Pavement Materials and Pavement Design MODULE-III

MODULE-III
PAVEMENT MATERIALS AND PAVEMENT DESIGN
PAVEMENT MATERIALS
Introduction
• Pavements are a conglomeration of materials. These materials, their associated properties,
and their interactions determine the properties of the resultant pavement.
• Thus, a good understanding of these materials, how they are characterized, and how they
perform is fundamental to understand the pavement.
• The materials which are used in the construction of highway are of intense interest to the
highway engineer.
• This requires not only a thorough understanding of the soil and aggregate properties which
affect pavement stability and durability, but also the binding materials which may be added
to improve these pavement features.
Sub-grade soil
• Soil is an accumulation or deposit of earth material, derived naturally from the
disintegration of rocks or decay of vegetation that can be excavated readily with power
equipment in the field or disintegrated by gentle mechanical means in the laboratory.
• It is an integral part of the road pavement structure as it provides the support to the
pavement from beneath.
• The main function of the sub grade is to give adequate support to the pavement and for this
the subgrade should possess sufficient stability under adverse climatic and loading
conditions.
Desirable properties
• The desirable properties of sub grade soil as a highway material are
– Stability
– Incompressibility
– Permanency of strength
– Minimum changes in volume and stability under adverse conditions of weather and
ground water
– Good drainage, and
– Ease of compaction

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The soil should possess adequate stability or resistance to permanent deformation under loads, and
should possess resistance to weathering ,thus retaining the desired subgrade support . minimum
variation in volume will ensure minimum variation in differential expansion and differential
strength values . Good drainage is essential to avoid excessive moisture retension and to reduce the
potential frost action . Ease of compation ensures higher dry density and strength under particular
type and amount of compaction.

Soil Classification Systems

• Burmister descriptive classification.
• Casagrande soil classification.
• Unified and IS soil classification.
• U.S Public Roads Administration (PRA) classification.
• HRB or AASHTO or Revised PRA classification.
• Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) classification.
• Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) classification.
• Compaction Classification.

Highway research board (HRB) classification of soils

• This is also called American association of state highway officials (AASHO) classification
of revised public roads administration (PRA) soil classification system.
• Soils are divided into seven groups A-1 to A-7.
• A-1, A-2 and A-3 soils are granular soils, percentage fines passing 0.074mm sieve being
less than 35.
• A-4, A-5, A-6 and A-7 soils are fine grained or silt clay soils passing 0.074mm sieve being
greater than 35 percent.
• A-1 groups soils are well graded mixture of stone fragments, gravel, coarse sand, fine sand
and non plastic or slightly plastic soil binder. The soils of this group are subdivided into two
subgroups, A-1-a consisting predominantly of stone fragments or gravel and A-1-b
consisting predominantly of coarse sand.
• A-2 group of soils include a wide range of granular soils. Based on the fines content, the
soils of A-2 are subdivided into subgroups A-2-4, A-2-5, A-2-6 and A-2-7.

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• A-3 group soils consists mainly uniformly graded medium or fine sand similar to beach
sand or desert blown sand.
• A-4 group soils are generally silty soils, non-plastic or moderately plastic in nature with LL
and PI values less than 40 and 10 respectively.
• A-5 group soils are also silty with PI less than 10%, but with LL values exceeding 40%.
These include highly elastic or compressible soils.
• A-6 group soils are plastic clays, having high values of PI exceeding 10% and low values of
LL below 40%, they have high volume change properties with variation in moisture content.
• A-7 group soils are also clayey soils as A-6 soils, but high values of both LL and PI. These
soils have low permeability and high volume change properties with changes in moisture
content.

Evaluation of soil strength

• The tests used to evaluate the strength properties of soils may be broadly divided into three
groups
– Shear tests
– Bearing tests
– Penetration tests

CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO (CBR)

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• California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test was developed by the California Division of Highway
as a method of classifying and evaluating soil-sub grade and base course materials for
flexible pavements.
• CBR test, an empirical test, has been used to determine the material properties for pavement
design. It is a penetration test wherein a standard piston 50 mm diameter is used to penetrate
the soil at a standard rate of 1.25 mm/minute. The pressure up to a penetration of 12.5 mm
and it's ratio to the bearing value of a standard crushed rock is termed as the CBR.
• In most cases, CBR decreases as the penetration increases.
• The ratio at 2.5 mm penetration is used as the CBR. In some case, the ratio at 5 mm may be
greater than that at 2.5 mm. If this occurs, the ratio at 5 mm should be used.
• The CBR is a measure of resistance of a material to penetration of standard plunger under
controlled density and moisture conditions.
• The CBR test may be conducted in re-moulded or undisturbed specimen in the laboratory.
• The test is simple and has been extensively investigated for field correlations of flexible
pavement thickness requirement.

CBR test set up

Test Procedure
• The laboratory CBR apparatus consists of a mould 150 mm diameter with a base plate and a
collar, a loading frame and dial gauges for measuring the penetration values and the
expansion on soaking.
• The specimen in the mould is soaked in water for four days and the swelling and water
absorption values are noted.
• The surcharge weight is placed on the top of the specimen in the mould and the assembly is
placed under the plunger of the loading frame.

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• Load is applied on the sample by a standard plunger with dia of 50 mm at the rate of 1.25
mm/min.
• A load penetration curve is drawn. The load values on standard crushed stones are 1370 kg
and 2055 kg at 2.5 mm and 5.0 mm penetrations respectively.
• CBR value is expressed as a percentage of the actual load causing the penetrations of 2.5
mm or 5.0 mm to the standard loads mentioned above. Therefore,
• Two values of CBR will be obtained. If the value of 2.5 mm is greater than that of 5.0 mm
penetration, the former is adopted. If the CBR value obtained from test at 5.0 mm
penetration is higher than that at 2.5 mm, then the test is to be repeated for checking.
• If the check test again gives similar results, then higher value obtained at 5.0 mm
penetration is reported as the CBR value.
• The average CBR value of three test specimens is reported as the CBR value of the sample.

PLATE BEARING TEST

• Plate bearing test is used to evaluate the support capability of sub-grades, bases and in some
cases, complete pavement.
• Data from the tests are applicable for the design of both flexible and rigid pavements.
• In plate bearing test, a compressive stress is applied to the soil or pavement layer through
rigid plate’s relatively large size and the deflections are measured for various stress values.
• The deflection level is generally limited to a low value, in the order of 1.25 to 5 mm and so
the deformation caused may be partly elastic and partly plastic due to compaction of the
stressed mass with negligible plastic deformation.
• The plate-bearing test has been devised to evaluate the supporting power of sub grades or
any other pavement layer by using plates of larger diameter.
• The plate-bearing test was originally meant to find the modulus of sub grade reaction in the
Westergaard's analysis for wheel load stresses in cement concrete pavements.

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Plate Bearing Test Setup

Test Procedure
• The test site is prepared and loose material is removed so that the 75 cm diameter plate rests
horizontally in full contact with the soil sub-grade.
• The plate is seated accurately and then a seating load equivalent to a pressure of 0.07
kg/cm2 (320 kg for 75 cm diameter plate) is applied and released after a few seconds.
• The settlement dial gauge is now set corresponding to zero load.
• A load is applied by means of jack, sufficient to cause an average settlement of about 0.25
mm.
• When there is no perceptible increase in settlement or when the rate of settlement is less
than 0.25 mm per minute (in the case of soils with high moisture content or in clayey soils)
the load dial reading and the settlement dial readings are noted.
• Deflection of the plate is measured by means of deflection dials; placed usually at one-third
points of the plate near it's outer edge.
• To minimize bending, a series of stacked plates should be used.
• Average of three or four settlement dial readings is taken as the settlement of the plate
corresponding to the applied load.
• Load is then increased till the average settlement increase to a further amount of about 0.25
mm, and the load and average settlement readings are noted as before. The procedure is
repeated till the settlement is about 1.75 mm or more.
• Allowance for worst subgrade moisture and correction for small plate size should be dealt
properly.

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• A graph is plotted with the mean settlement versus bearing pressure (load per unit area) as
shown in Figure. The pressure corresponding to a settlement is obtained from this graph.
• The modulus of subgrade reaction is calculated from the relation.
P
k= kg /cm2 /cm
0 . 125

Aggregates
• Aggregate is a collective term for the mineral materials such as sand, gravel, and crushed
stone that are used with a binding medium (such as water, bitumen, Portland cement, lime,
etc.) to form compound materials (such as bituminous concrete and Portland cement
concrete).
• By volume, aggregate generally accounts for 92 to 96 percent of Bituminous concrete and
about 70 to 80 percent of Portland cement concrete.
• Aggregate is also used for base and sub-base courses for both flexible and rigid pavements.
• Aggregates can either be natural or manufactured.
• Natural aggregates are generally extracted from larger rock formations through an open
excavation (quarry). Extracted rock is typically reduced to usable sizes by mechanical
crushing.
• Manufactured aggregate is often a bye product of other manufacturing industries.

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Desirable properties
• Strength
• Hardness
• Toughness
• Shape of aggregates
• Adhesion with bitumen
• Durability
• Free from deleterious particles
• Strength
• The aggregates used in top layers are subjected to (i) Stress action due to traffic
wheel load, (ii) Wear and tear, (iii) crushing.
• For a high quality pavement, the aggregates should posses high resistance to
crushing, and to withstand the stresses due to traffic wheel load.
• Hardness
• The aggregates used in the surface course are subjected to constant rubbing or
abrasion due to moving traffic.
• The aggregates should be hard enough to resist the abrasive action caused by the
movements of traffic.
• Toughness
• Resistance of the aggregates to impact is termed as toughness. Aggregates used in the
pavement should be able to resist the effect caused by the jumping of the wheels
from one particle to another at different levels causes severe impact on the
aggregates.
• Shape of aggregates
• Aggregates which happen to fall in a particular size range may have rounded cubical,
angular, flaky or elongated particles.
• It is evident that the flaky and elongated particles will have less strength and
durability when compared with cubical, angular or rounded particles of the same
aggregate.
• Hence too flaky and too much elongated aggregates should be avoided as far as
possible.
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• Adhesion with bitumen
• The aggregates used in bituminous pavements should have less affinity with water
when compared with bituminous materials, otherwise the bituminous coating on the
aggregate will be stripped off in presence of water.
• Durability
• The property of aggregates to withstand adverse action of weather is called
soundness.
• The aggregates are subjected to the physical and chemical action of rain and bottom
water, impurities there-in and that of atmosphere, hence it is desirable that the road
aggregates used in the construction should be sound enough to withstand the
weathering action.
• Free from deleterious particles
• Specifications for aggregates used in bituminous mixes usually require the aggregates
to be clean, tough and durable in nature and free from excess amount of fat or
elongated pieces, dust, clay balls and other objectionable material.
• Similarly aggregates used in Portland cement concrete mixes must be clean and free
from deleterious substances such as clay lumps, silt and other organic impurities.

Aggregate tests
• In order to decide the suitability of the aggregate for use in pavement construction,
following tests are carried out:
– Crushing test
– Abrasion test
– Impact test
– Soundness test
– Shape test
– Specific gravity and water absorption test
– Bitumen adhesion test
Note; Refer Khanna and Justo test book for test procedure

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Bituminous Materials
• Bituminous materials used in pavement construction works include both bitumen and tar.
• Bitumen is a petroleum product obtained by the distillation of petroleum crude where as
road tar is obtained by the destructive distillation of coal or wood.
• Both bitumen and tar have similar appearance, black in colour though they have different
characteristics.
• Bitumen is hydrocarbon material of either natural or pyrogenous origin, found in gaseous,
liquid, semisolid or solid form and is completely soluble in carbon disulphide and in carbon
tetra chloride.
• Bitumen is a complex organic material and occurs either naturally or may be obtained
artificially during the distillation of petroleum.
• Bituminous materials are very commonly used in highway construction because of their
binding and water proofing properties.
• When the bitumen contains inert material or minerals, it is sometimes called asphalt.
• Asphalt is found as deposits in the form of natural asphalt or rock asphalt.
• The grades of bitumen used for pavement construction work of roads and airfields are called
paving grades.
• Those used for water proofing of structures and industrial floors are called industrial
grades.

Requirements of Bitumen
• The bitumen should not be highly temperature susceptible: during the hottest weather the
mix should not become too soft or unstable, and during cold weather the mix should not
become too brittle causing cracks.
• The viscosity of the bitumen at the time of mixing and compaction should be adequate. This
can be achieved by use of cutbacks or emulsions of suitable grades or by heating the
bitumen and aggregates prior to mixing.
• There should be adequate affinity and adhesion between the bitumen and aggregates used in
the mix. The bitumen should not strip off from the aggregate.

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Tests on bitumen
• There are a number of tests to assess the properties of bituminous materials. The following
tests are usually conducted to evaluate different properties of bituminous materials.
1. Penetration test
2. Ductility test
3. Softening point test
4. Specific gravity test
5. Viscosity test
6. Flash and Fire point test
7. Float test
8. Water content test
9. Loss on heating test
Note; Refer Khanna and Justo test book for test procedure
Cutback Bitumen
• It is defined as the bitumen, the viscosity of which has been reduced bya volatile
diluents.
• For use in surface dressings, some type of bitumen macadam and soil bitumen stabilization,
it is necessary to have a fluid binder which can be mixed relatively at low temperatures.
• Hence to increase fluidity of the bituminous binder at low temperatures the binder is
blended with a volatile solvent.
• After the cutback mix is used in construction work, the volatile gets evaporated and the
cutback develops the binding properties.
• The viscosity of the cutback and rate at which it hardens on the road depend on the
characteristics and quantity of both bitumen and volatile oil used as the diluent.
• Cutback bitumen are available in three types
• Rapid curing(RC)
• Medium curing(MC)
• Slow curing(SC)
• Rapid curing cutbacks are bitumen cutback with a petroleum distillate such as nephta or
gasoline which will rapidly evaporate after using in construction, leaving the bitumen
binder.

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• Medium curing cutbacks are bitumen cutback to greater fluidity by blending with a
intermediate boiling point solvent like kerosene or light diesel oil. MC cutbacks evaporate
relatively at slow rate because the kerosene range solvents will not evaporate rapidly as the
gasoline range solvents used in the manufacture of RC cutbacks. MC products have good
wetting properties and so satisfactory coating of fine grain aggregate and sandy soils is
possible.
• Slow curing cutbacks are obtained either by blending bitumen with high boiling point gas
oil or by controlling the rate of flow and temperature of the crude during the first cycle of
refining. SC cutbacks set slowly as it is a semi volatile material.
• Tests carried out on cutbacks bitumen are:
• Viscosity test
• Distillation test
• Penetration test
• Ductility test
• Test for matter soluble in carbon disulphide
• Flash point test

Bituminous emulsion
• It is liquid product in which a substantial amount of bitumen is suspended in a finely
divided condition in an aqueous medium and stabilized by means of one or more suitable
materials.
• An emulsion is a two phase system consisting of two immiscible liquids, the one being
dispersed as fine globules in the other.
• Bitumen is broken into fine globules and kept in suspension in water. A small proportion of
an emulsifier is used to facilitate the formation of dispersion and to keep the globules of
dispersed binder in suspension.
• The function of this emulsifier is to form a protective coating around the globules of binder
resisting the coalescence of the globules.
• Emulsifiers usually adopted are soaps, surface active agents and colloidal powders.
• Half to one percent emulsifier by weight of finished emulsion are usually taken to prepare
road emulsions.

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• When the emulsion is applied to the road, it breaks down and the binder starts binding the
aggregates, though the full binding powder develops slowly as and when the water
evaporates.
• The first sign of breakdown of emulsion is shown by the change in colour of the film from
chocolate brown to black.
• If the bitumen emulsion is intended to break rapidly, the emulsion is said to possess rapid
set quality.
• Emulsions which do not break spontaneously on contact with stone, but break during
mixing or by fine mineral dust are medium set grade.
• When special types of emulsifying agents are used to make the emulsion relatively stable,
they are called slow setting grades.

Tar
• Tar is the viscous liquid obtained when natural organic materials such as wood and coal
carbonized or destructively distilled in the absence of air.
• Based on the material from which tar is derived, it is referred to as wood tar or coal tar.
• There are five grades of Road Tars, viz., RT-1, RT-2, RT-3, RT-4 and RT-5 based on their
viscosity and other properties.
• Tests carried out on Tar are:
– Specific gravity test
– Viscosity test on standard tar viscometer
– Softening point
– Float test
– Water content
– Test for matter insoluble in toluene
– Distillation fraction

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Difference between Bitumen and Tar
Bitumen Tar
It is produced by the destructive
It is a petroleum product
distillation of coal or wood
Bitumen is soluble in carbon disulphide
Tar is soluble only in toluene
and in Carbon tetrachloride
Has more weather resisting property Has less weather resisting property
Bitumen is less temperature susceptible Tar is more temperature susceptible
The free carbon content is less in
The free carbon content is more in tar
bitumen

PAVEMENT DESIGN
INTRODUCTION
Pavement is a crust or stabilized layer constructed on the sub grade soil, intended to serve the
design traffic. A highway pavement is designed to support the wheel loads imposed on it from
traffic moving over it. Additional stresses are also imposed by changes in the environment. It
should be strong enough to resist the stresses imposed on it and it should be thick enough to
distribute the external loads on the earthen sub grade, so that the sub grade itself can safely bear
it.
Pavement design deals with the determination of thickness of all the layers and also the
specifications of materials for all the layers. Pavement is constructed on the prepared foundation
layer known as sub grade soil. Subgrade should be compacted to its optimum density increasing
the strength and stability of subgrade soil. The ultimate load carrying capacity of pavement
depends on the strength and stability of subgrade soils.
A first layer which is constructed on the subgrade soil is known as sub- base course. It is built
from the well grade soil mix or from stabilized soils. Next succeeding layer built on the sub
course is known as base course. Base course is built from only the crushed stone with a binding
material. The topmost course built from the superior quality materials like cement concrete or
bituminous concrete is known as wearing course.

Objects and Requirements of pavements:

The main object and requirements of pavements are:
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1. To make the road surface as even as possible to enable the fast moving vehicles to move
safely and comfortably at the design speed.
2. To make the road surface more stable and non- yielding to allow the heavy wheel loads of
road traffic.

The earth road or mud road may not satisfy all the requirements, especially under different
conditions of loads and weather. At high mass soil becomes weaker and soft and starts
deforming under heavy wheel loads. Therefore, the unevenness and undulations of the surface
causes vertical oscillations in the fast moving vehicles, increasing the fuel consumption. More
wear and tear of vehicle components, resulting in the increase in vehicle operation cost. An
uneven surface causes more discomfort and fatigue to the passengers of fast moving vehicles
and cyclists.
3. To sustain heavy wheel loads and to transfer the load stresses on a wide area of subgrade
soil. It has been found that maximum compression is developed at the surface course and
gradually decreases as depth increases from the surface. This type of structural action due to
the wheel load takes place by the construction of pavement. Hence the magnitude of wheel
load stresses decreases, which depend both on its thickness and the characteristics of all
layers. A pavement layer is considered to be more effective or superior, if it is able to
distribute the wheel load stresses through a larger area.
4. To keep the elastic deformation of the pavement within the permissible limits so that the
pavement can sustain a larger number of repeated load applications during the design life.
Pavement is constructed well above the maximum level of ground water table to keep the
subgrade relatively dry even during monsoons.

Functions and Desirable characteristics of Pavement:

Functions of pavement are:
1. It is designed to support the wheel loads imposed on it due to traffic movement.
2. Additional stresses are also imposed by changes in the environment.
3. It should be strong enough to resist the stresses.
4. It should be thick enough to distribute the external loads on the earthen subgrade.

Desirable characteristics pavements:

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1. It should sufficient thickness to distribute the wheel load stresses to a safe value on the sub-
grade soil.
2. It should structurally strong to withstand all types of stresses imposed upon it.
3. Pavement must adequate coefficient of friction to prevent skidding of vehicles.
4. It should be smooth surface to provide comfort to road users even at high speed.
5. Produce least noise from moving vehicles.
6. Dust proof surface so that traffic safety is not impaired by reducing visibility.
7. Impervious surface, so that sub-grade soil is well protected.
8. Long design life with low maintenance cost.
9. The surface should be impervious so that water does not get into the lower layers of the
pavements and the sub-grade and cause deterioration.
10. It should provide a reasonably hard wearing surface, so that abrading action of wheels
does not damage the surface.

Types of Pavement:
Based on the structural behavior, pavements are generally classified into following
categories:
1. Flexible Pavement
2. Rigid Pavement
3. Semi – rigid Pavement

1. Flexible Pavement:

Flexible pavements are those which possess very low or negligible flexural strength. A

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flexible pavement consists of three layers of wearing surface built over a base course and
sub- base course and they rest upon the compacted sub- grade. If lower layers of flexible
pavement gets undulated top wearing surface also gets deflected.
A flexible pavement transmits the vertical stresses or compressive stresses to the lower
layers by grain to grain contact through the point of contact in the granular structure. A well
compacted granular structure consists of the strong graded aggregates interlocked with or
without can transfer the compressive stresses on a wider area of the subgrade. Bituminous
concrete is one of the best flexible pavement layer materials. Others are in the form of
W.B.M, soil aggregate mix, crushed aggregates or gravel.
The vertical compressive stress due to the wheel load is maximum directly under the load
and is equal to the contact pressure under the wheel. So, pavement has an ability of
transferring stresses on a wide area of the subgrade by truncated cone shape. Hence stresses
decrease at the lower layers.
Therefore, full advantage of stress distribution transfer should be taken in designing the
layer system concept. The flexible pavement is constructed in number of layers and the top
layers should be the strongest to withstand compressive stresses and shear stresses offered
by the wheel load and its impact effect. The lower layers have to take up only the lesser
magnitude of stresses and there no direct wear of wheel load, therefore the lower quality
materials with lower cost can be used in lower layers.
Flexible pavements are designed by the empirical and semi empirical methods. Life of the
flexible pavement ranges from 5 to 15 years and always require maintenance. This
pavement is found to be uneconomical in the long run.
2. Rigid Pavement:

Rigid pavements are made up of cement concrete, RCC or PSC and may or may not have
base course between the pavement and sub-grade.
In rigid pavements the stresses are not transferred from grain to grain to the lower layers as
in the ease of flexible pavement layers. The rigid pavements are made of Portland cement
concrete- either plain, reinforced or pre-stressed concrete. The plain cement concrete slabs
are expected to take- up about 40 kg/cm2 flexural stress. The rigid pavement has the slab
action and is capable of transmitting the wheel load stresses through a wider area below.
The main point of difference in the structural behavior of rigid pavement as compared to the

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flexible pavement is that the critical condition of stress in the rigid pavement is the
maximum flexural stress occurring in the slab due to wheel load and the temperature
changes where as in the flexible pavement it is the distribution of compressive stresses.
Rigid pavements are usually designed and the stresses are analyzed using the elastic theory.
3. Semi Rigid Pavement:

When bonded materials like the pozzolanic concrete, lean cement concrete or soil- cement
are used in the base course or sub base course layer. This pavement layer has considerably
higher flexural strength than the common flexible pavement layers. These bonded materials
do not possess as much flexural strength as the cement concrete pavements. Therefore when
this intermediate class of materials are used in the base or sub base course layer of the
payments, they are called semi- rigid pavement.

Components of pavements and its functions:

1. Subgrade:

The finished and compacted surface of earthwork on which a road pavement rests is called sub-
grade or formation. The subgrade of a road pavement may be provided in embankment or in
cutting or comes at existing ground level depending upon the topography and finished
formation level. Subgrade is compacted to its optimum density and moisture conditions,
finished with proper camber and gradient. The thickness and type of pavement structure
depends upon the supporting power of the subgrade because entire load of traffic and that of
pavement is ultimately taken up by the subgrade.
Functions:

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1. To bear ultimately the entire load of pavement including the load of traffic transmitted
through the pavement.
2. To provide an adequate and uniform support to the road pavement.
2. Sub Base Course:

A layer of granular material provided in between the sub-grade and the base course in a road
pavement is called sub- base course. It is provided as an additional layer when subgrade is of
poor quality. It consists of a layer of cheaper material like burnt clinker, natural gravel or slag.

Functions:

1. To provide additional help to the base and surface courses in distributing the loads.

2. To prevent intrusion of fine grained road bed soils into base courses.

3. To minimize the damaging effects of frost action.

4. To facilitate drainage of free water that might get accumulated below the pavement.

3. Base Course:

A layer of boulders or bricks ( in single layer or double layer)provided over the sub base course
or immediately over the subgrade in the absence of sub- base in a road pavement is called base
course. This course is considered as the most important and a major component of road
pavement structure, because this course can bear the impact of traffic wheel loads as transferred
through the wearing course. It consists of stable material like boulders, gravel, one or two layers
of well burnt bricks. In case of a rocky subgrade, base course is not provided.
Functions:
1. To withstand the high intensity compressive stresses or flexural stresses due to wheel
load and also to withstand high shearing stresses imposed upon it due to the impact
affect of traffic on wearing course.
2. To act as the foundation for the road pavement and to transfer the wheel loads coming
over the pavement surface safely to the sub- base course and sub grade lying underneath.

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4. Wearing Course:

The topmost layer of the road pavement directly exposed to traffic is called wearing course or
surfacing. It may consist of one or more number of layers in case of flexible pavements. A good
wearing course should be impervious and weather resisting. It should be able to resist abrasive
action of the traffic.
Functions:
1. To distribute the traffic load safely to the base course.
2. To act as an impervious layer so that the surface water could not find its access to
base course.
3. To prevent dust nuisance.
4. To withstand abrasive effect of traffic.
5. To provide smooth riding surface.

Difference between Flexible Pavement and Rigid Pavement

[Link]. Flexible Pavements Rigid Pavements
1. Stress transformation to the layers takes Stress transformation takes place by the
place by grain to grain contact in granular bending action.
structure.
2. Critical condition of stress in flexible Critical condition of stress in rigid
pavement is the maximum flexural stress pavement is the maximum flexural stress
occurring due to wheel load and number of occurring due to design wheel load and
repeatitions. temperature effect. Also tensile stresses are
developed due to wheel load and
temperature effect.
3. Pavement possesses negligible flexural Pavement possesses maximum rigidity and
strength. young’s modulus.
4. Design depends on the wheel load and also Design depends on wheel load, flexural
on the number of repetitions of wheel load. strength of concrete.
5. Life of pavement is 5-15 years. Life ranges from 30 to 60 years.
6. Always calls for maintenance works No maintenance required except about
joints
7 Design depends on the wheel load and also Design depends on wheel load, flexural
on the number of repetitions of wheel load. strength of concrete.
8 Initial cost is low Initial cost is high.
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9 Joints are not required Joints are essentially required.
10 Moderate skill and less supervision are High skill and more supervision are
needed. needed.
11 Repair work is easy. Repair work is difficult.
12 It is easy to lay, locate or repair It is difficult to lay, locate or repair
underground pipes below the pavement. underground pipes below the pavement.
13 Bituminous surface can be thrown open to A cement concrete pavement requires 28
traffic shortly after it is rolled. days before it can be thrown open to
traffic.
14 Less durable. More durable.
15 Stresses are not developed due to Stresses are developed due to temperature
temperature changes. changes.
16 More resilient to traffic loads. Less resilient to traffic loads.
17 Suitable for all types of traffic. Rigid pavements are producing noisy under
heavy wheel traffic.
18 Flexible pavements will adjust according to They do not adjust according to any
any deformations of subgrade without deformations of subgrade without rupture.
rupture.
19 They offer more tractive resistance. They offer less tractive resistance.
20 Black top pavements provide poor visibility They possess good visibility at night.
at night.
21 They do not cause glassy effect due to They offer glassy effect under reflected
reflected sunlight. sunlight.
22 Stage development is feasible. Stage development is not feasible.
23 Maintenance cost is high. Maintenance cost is less
24 Thickness is more. Thickness is less.

Factors to be considered in the design of pavement

(i) Design wheel load
(ii) Subgrade soil
(iii) Climatic factors
(iv) Pavement component materials
(v) Environmental factors
(vi) Special factors in the design of different types of pavement.

Design wheel load

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The various wheel load factors to be considered in pavement design are
(i) Maximum wheel load
(ii) Contact pressure
(iii) Dual or multiple wheel load and equivalent single wheel load
(iv) Repetition of loads

Maximum wheel load

For highways the maximum legal axle load as specified by IRC is 8170kg with a maximum
equivalent single wheel load of 4085kg. Total load influences the thickness of the pavement.

Contact pressure
The influence of tyre pressure is predominating in the upper layers. At the greater depth the effect
of tyre pressure diminishes and the total load exhibits a considerable influence on the vertical stress
[Link] pressure of high magnitude therefore demand high quality of materials in upper
layers in pavement . The total depth of pavement is however not influenced by tyre pressure.

EQUIVALENT SINGLE WHEEL LOAD (ESWL)

• To maintain the maximum wheel load within the specified limit and to carry greater load it
is necessary to provide dual wheel assembly to the rear axles of the road vehicles.

• In doing so the effect on the pavement through a dual wheel assembly is obviously not equal
to two times the load on any wheel.

• In other words, the pressure at a certain depth below the pavement surface cannot be
obtained by numerically adding the pressure caused by one wheel.

• In order to simplify the analysis, the load dispersion is assumed to be at an angle of 45°.

• In the dual wheel load assembly, let d be the clear gap between the two wheels, S be the
spacing between the centres of the wheels and a be the radius of the circular area of each
wheel, then S=d+2a

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• Upto a depth
of d/2 each
wheel load P
acts
independently
and after this
point the
stresses
induced due
to each load begins to overlap.

• At depth 2S and above, the stresses induced are due to effect of both wheels as the area of
overlap is considerable.

• So the total stresses due to dual wheels at any depth greater than 2S is considered to be
equivalent to a single wheel load of magnitude 2P, though this stress is likely to be slightly
greater than the stress due to dual wheels.

• ESWL may be determined based on either equivalent deflection or equivalent stress

criterion.

• Multiple wheel loads are converted to ESWL and this value is used in pavement design.

• A straight line relationship is assumed between ESWL and depth on log-log scales.

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• Two points A and B are plotted on the log-log graph with coordinates of A( P, d/2) and
B(2P,2S).

• Line AB is a plot which is the locus of points where any single wheel load is equivalent to a
certain set of dual wheels.

• To calculate the ESWL for a dual assembly, it is essential to estimate a design thickness of
the pavement.

• Thus ESWL is obtained at the assumed thickness from the graph.

• The same is used in design calculations.

• If the design thickness so obtained is equal to the estimated thickness then the ESWL
calculations could be considered as correct.

Repetition of loads

The deformation of pavement or subgrade due to single application of wheel load may be small.
But due to repeated application of the load there would be increased magnitude of plastic and
elastic deformation and the accumulated unrecovered or permanent deformation may even result in
pavement failure.

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