The primary function of the pavement structure is
to reduce and distribute the surface stresses in
acceptable level at the subgrade.
A flexible pavement reduces the stresses by
distributing the traffic wheel loads over greater
areas, through the individual layers until the stress
at the subgrade is at an acceptably low level.
Pavement System Design: Principles
for Flexible Pavements
A cone of distributed loads reduces and
spreads the stresses to the subgrade, as
shown in the figure
.
Traditional AASHTO Flexible-
Pavement Design Procedure
There are several accepted flexible-pavement design
procedures available, including the ff:
1. Asphalt Institute Method
2. National Stone Association procedure
3. Shell procedure
4. Mechanic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide969
Traditional AASHTO Flexible-
Pavement Design Procedure
A traditional and widely accepted flexible-pavement
design procedure is presented in the AASHTO Guide
for Design of Pavement Structure.
A pavement can be subjected to a number of
detrimental effects, including fatigue failures
(cracking), which are the result of repeated loading
caused by traffic passing over the pavement. The
pavement is also placed in an uncontrolled
environment that produces temperature extremes
and moisture variations.
Serviceability Concept
The Pavement Serviceability-Performance
Concept was developed by Carey and Irick
[1962] to handle the question of pavement
failure.
Carey and Irick considered pavement
performance histories and noted that
pavements usually begin their service life in
excellent condition and deteriorate as traffic
loading is applied in conjunction with
prevailing environmental conditions.
Pavement System Design:
Principles for Rigid Pavements
Rigid pavements distribute wheel loads by the beam
action of the Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) slab,
which is made of a material that has a high modulus
of elasticity, on the order of 4 to 5 million lb/in?. This
beam action illustrated in the figure, distributes the
wheel loads over a large area of the pavement, thus
reducing the high stresses experienced at the surface
of the pavement to a level that is acceptable to the
subgrade soil.
Measuring Pavement Quality and
Performance
The design procedure for pavements originally focused on the
pavement serviceability index (PSI) as a measure of pavement
quality. However, the pavement serviceability index is based
on the of gions of a panel of experts, which can introduce
some variability into their determination.
As a result, efforts have been undertaken to develop
quantitative measures of pavement condition that provide
additional insights into pavement quality and performance
and that correlate with the traditional pavement serviceability
index. Some factors that are regularly measured by highway
pavement agencies now include the International Roughness
Index, friction measurements, and rut depth.
International Rough Index

The IRI is determined by measuring ertical movements

in a standardized vehicle's suspension per unit length
of roadway.
Units of IRI are reported in inches per mile (in/mi). The
higher the value of the IRI, the rougher the road is.
Friction Measurements
A number of factors influence the friction number, such
as;
1. changes in traffic volumes or traffic composition,
2. surface age (friction has been found to increase
quickly after construction, then as time passes, to level
off and eventually decline),
3. seasonal changes (in northern states, the friction
number tends to be highest in the spring and lowest in
the fall), and
4. speed (the measured value tends to decrease as the
test speed increases)
Rut Depth
Rut depth, which is a measure of pavement
surface deformation in the wheel paths, can
affect roadway safety because the ruts
accumulate water and increase the possibility
of vehicle hydroplaning (which results in the
tire skimming over a film of water, greatly
reducing braking and steering effectiveness).
Faulting
For traditional JPCP (Jointed Plain Concrete
Pavements) rigid pavements, joint faulting
(characterized by different slab elevations) is a
critical measure of pavement distress. Faulting
is an indicator of erosion or fatigue of the layers
beneath the slab and reflects a failure of the
load-transfer ability of the pavement between
adjacent slabs. Faulting is associated with
increased roughness and will be reflected in
International Roughness Index measurements.
Punch outs
For Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements
(CRCP) rigid pavements (those built without
expansion/contraction joints), fatigue damage at the
top of the slab is often measured by punchouts,
which occur when the close spacing of transverse
cracks cause in high tensile stresses that result in
portions of the slab being broken into pieces.
Punchouts are associated with increased roughness
and are reflected in International Roughness Index
measurements.
• End