SEMINAR REPORT

ON
“DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION OF FLEXIBLE
PAVEMENTS”

Submitted to:
Prof Simanchal Panda
Er. Biswa Ranjan Tripathy
Er. Pratiksha Sarangi

Submitted by:
Pankaj Kumar Samal
Registration number-1301219286

Department Of Civil Engineering

College Of Engineering, Bhubaneswar

1
 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING BHUBANESWAR
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank respected Prof. Simanchal Panda and other

faculty members of Civil Engineering Department for giving me such a
wonderful opportunity to expand my knowledge on “Pavement Design”
and giving me guidelines to present a seminar report. It helped me a lot
to realize of what we study for.

Secondly, I would like to thank my parents who patiently helped

me as i went through my work and helped to modify and eliminate some
of the irrelevant or un-necessary stuffs.

Last but clearly not the least, I would like to thank my friends who
helped me to make my work more organized and well-stacked till the
end.

Pankaj Kumar Samal

Regd. No.-1301219286
Department of Civil Engineering
College of Engineering Bhubaneswar

2
 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING BHUBANESWAR
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

CERTIFICATE

I have made this report file on the topic “Flexible Pavement

Design”, I have tried my best to elucidate all the relevant detail to the
topic to be included in the report. While in the beginning I have tried to
give a general view about this topic.

My efforts and wholehearted co-corporation of each and every one

has ended on a successful note. I express my sincere gratitude to Prof.
Simanchal Panda, who assisting me throughout the preparation of this
topic. I thank him for providing me the reinforcement, confidence and
most importantly the track for the topic whenever I needed it.

Guided By:
[Link] Ranjan Tripathy Prof. Simanchal Panda
Er. Pratiksha Sarangi HOD, Department Of Civil Engineering

3
 ABSTRACT
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, favorable 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 affecting the riding quality.

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 CONTENT

TOPIC PAGE NO.

Introduction 6

Requirements of a Pavement 7

Types of Pavement 6-10

 Flexible pavement
 Rigid pavement
 Composite pavement
Layers Of Flexible Pavement 11-13

Design of flexible pavement 13-18

Failures Of Flexible Pavement 18

Advantages And Disadvantages of Flexible 18

Pavement

Considerations 19

Summary
19

References
20

INTRODUCTION
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 This is an introduction to flexible pavement design for engineers. It is not
intended as definitive treatise, and it does not encompass the design of rigid
pavements. Engineers are cautioned that much of pavement design is governed by
codes, specifications and practices of public agencies. Engineers must always
determine the requirements of the regulatory authority within whose jurisdiction
specific projects fall.
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, favorable 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 affecting the riding quality.
The procedure presented here for design of flexible pavements is generally
referred to as the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) design procedure. This procedure
requires that each layer be thick enough to distribute the stresses induced by traffic
so that when they reach the underlying layer they will not overstress and produce
excessive shear deformation in the underlying layer. Each layer must also be
compacted adequately so that traffic does not produce an intolerable amount of
added compaction

Requirements of a pavement:
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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.

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 this stress distribution, flexible
pavements normally has three layers.

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 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.

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Types of Flexible Pavements
The following types of construction have been used in flexible 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.

RIGID PAVEMENT:
Rigid pavements will transmit wheel load stresses to the lower layers by
flexure. The wheel load acting on the pavement will be distributed to a smaller
area, and the stress increases with the depth. The rigid pavements normally have
two layers.

Figure: Typical Cross section of rigid pavement

Rigid pavements normally use Portland cement concrete as the prime

structural element. Depending on conditions, engineers may design the pavement
slab with plain, lightly reinforced, continuously reinforced, prestressed, or fibrous
concrete. The concrete slab usually lies on a compacted granular or treated sub-
base, which is supported, in turn, by a compacted subgrade.

9
 The sub-base provides uniform stable support and may provide subsurface
drainage. The concrete slab has considerable flexural strength and spreads the
applied loads over a large area. Rigid pavements have a high degree of rigidity.
Better pavement performance requires that support for the concrete slab be
uniform. Rigid pavement strength is most economically built into the concrete slab
itself with optimum use of low-cost materials under the slab.
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: These 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.
Reinforcements help to keep the slab together even after cracks.

Continuous Reinforced Concrete Pavement: Complete elimination of joints

are achieved by reinforcement.

COMPOSITE PAVEMENTS
In composite pavements, there are several types of composite pavement
structures; however, in this study, a composite structure is defined as a multi-layer
structure where there is a flexible layer (top-most layer) over a rigid layer. The
flexible layer (e.g., dense-graded hot-mix asphalt, stone matrix asphalt, open-
graded friction course etc.) provides a smooth, safe, and quiet driving surface,
whereas the rigid layer (e.g., cement-treated base, roller-compacted concrete,
continuously reinforced concrete pavement etc.) provides a stiff and strong base.
This high modulus rigid base tends to change the traditional pavement concept in
which the layers’ moduli decrease as depth increases. In composite structures, the
stiffness of the base (rigid layer) is greater than that of the surface layer (flexible
layer). Composite structures are also known as semi-rigid or flexible composite
structures in other countries.

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LAYERS OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT:

Typical layers of a conventional flexible pavement includes seal coat,

surface course, tack coat, binder course, prime coat, base course, sub-base course,
compacted subgrade, and natural sub-grade

fig: Typical cross section of a flexible pavement

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.

11
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 traffic 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. Its 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 fines from the sub-grade in the pavement structure If the base
course is open graded, then the sub-base course with more fines can serve as a filler
between subgrade and the base course A sub-base course is not always needed or
used. For example, a pavement constructed over a high quality, stiff sub-grade may
not need the additional features offered by a sub-base course. In such situations,
sub-base course may not be provided.

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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.

DESIGN OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT:

Design of flexible pavements involves the interplay of severable variables
 Wheel Loads.
 Traffic.
 Climate.
 Terrain.
 Subgrade condition.

Wheel loads:
IRC 37 considers traffic in terms of, Standard axles to be carried by
pavement during the design life.
Standard axle=8160 Kg
Design Life= Period in which the cumulative number of standard axles carried by
the pavement.
CVPD= Commercial Vehicles per day, vehicles having laden weight more than
3.00mt.

Traffic:
For estimating the design traffic information required are
 INTIAL TRAFFIC :: After construction (before the road is
opened to traffic) in terms of CVPD
 TRAFFIC GROWTH RATE ::
 DESIGN LIFE :: in number of years,
 VEHICLE DAMAGE VACTOR
 DISTRIBUTION of commercial traffic over the carriageway.

INTIAL TRAFFIC:
 Only the number of commercials (W>3.0t) and
 The Axle- Loading of Commercial Vehicles are considered.
 The initial daily average traffic flow based 7 days X 24 hours classified
counts.

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TRAFFIC GROWTH RATE
 Traffic growth rate is estimated ::
 By studying the past trends of traffic growth and
 By establishing economic models as per procedure out lined in
IRC:108.
 The code recommends average annual growth rate as 7.50 % in case
adequate data is not available.

DESIGN LIFE
 Definition: Design life of a pavement is the cumulative number of “standard
axles” that can be carried before strengthening of pavement is necessary.
 DESIGN LIFE for ::
 Express ways & Urban Roads. -- 20 yrs.
 National Highways & State Highways – 15 yrs.
 Other category of roads -- 10 to 15 yrs

VEHICLE DAMAGE VACTOR:

 Definition: It is an equivalent number of standard axle per commercial
vehicles. Where STANDARD AXLE = 8160 kg
 It is a multiplier to convert commercial vehicles of different axle loads and
configuration to standard axle ::
 COMMERCILA VEHICLE * VDF = STANDARD AXLE.

LANE DISTRIBUTION:
Distribution of commercial traffic by
 LANE
 DIRECTION
Necessary in arriving realistic total equivalent standard axle load used in design.
 Types of Carriageways
 Single Lane carriageway ( No median of divider),
 Dual lane carriageway (With Median or Divider).
 Types of Lanes
 Single - Lane (only in single carriageway)
 Two – Lane,
 Three – Lane (only in dual carriageway)
 Four – Lane

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SINGLE CARRIAGE WAY

SL. NO. [Link] LANES WIDTH L.D.F(%)

1 Single lane 3.75mt 100
2 Double lane 7mt 75
3 Four lane 14-15mt 40

DOUBLE CARRIAGE WAY

SL. [Link] LANES WIDTH L.D.F(%)

NO.
1 Two lane 7.0+7.0 75
2 Three lane 10.5+10.5 60
3 Four lane 14.0+14.0 40

Cumulative numbers of standard axles to be catered in the design are in

terms of
msa (Million Standard Axles)

365∗ [( 1+r ) n−1 ]

N= ¿ A∗D∗F
r∗1000000

Where,
 A = Initial Traffic,
 r = Growth Rate,
 D = Lane distribution factor,
 n = Design life in years
 F = Vehicle Damage Factor
Climate:
Climate condition of the particular area on which the designed plan of
roadway to be made plays a vital role model. In this case the weather condition of
the area is to be studied properly so that unpleasant conditions can be avoided
during construction as well as during the total design period.
Weather conditions can affect many aspects of the construction project from
site work to worker comfort. For the purpose of this discussion, weather conditions
are divided into hot and dry, cold, wet, thunderstorms, and windy. The most
common effects are briefly mentioned for each condition. Weather is simply a
reaction to changes in atmospheric pressure. These changes alter air movement,
temperature, and humidity. Some changes are dramatic and produce violent storms.
Other changes are subtle and have little effect on weather. Meteorologists can

15
predict these changes with reasonable short-term accuracy. What is done with these
predictions directly affects comfort, project design, and construction procedures.
Terrain:
The geometric design of a highway is influenced significantly by terrain
conditions. Economy dictates choice of different standards for different types of
terrain. Terrain is classified by the general slope of the country across the highway
alignment, for which the criteria should be followed. While classifying a terrain,
short isolated stretches of varying terrain should not be taken into consideration .
Terrain is defined as the slope of the ground in which the planned roadway is
to be made. The terrain may be ruling, plain or hilly terrain. Terrain stability field
assessments in the study area after the introduction of the fpc focused primarily on
the potential for fill slope instability. On moderately steep to steep slopes, full
bench or ¾ bench cut and end haul construction techniques were the main methods
of managing landslide hazards and risks.

IMPORTANCE:
The understanding of terrain is critical for many reasons:

 The terrain of a region largely determines its suitability for human settlement:
flatter, alluvial plains tend to have better farming soils than steeper, rockier
uplands.
 In terms of environmental quality, agriculture, and hydrology, understanding
the terrain of an area enables the understanding
of watershed boundaries, drainage characteristics, water movement, and
impacts on water quality. Complex arrays of relief data are used as input
parameters for hydrology transport models (such as the SWMM or DSSAM
Models) to allow prediction of river water quality.
 Understanding terrain also supports soil conservation, especially in
agriculture. Contour ploughing is an established practice enabling sustainable
agriculture on sloping land; it is the practice of ploughing along lines of equal
elevation instead of up and down a slope.
 Terrain is militarily critical because it determines the ability of armed forces to
take and hold areas, and move troops and material into and through areas. An
understanding of terrain is basic to both defensive and offensive strategy.
 Terrain is important in determining weather patterns. Two areas geographically
close to each other may differ radically in precipitation levels or timing because
of elevation differences or a "rain shadow" effect.
 Precise knowledge of terrain is vital in aviation, especially for low-flying routes
and maneuvers and airport altitudes. Terrain will also affect range and
performance of radars and terrestrial radio navigation systems. Furthermore, a

16
 hilly or mountainous terrain can strongly impact the implementation of a
new aerodrome and the orientation of its runways.

SUB GRADE CONDITION:

Definition:
It is the top 500 mm of FORMATION and is FOUNDATION to the
pavement. It should be well compacted.
Density: The DRY DENSITY not less than 1.75 gm/cc.
Strength: The STRENGTH of subgrade is assessed in terms of CBR ( California
Bearing Ratio).
Maximum = 10 % and Minimum = 2 %
The CBR should be found on remolded samples in the lab at the weakest condition
under the road after construction.
The subgrade must be able to support loads transmitted from the pavement
structure. This load bearing capacity is often affected by degree of compaction,
moisture content, and soil type. A subgrade that can support a high amount of
loading without excessive deformation is considered good.
Poor subgrade should be avoided if possible, but when it is necessary to
build over weak soils there are several methods available to improve subgrade
performance. Poor subgrade soil can simply be removed and replaced with high
quality fill. Although this is simple in concept, it can be expensive. Table in right
shows typical over-excavation depths recommended by the Colorado Asphalt
Pavement Association.

Strength & Stiffness of Subgrade Soil:

Subgrade materials are typically characterized by their resistance to
deformation under load, which can be either a measure of their strength (the stress
needed to break or rupture a material) or stiffness (the relationship between stress
and strain in the elastic range or how well a material is able to return to its original
shape and size after being stressed). In general, the more resistant to deformation a
subgrade is, the more load it can support before reaching a critical deformation
value. Three basic subgrade stiffness/strength characterizations are commonly used
California Bearing Ratio (CBR).

17
 Although there are other factors involved when evaluating subgrade
materials (such as swell in the case of certain clays), stiffness is the most common
characterization.

California Bearing Ratio (CBR):

The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test is a simple strength test that
compares the bearing capacity of a material with that of a well-graded crushed
stone (thus, a high quality crushed stone material should have a CBR @ 100%). It
is primarily intended for, but not limited to, evaluating the strength of cohesive
materials having maximum particle sizes less than 19 mm (0.75 in.) (AASHTO,
2000). It was developed by the California Division of Highways around 1930 and
was subsequently adopted by numerous states, counties, U.S. federal agencies and
internationally. As a result, most agency and commercial geotechnical laboratories
in the U.S. are equipped to perform CBR tests. The basic CBR test involves
applying load to a small penetration piston at a rate of 1.3 mm (0.05") per minute
and recording the total load at penetrations ranging from 0.64 mm (0.025 in.) up to
7.62 mm (0.300 in.).

Failures of Flexible Pavement

The major flexible pavement failures are fatigue cracking, rutting, and
thermal cracking. The fatigue cracking of flexible pavement is due to horizontal
tensile strain at the bottom of the asphaltic concrete. The failure criterion relates
allowable number of load repetitions to tensile strain and this relation can be
determined in the laboratory fatigue test on asphaltic concrete specimens. Rutting
occurs only on flexible pavements as indicated by permanent deformation or rut
depth along wheel load path. Two design methods have been used to control
rutting: one to limit the vertical compressive strain on the top of subgrade and other
to limit rutting to a tolerable amount (12 mm normally). Thermal cracking includes
both low-temperature cracking and thermal fatigue cracking

THE ADVANTAGES OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS

 Adaptability to stage construction.
18
  Availability of low-cost types that can be easily built.
 Ability to be easily opened and patched.
 Easy to repair frost heave and settlement.
 Resistance to the formation of ice glaze.

THE DISADVANTAGES OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS

 Higher maintenance costs.
 Shorter life span under heavy use.
 Damage by oils and certain chemicals.
 Weak edges that may require curbs or edge devices.

CONSIDERATIONS
i. Kerbs can be used of concrete is probably the most common material used
for both barrier and mountable kerbs. Concrete curbs are durable and
relatively easy to construct.
ii. Asphalt is frequently used for kerbing, especially where curved parking is
lands must be constructed. They are economical and easy to construct.
iii. Granite kerbs are not as frequently used as asphalt or concrete unless granite
is quarried in the area. Granite kerbs are far more durable than concrete.

SUMMARY
Pavements form the basic supporting structure in highway transportation.
Each layer of pavement has a multitude of functions to perform which has to be
duly considered during the design process. Different types of pavements can be
adopted depending upon the traffic requirements. Improper design of pavements
leads to early failure of pavements affecting the riding quality also.

19
REFERENCES

1. Highway Engineering,10th Edition, By S.K Khanna, C.E.G. Justo, Nemchand

& Bros
2. A Course In Highway Engineering By Dr S.P. Bindra.
3. [Link]
4. [Link]
5. [Link]

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