Mekelle university

Ethiopian Institute of Technology-Mekelle

School of Civil Engineering

RTE

Highway Engineering-III

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1. Road construction

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 Introduction
Highway Engineering

 Highway engineering I

 Highway engineering II

 Highway engineering III

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 Major aspects of Highway Design

 Geometric Design

What are the major components of geometric design and their

respective elements?

 Pavement Analysis and Design

What are the basic elements of pavement design?

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 Basic elements of pavement design
Flexible pavement design
 Surfacing

 Base

 Sub base

 Capping layer (optional)

 Subgrade

Rigid pavement design

 Concrete slab

 Base

 Sub base (optional)

 Subgrade

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 Highway Engineering III

Aims of the course is to introduce with:

o Construction of Roads

o Defects of Road

o Maintenance of Roads

o Pavement management system

o Labor based method of construction

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INTRODUCTION TO ROAD CONSTRUCTION

The three parties in road construction

1. Client,

2. Consultant and

3. Contractor

Client is the owner of the project who can finance the budget. This entity can be

private or the government

Consultant is the supervisor for the client and he can design projects after

getting agreement with the client or supervise, and administer in construction

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period the contract between the contractor and the client.
Contractor is engaged by the Client or employer to carry out and

complete the works.

The client has to prepare Term of Reference (TOR) how to select

the contractor and the consultant which will be followed with

detail procurement and bidding process.

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 HAND OVER THE CONSTRUCTION SITE
This_______ date of ____________________________________________________________
The work for construction of the ___________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
has been officially handed over to the contractor ______________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
The contractor, therefore, acknowledges the taking over the site and immediately commences the work with all its
explanation clearly defined in the specification and drawings (sketches).
The contractors, hereinafter, shall be responsible for the damages that occur as a result of his fault, carelessness or
negligence in connection with untimely commencement of the work.
IN WITNESS HERE OF THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN SIGNED BY ALL PRESENCE IN FOUR COPIES OF WHICH
THE CLIENT HAS ONE, THE SUPERVISOR ONE, THE CONTRACTOR ONE, AND THE CONSULTANT ONE.
REMARK
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________ ________________________ ________________________
FOR THE CLIENT (EMPLOYER) (FOR THE CONTRACTOR) (FOR THE CONSULTANT)
WITNESS
1.___________________ 1.__________________
2.___________________ 2.__________________

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1. ROAD CONSTRUCTION

1.1. Earthwork operations and Equipment

1.2. Sub Bases

1.3. Crushed Aggregate Base courses

1.4. Surfacing Works

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 1.1. Earth work operations and Equipment
Earthmoving: is the process of moving soil or rock from one
location to another and processing it so that it meets construction
requirements of location, elevation, density, moisture content,
and so on.

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 Earth
operation

Borrow
Project site
site

excavation processing excavation

Loading
Hauling
Dumping
Spreading
Compacting
Grading and
Finishing

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Earthmoving may include:

• Site preparation (Clearing and grubbing )

• Excavation

• Embankment construction

• Backfilling

• Preparing base course, sub base, and subgrade

• Compaction
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Clearing and grubbing: removal of trees, stumps, roots, down
timber, rotten wood, rubbish material from an area marked on the

plans.

Tree removal using Hydro-ax Bulldozer : clearing right of way

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 The Earthmoving Process
• Efficient management of the earthmoving process requires :

• Accurate estimating of work quantities and job conditions,

• Proper selection of equipment, and

• Proper/ Appropriate project management.

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 THE EARTH MOVING…..

Soil and rock are the materials that make up the crust of the earth

and are, therefore, the materials of interest to the contractor.

General Soil Characteristics

Trafficability: is the ability of a soil to support the weight of

vehicles under repeated traffic.

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 General Soil Characteristics

o Trafficability is primarily a function of:

• soil type and

• moisture conditions

o when poor trafficability conditions exist, the following may be

required:

• Drainage,

• stabilization of the soil or

• the use of low-ground-pressure construction equipment.

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• Load ability: It is a measure of the difficulty in excavating

and loading a soil.

o Loose granular soils are highly loadable, whereas

compacted cohesive soils and rock have low load ability.

• Soil unit weight

• Moisture content

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Soil Volume-change Characteristics
Soil Conditions

There are three principal conditions or states in which earthmoving material

may exist:
o bank,

o loose, and

o compacted.

Bank: Material in its natural state before disturbance. Often referred to as “in-
place” or “in situ.”

A unit volume is identified as a bank cubic yard (BCY) or a bank cubic meter
(BCM).
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o Loose:

• Soil that has been disturbed and is no longer in its original state.

• Material that has been excavated or loaded.

• A unit volume is identified as a loose cubic yard (LCY) or loose cubic meter

(LCM).

o Compacted:

• Soil that has been compacted for use in construction projects.

• Material after compaction.

• A unit volume is identified as a compacted cubic yard (CCY) or compacted

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cubic meter (CCM).
Swell

• A soil increases in volume when it is excavated because the soil grains

are loosened during excavation and air fills the void spaces created.

• As a result, a unit volume of soil in the bank condition will occupy more

than one unit volume after excavation. This results a decrease in the

density.

• Swell [%] = Loose Volume (VL) – Bank Volume (VB) x 100

Bank Volume
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• Example – 1

• Find the swell of a soil that weighs 1661 kg/m3 in its natural

state and 1186 kg/m3 after excavation.

Solution

Swell = (1661/1186  1) × 100 = 40%]

 That is, 1 bank cubic meter of material will expand to 1.4 loose

cubic meters after excavation.

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Shrinkage

• When a soil is compacted, some of the air is forced out of the soil's void

spaces.

• As a result, the soil will occupy less volume than it did under either the

bank or loose conditions.

• This phenomenon, which is the reverse of the swell phenomenon, is

called shrinkage.

Shrinkage [%] = Bank Volume (VB) – Compacted Volume (VC) x 100

Bank Volume (VB) 25

• Example – 2

• Find the shrinkage of a soil that weighs 1661 kg/m3

in its natural state and 2077 kg/m3 after compaction.

Solution

Shrinkage = (1 1661/ 2077) × 100 = 20%]

• Hence 1 bank cubic meter of material will shrink to
0.8 compacted cubic meter as a result of compaction.

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 Load and Shrinkage Factors
• In performing earthmoving calculations, it is important to convert all

material volumes to a common unit of measure.

• Although the bank cubic yard (or meter) is most commonly used for

this purpose, any of the three volume units may be used.

• Because haul unit and spoil bank volume are commonly expressed in

loose measure, it is convenient to have a conversion factor to

simplify the conversion of loose volume to bank volume.

• The factor used for this purpose is called a load factor. 27

Load factor is the ratio of the bank volume to the loose volume.
• That is to say, when soil is excavated swelling takes place and the loose
volume will be greater than the bank volume.

• Load factor = Bank Volume (VB)

Loose Volume (VL)

Shrinkage Factor
• A factor used for the conversion of bank volume to compacted volume is
sometimes referred to as a shrinkage factor.

Shrinkage factor = Compacted Volume (Vc)

Bank Volume (VB)

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• Bank volume may be multiplied by the shrinkage factor to
obtain compacted volume or compacted volume may be
divided by the shrinkage factor to obtain bank volume.

Example

• A soil weighs 1163kg/LCM, 1661kg/BCM, and 2077

kg/CCM.

a) Find the load factor and shrinkage factor for the soil.

b) How many bank cubic meters (BCM) and compacted

cubic meters (CCM) are contained in 1 million loose
cubic meters of this soil
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Solution
(a) Load factor = 1163/1661 =0.70

Shrinkage factor = 1661/2077 = 0.80

(b) Bank volume = 1,000,000 × 0.70 = 700,000 BCM

Compacted volume = 700,000 × 0.80= 560,000 CCM

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Typical soil weight and volume change characteristics
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Equipment and Selection of an equipment
Excavation Equipmen
t

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 Loader Excavator
Quarry site

Loading at Borrow site and Bull dozer

hauling borrow selected material
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 Water showering Grading using motor grader

Sheep foot rollers

Compacting

Pneumatic -tyred rollers

Smooth wheel rollers 35

 Equipment Selection
• The choice of equipment to be used on a construction project

has a major influence on the efficiency and profitability of the

construction operation.

• Although there are a number of factors that should be

considered in selecting equipment for a project, the most

important criterion is the ability of the equipment to perform

the required work.

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 Equipment Selection

• Among those items of equipment capable of performing the

job, the principal criterion for selection should be maximizing

the profit or return on the investment produced by the

equipment.

• Usually, but not always, profit is maximized when the lowest

cost per Unit of production is achieved.

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 Equipment Selection

• Other factors that should be considered when selecting

equipment for a project include:
o possible future use of the equipment,

o its availability,

o the availability of parts and service, and

o the effect of equipment downtime on other construction equipment and

operations.

• After the equipment has been selected for a project, a plan

must be developed for efficient utilization of the equipment.

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 Equipment Selection

• The final phase of the process is, of course, appropriate project

management to assure compliance with the operating plan and

to make adjustments for unexpected conditions.

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 Production of Earthmoving Equipment
Production = Volume per cycle × Cycles per hour

– Volume per cycle: Average volume of material moved per

equipment cycle

– Cycles per hour: Number of cycles actually achieved (or

expected to be achieved) per hour

Cost per unit of production = Equipment cost per hour /

Equipment production per hour

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 Summary of equipment
Kind of work Equipment’s
Clearing Bulldozer, Rake dozer, Backhoe, Chipper
Excavating Shovel (Backhoe, Dragline, Clamshell), Bulldozer, Ripper ,Rock
breaker

Loading Wheel Loader, Truck Loader, Loading Shovel ( Front Shovel)

Excavating/loading Power shovel (Backhoe, Dragline, Clamshell), BWE (Bucket,
Wheel, Excavator)

Excavating/hauling Bulldozer, Scrape dozer, Scrapper

Hauling Dump Truck (rigid articulated), Wagon, Conveyor
Spreading/grading Bulldozer, wheel dozer, Motor Grader
Compacting Tire roller, Steel roller, Vibration roller, Tamping roller, vibration
compactor, Tamper, bulldozer

Trenching Trencher, Backhoe

Maintenance macadam road Motor Grader
Slant finishing Motor Grader, Backhoe
Rock braking Drill, Breaker, Splitter
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 Construction of sub grade, sub base, base and

surfaces

• Subgrade

• Sub base

• Base

• Surfacing

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 Subgrade preparation
• The term subgrade refers to the natural or existing ground.

• The initial operation to be undertaken in the construction of

highway facility is the preparation of the Right-of-way

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• Clearing and grubbing
o Removal of trees, stumps, roots, down timber, rotten wood, rubbish

material from an area marked on the plans.

• Excavations
o process of loosening & removing earth/rock from its original position in cut

and transporting it to fill or deposit.

o All preparation & construction of roadbed, embankments, subgrades,

shoulders, slopes, sides, ditches, approaches, intersecting roads

• Hauling

• Grading /shaping of the roadbed

• Compaction 44
 Construction of Sub -Base
• What is sub-base?
o The sub-base is an important load spreading layer in the completed
pavement.
o It enables traffic stresses to be reduced to acceptable levels in the sub
grade
o It acts as a working platform for the construction of the upper pavement
layers
o It acts as a filter or a separation layer between sub grade and base course.
This may be required to protect a drainage layer from blockage by a finer
material or to prevent migration of fines and the mixing of two layers.

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 Table: General requirements of gravel sub base materials
No Tests Standard Remark

1 Grading requirement Refer ERA, 2013,pavement design manual

2 Grading Modulus Min 1.5

3 Plasticity Index (PI) Max, 6 AASHTO T-90

4 Plasticity product (PP) Max,75% PP = PI x percentage passing the 0.075mm

sieve)

5 Compaction Requirements Min, 95% AASHTO T 180

6 Los Angeles Abrasion Max, 51% AASHTO T-96.

7 CBR Min,30% The minimum soaked Californian Bearing

Ratio as AASHTO T-193.
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Material for sub – Base:
o Natural Gravel;

o Scoria (Cinder Gravel);

o Weathered Rock;

o Crushed Gravel;

o Crushed Rock or crushed Boulders;

o Recycled Pavement Material.

o Stabilized subgrade

o Any other granular material complying with the

requirements of the sub – Base.
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 Construction of sub base…
Construction of sub base

o the requirements of a sub-base is governed by its ability to support

traffic without excessive deformation or raveling.

o A high quality sub-base is therefore required where loading or

climatic conditions during construction are severe.

o Suitable material should possess properties similar to those of a

good surfacing material for unpaved roads.

o Material meeting the requirements for severe conditions will

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usually be of higher quality than the standard sub-base (GS).
Spreading

o sub base shall be spread on approved subgrade layer.

o avoid segregation during spreading the sub base.

o Avoid restoration of the deposited granular sub base when you make the

compaction.

o The compacted thickness at one time should not exceed 200mm and

minimum layer thickness shall be 100mm.

o No hauling permitted when, hauling operation will cause cutting or rutting

of the subgrade or contamination of sub base material.

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 Construction of sub base…
Compaction test

• To check the soil weather it has attained maximum density or not, the soil sample

should be tested in the laboratory to obtain optimum moisture content and

maximum dry density.

There are two compaction methods

1. Standard proctor compaction test

• Light compaction suitable for embankments and fill materials

2. Modified proctor test

• Heavy compaction suitable for air fields, roads and heavy construction projects 50
• The moisture content of sub base shall be adjusted prior to compaction by

watering with approved sprinklers mounted trucks or by drying out, as required,

in order to obtain the specified compaction.

• The sub base shall be compacted by means of approved vibrating rollers or steel

wheel rollers.

• Succeeding pass shall overlap the previous pass by at least of the roller width.

• Rolling shall continue till entire thickness is compacted to the specified density

• Areas inaccessible to rolling equipment shall be compacted by mechanical

tampers or other compaction equipment. 51

 In order to know the degree of compaction, a test known as

field density test is recommended.

 Relative density: used to compare the in-situ compacted soil

density to the laboratory compaction density value.

Relative compaction=*100 > 95%

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• If a layer of sub base material doesn’t conform to the required finish,

remedial works be undertaken in the expense of contractor.

• Before placing of base course, sub base layer shall conform to the

required level and shape.

• Prior to placing of base course, top surface of sub base should be

sufficiently moist to ensure bond b/n the layers

• Edge slopes shall be bladed to conform with design drawings.

• No material for base construction shall be placed before the sub base

approval.
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 Construction of sub base…
• Requirements of sub –Base
• refer ERA 2013 standard technical specification :

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• Construction of Base Course

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 Construction of Base
What is Base?

Base course is the portion of the pavement section that is

immediately below the surface course. It is constructed on top of

the sub-base course or if there is no sub-base course, directly on

top of the subgrade

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 Base course
Material :

o Crushed Rock or Stone;

o Naturally occurring Granular Materials, Boulders, Weathered Rock;

o Dense Bitumen Macadam

• All base course materials must have a particle size distribution and particle

shape which provide high mechanical stability and should contain sufficient

fines (amount of material passing the 0.425 mm sieve) to produce a dense

material when compacted. 57

 General Requirements of Base course material (Crushed stone)
No Tests Standard Remark

1 Grading requirement Refer ERA, 2013,pavement design

manual
2 Plasticity Index (PI) Max, 6 AASHTO T-90

3 Aggregate Crushing Value, Max,25 British Standard 812, Part 110)

ACV %
4 Ten Percent Fines value, Max,25 (British Standard 812, Part 111)
TFV
5 Los Angeles Abrasion Max, AASHTO T-96.
45%
6 California bearing ratio, Min 80% The minimum soaked Californian
CBR Bearing Ratio as AASHTO T-193.

7 Flakiness Index Max,30 BS 812 Part 105-1990.

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Construction requirements of base course

Laying

• Base course material should be transported and damp in no segregation

way .

• Base course material shall be laid by a grader or self-propelled

paving(Paver) machine.

• Travel rate of paver shall be adjusted to produce uniform flow of

material across the full width.

• The spread rate converts the tonnage of each truck to the number of
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meters along the centerline that tonnage should cover.
Construction requirements of base course

Laying

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• qualitative definition of aggregate segregation is “the non-uniform

distribution of coarse and fine material components within the base

course.

Compaction

• The laid base course shall be compacted at OMC+2%, to a dry

density:

• Minimum 98% MDD & CBR value=minimum 80%.

• Maximum allowed thickness of compacted base is 200mm

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• Minimum thickness of compacted base is 100mm
 Surfacing (Asphalt concrete)

• Asphalt Concrete Pavement is a hot mixture of asphalt cement and

graded aggregate of specified quality, prepared, placed and compacted to

specified requirements.

• This work consists of furnishing, mixing aggregates and asphalt

binder additive at a stationary mixing plant, to a specified

temperature, transporting, laying and compacting the mixture on an

approved primed or tacked base, in accordance with Specifications and in

conformity with the lines grades and typical cross-sections shown in the
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• Before a bituminous surface is placed, the surface to be
covered requires placing of a preliminary treatment, a primer
or a tack coat.
Purpose Priming:
o To plug the capillary voids
o To coat and bond loose materials on the surface
o To harden or toughen the surface
o To promote adhesion b/n granular and the bituminous layer

Purpose of Tack Coat:

• To ensure a bond b/n the new construction & the old surface
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Construction Requirements of Asphalt Pavement

1. Preparation of Aggregates
o Before fed to the dryer, aggregates for bituminous mixture shall be separated

into two or more sizes and stored separately in cold bins.

o Asphalt cement shall be heated to temperature of 150 oC -175 oC at the time

of mixing.
o Dried aggregate weighed and drawn to pug mill shall be combined with a

proportionate amount of asphalt cement according to the job mix formula.

o Each aggregate ingredient shall be heated and dried at a temperature not to

exceed 170 oC.

o Immediately after heating, the aggregates shall be screened to required sizes

and stored in separate bins for batching and mixing with bituminous material
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2. Mixing
The mixing of the ingredients is done in such a way that all
specifications are attained in the machine shown below in
skeleton form.

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Mixing

Components of a traditional asphalt mixing plant

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3. Transporting

Bituminous materials shall be transported in clean vehicles which

shall be insulated. The use of dust, coated dust, oil or water on the

interior of the vehicle to facilitate discharge of the mixed materials

shall be permissible but the amount shall be kept to a minimum.

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4. Laying

• Materials shall be spread, leveled & tamped by an approved self-propelled

paving machine.

• On vertical grades >5%, the laying operation shall be made in the uphill

direction.

• The rate of travel of the paver and its method of operation shall be adjusted

o to ensure an even and uniform flow of material across the full

laying width

o free from dragging or tearing and without segregation of the

material 68
4. Laying

Self Propelled Paver

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5. Compaction

• Bituminous material shall be laid and compacted in layer thicknesses which

enable surface level.

• maximum thickness of compacted material laid in one pass of the paver shall be

100 mm.

• Material shall be uniformly compacted as soon as rolling can be effected without

causing undue displacement of the mixed material and shall be substantially

completed while the temperature of the mixed material is greater than 90 oC.

• Rolling shall continue until all roller marks have been eliminated from the

surface 70
Types of roller during compactions are:

o Vibratory

o Pneumatic-tired

o Steel wheeled tandem rollers

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o Vibratory roller

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Steel wheel and pneumatic tyre roller

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Checking Density With Nuclear Gauge

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 Extracting A Core

Density Air void and Thickness measurements

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QUESTION…….?

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