Objectives

The objective of this lecture module is to introduce the basic concepts of analysis and design of pavement
structure.
Also a discussion has been placed as past, present and future perspective of pavement analysis and design

Types of pavement structures

Pavements, in general, can be classified in two major categories: concrete pavement and
bituminous pavement.

Concrete pavements are generally called rigid pavements and bituminous pavements as
flexible pavements.

There could be some other types of pavements which are neither rigid, nor flexible, for
example, block pavement, composite pavement.
A Pavement is a multi-layered structure. The layers are placed one over other. In general, the
strengths of the layers decrease from top towards bottom except some special situation like
inverted pavement. The terminologies used to identify various layers of bituminous and
concrete pavements are identified in Figs. 1 and 2

.
Fig. 1 cross section of a typical bituminous pavement (Chakroborty and Das 2003)

Fig. 2 cross section of a typical rigid pavement (Chakroborty and Das 2003)
Bituminous pavement

The subgrade is a compacted soil layer.

The base and sub-base course could be made up of bound or unbound granular layer. As per
Indian specifications (MORT&H 2001), some examples of base or sub-base layers are:
Granular sub-base(GSB), Water Bound Macadam (WBM), Wet Mix Macadam (WMM) etc.

The binder course is made up bituminous material. As per Indian specifications (MORT&H
2001), some examples of binder course are: Bituminous Macadam (BM), Dense Bituminous
Macadam (DBM) etc.

The wearing course is the top bituminous layer which is comes in contact to the vehicle tyre.
Wearing course provides impermeability to the pavement surface against water percolation
(Chakroborty and Das 2003). The binder course and wearing course together are called
bituminous surfacing.

Concrete pavement

Concrete pavement is, in general, consists of three layers, subgrade, base layer and the
concrete slab.

Generally bound base layers are used for concrete pavement construction. As per Indian
specification, some example of such base layers are Dry Lean Concrete (DLC), Roller
Compacted Concrete (RCC) (IRC:15-2002)

The concrete slab is generally of M40 to M50 grade of concrete as per Indian specifications,
and is called as paving quality concrete (PQC) (IRC:15-2002).

Joints in concrete pavement

Fig.3 Location of joints in concrete pavement

Joints are the discontinuities in the concrete pavement slab, and help to release stresses due to
temperature variation, subgrade moisture variation, shrinkage of concrete etc.

There are various types of joints in concrete pavement, e.g. contraction joint, construction joint,
expansion joint and warping joint. Fig. 3 schematically shows position of various joints. The
functions of these joints are as follows:

Contraction joint: Contraction joints are provided along the transverse direction to
take care of the contraction of concrete slab due to its natural shrinkage.

Construction joint: Construction joints are provided whenever the construction

work stops temporarily. The joint direction could be either along the transverse or
longitudinal direction.

Expansion joint: Expansion joints are provided along the transverse direction to
allow movement (expansion/ contraction) of the concrete slab due to
temperature and subgrade moisture variation.

Warping joint: Warping joints are provided along the longitudinal direction to
prevent warping of the concrete slab due to temperature and subgrade moisture
variation.

These discontinuities (joints) could be extended to the full or partial depth of the slab. Sometimes iron
bars are provided across the joints, the iron bars along the longitudinal joints are called tie bars
andalong the transverse joints are called dowel bars.
Pavement analysis and design: historical perspective

The past pavement design approaches were mostly empirical in nature and were based on experience.

CBR method of pavement design is one of the earlier pavement design approach developed
during 1928-29 (Ullidtz 1986). In this method the thickness design charts are developed (based
on observation of number of sections), with reference to the subgrade CBR value for the most
critical moisture condition. In 1940 this method was adopted by the U.S. Corps of Engineers for
design of airfield pavements (Horonjeff and Mckelvey 1983). It is interesting to note that the
design initially did not involve traffic as a parameter, which was introduced later as a correction
factor. The method was further improved by considering the CBR values of the individual layers
and thereby individual layer thicknesses are obtained. In some other approach, Hveem
resistance value of pavement materials is used instead of CBR value.

Another pavement design approach considers aspect of bearing capacity of the individual
layers, and the design is finalized in such a way that the bearing stress does not exceed the
bearing capacity of the individual layers. This method was first proposed by Barbar in 1946, and
is still in use (TRH4 1996, deBruin et al. 2002), however this method does not seem to account
for traffic repetitions.

Another approach recommends limiting recoverable deflection as the criterion for pavement
design (Huang 1993). Failure theories suggest that the failure of a structure is due to excess
stress or strain, thus, deflection may not be attributed as basic pavement design criteria.

Pavement analysis and design : current perspective

Present practice of pavement design involves considerations of three aspects: structural design,
functional design and drainage design and they are explained briefly in the following:
Structural design

In structural design the stresses due traffic loading and temperature are estimated, and the thickness of
the pavement is designed in such a way that these developed stresses/ strains are below the allowable
values. The current practice of pavement design, more popularly, is known as Mechanistic-Empirical
pavement design and is followed by a number of organizations around the world (Asphalt Institute
1999, Shell 1978, Austroads 1992, NCHRP 2005, IRC 2001). It is mechanistic pavement design
because it uses stress/ strain of a pavement structure using mechanics based principle, and, as well, it
is empirical because the expected life for a given stress/ strain level is estimated from empirical
relationships obtained from laboratory or field performance studies. The pavement design approach is

not governed by the maximum amount of load that the pavement can sustain, rather, it estimates the
number of standard load repetitions that can cause failure.
Estimation of pavement stress/strain
Stress/ strain due to load

For pavement design purpose, the stress/ strain value of a pavement structure is obtained from
structural analysis of the pavement (Ioannides et al. 1998). The stress/ strain values at any
point of a pavement structure can be estimated when the elastic moduli, Poisson's ratio and the
thicknesses of the individual layers are known. The strain values can also measured using
strain gauges.

Any analysis procedure involves idealization regarding the structure; similarly, measuring strain
involves measurement errors - hence the true value of stress/ strain is never known.

A concrete pavement slab, in general, has finite dimensions, and thus the analysis approach of
concrete pavement becomes different than the analysis of bituminous pavement. For
bituminous pavement, in general, the pavement is assumed as infinite in both the directions,
whereas for concrete pavement, in general, it is analysed as discrete slabs connected by joints.
The concrete pavement is also assumed to have bending moment carrying capacity, whereas
flexible pavement is assumed to have no moment carrying capacity.

Stress/ strain due to temperature

The change of temperature causes the pavement to expand or contract. The restriction of free
movement causes temperature stresses.

There exists temperature variation across the depth of the pavement - this causes warping
stresses.

The temperature stress varies across the corner, interior and edge of the concrete slab, also at
different times of the day. The most critical combination of load and temperature stress is used
as design criteria.

The temperature stress in bituminous pavement is insignificant. Hence, temperatire stress, is

not considered in pavement design. However, temperature affects the elastic modulus of the
bituminous layer, which needs to be duly considered in pavement design.

Estimation of layer thicknesses

The thickness of the pavement is adjusted in such a way that the stress/ strain developed is
less than the allowable values obtained from past performance information.

The two major modes of structural failure of pavement are fatigue and rutting.
o

Fatigue: Traffic applies repetitive load to the pavement surface, and the cracks start from

bottom the bound layer/ slab and propagate upwards. When the extent of surface
cracks reaches a predefined level, the pavement is said to have failed due to flexural
fatigue.

Fig. 4 Propagation of fatigue cracking

The horizontal tensile stress/ strain at the bottom of bound layer (bituminous
surfacing, cemented base or concrete slab, as the case may be) is used as the
governing parameter for fatigue failure.

Conventionally, for design of concrete pavement stress is used as parameter,

and for design of bituminous pavement strain is used as parameter.

Rutting: Rutting is the accumulation of permanent deformation. This is the manifestation

of gradual densification of pavement layers, and shear displacement of the subgrade.

Fig 5. Development of Rutting

The vertical strains on the pavement layers, mainly the vertical strain on the
subgrade is assumed to be governing factor for rutting failure.

The rutting is generally not considered for concrete pavement design.

The fatigue/ rutting equations are developed from field or laboratory studies, where fatigue /
rutting lives are obtained with respect to respective stress/ strain for fatigue/ rutting. For a given
design life, thus, allowable fatigue and rutting stress/ strains can be estimated using the fatigue/
rutting equations.

The various other types of pavement failures could be shrinkage, thermal fatigue, top down
cracking (for bituminous pavement) etc.

Design of joints

The spacing of the contraction joint is estimated from the shrinkage potential of concrete. The spacing of the
expansion joint is estimated from the coefficient of thermal expansion of concrete, maximum change of
temperature and the acceptable joint gap. Since, the concrete is good in compression, the experience over last
few decades indicates that concrete pavement can be constructed without any provision of expansion joint
(ACPA 1992). The dowel bars are designed by assuming that they participate in the load transfer, when the
vehicle moves from one slab to other. The tie bars are designed in such way that they have enough strength to
tie the two adjacent slabs. The design of dowel bar and tie bar is discussed in detail later.

Functional design

The functional pavement design involves considerations of skid resistance, roughness, surface
distresses, reflectivity of pavement surface etc. The functional pavement design considers mainly the
surface features of a pavement.
Drainage design

A road needs to be designed in such a way that the rain/ snow precipitation is drained off the pavement
and its surroundings. A suitable surface drainage system for the pavement is designed for this purpose.
Some water, however, will percolate into the pavement from its top surface and needs to be taken out
of the pavement - this is done by providing an internal drainage system to the pavement. Water will also
try to enter into the pavement from bottom due to capillary rise or due to rise in water table. A suitably
designed sub-surface drainage system tries to avoid such a problem.

Pavement analysis and design: future perspective

Mix design, quality control, construction method and pavement design together determines the
performance and longevity of a pavement. The future pavement design is expected to take an
integrated design approach considering all these issues together.

The parameters associated with pavement design are stochastic in nature. Thus, the two pavement
designs (designed deterministically) having same design traffic may have different levels of reliabilities
of survival. Thus, reliability issues of pavement design are gradually becoming important considerations
(NCHRP 2005).

A pavement designer essentially looks for the most economical design, yet considering the structural,
functional, and drainage design requirement. The future pavement design practice is expected to
consider the cost optimality over the entire life cycle of the pavement (Deshpande etal. 2010).

Recapitulation

The present module highlights the basics of analysis and design of bituminous and concrete
pavements. Pavements are analysed as layered horizontal structure with given elastic moduli and
Poisson's ratio. Concrete pavement, in general, is made up of discrete slabs - therefore, it has joints
both in longitudinal and transverse direction. A pavement is designed from structural, functional and
drainage considerations. Fatigue and rutting are two major modes of structural failure of pavements.
For concrete pavement design, temperature stresses are also considered along with stresses due to
load. A pavement designer does not design a pavement for the ultimate load the pavement can carry,
rather, the number of repetitions that the pavement can sustain.

Lecture 1 : Pavement Materials

Objectives

The lectures in this module propose to introduce the modern materials in pavement construction. It
discusses about the scope, application potential, evaluation, and performance expectation of the new
highway materials. The second part of the lectures focus on the innovative application concepts of the
conventional or the modern materials. Usage of modern materials in highway construction and their

innovative application is expected to bring economy in terms of material cost as well as better reliability
in performance.
Bitumen as a pavement material

The characterization of bitumen and bituminous mix has been discussed in detail in the web-course
Transportation Engineering - I
Bitumen is a complex material, its property ranges from viscous liquid to brittle solid. While bitumen
shows linear viscoelastic behaviour at small strains, the nonlinear behaviour becomes more prominent
at large strains (Monismith and Secor 1962, Pagen 1968, Cheung and Cebon 1997). The deformation
of bitumen is loading rate and temperature dependent (Van der Poel, 1955, Deshpande and Cebon
1997).
The bituminous mix is manufactured by mixing bitumen and aggregates of specified size distribution at
some specified elevated temperature. Then, the mix is transported to the site, laid and subsequently
compacted to pack the aggregate particles together. During the compaction process the air voids are
brought down to its desired level. The compacted mix, thus, achieves its strength when it cools down
and becomes serviceable as bituminous road . Figure-1 shows a typical cross-section of a bituminous
mix sample.

Figure-1 A typical cross-section of a bituminous mix sample

The mechanical behaviour of bituminous mix has been studied extensively through various tests, and
empirical relationships have been developed for mix design and prediction of the performance of the
mix. However, prediction of response of bituminous mix through mechanics based models, is a difficult
task. Various attempts have been made by the researchers, for example based on, linear viscoelastic
principle (Lee and Kim 1998, Kim and Little 2004), elastic visco plastic principle (Uzan 2005), discrete
element analysis (Sadd 2004, Abbas et al. 2005) etc., so as to capture the complex mechanical
behaviour of bituminous mix.
Cement Concrete as a pavement material
Introduction

Cement concrete is a mixture of coarse aggregates, fine aggregates, cement and water in suitable
proportions. Sometimes admixtures are also added to achieve specific behaviour/ property of the
material. The components of cement concrete are briefly introduced in the following.
Components of cement concrete
Aggregates

Aggregates are naturally available pieces of rocks. The aggregates could be igneous, sedimentary and
metamorphic type depending on its origin. Figure-1 shows a photograph of aggregates being
manufactured from a stone query. The details about the physical properties of aggregates have
discussed in the web-course on Transportation Engineering-1 .

Figure 2: A typical stone quarry

Cement

Cement is manufactured by heating a mixture of limestone, iron ore, gypsum, clay and other
ingredients. Two processes, namely dry process and wet process are followed while manufacturing
cement. In the dry process, the raw materials are mixed in dry state, whereas in the wet process raw
materials are mixed in presence of water to form slurry . After pre-heating, the raw material is passed
through rotating kiln inclined with a small angle with the horizontal line. The kiln is progressively hotter
towards its lower end, where the raw material gets molten. From this clinkers are formed when cooled,
and after grinding the clinkers, cement is produced. An animated description of the whole process can
be obtained elsewhere (cement.org 2006).
The Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is the most popular, all-purpose cement. There are various other
types of cements (for example, natural cement, Portland pozzolanic cement, high alumina cement,
expansive cement, quick setting cement, high performance cement, sulphate resistant cement, white
cement etc.) and are manufactured to serve specialized purposes. For concrete pavement
construction, OPC is most commonly used.
Water

Water participates in the hydration process; also it provides desirable level of workability. About one
third of the water added is utilized in the hydration process, rest forms the pores of concrete, and
thereby developing porosity to the concrete. Excess porosity reduces strength of the concrete, and
however presence of porosity is good for the situations where there is a freeze-thaw problem.

Admixtures

Admixtures are generally of two types, chemical admixture, and mineral admixture. Air entrainer,
retarder , accelerators are examples chemical admixture, and, fly ash, silica fume are the examples of
mineral admixtures. One of the important concrete admixtures used in pavement construction is the airentraining admixture. Air entraining admixtures are derived from natural wood resins, fats, sulfonated
hydrocarbons and oils etc (Wright and Dixon 2004). Air-entraining admixtures provide durability against
freeze-thaw situation. Plasticizers may be used for concrete pavement construction purposes which
maintain workability without having increased the water-cement ratio. Calcium chloride is also used
sometimes, as accelerating agent, which renders an early strength of concrete.
Mix design

Through mix design, suitable proportions of the ingredients (coarse aggregates, fine aggregates,
cement, water and admixture, if any) are estimated, keeping in view the strength, workability, durability
and economic considerations. These proportions are achieved through iterative experimental
procedure in the laboratory. There are number of methods for mix design of cement concrete, and a
detailed discussion can be obtained elsewhere (Neville and Brooks 1999).
Water-cement ratio is an important consideration in the mix design process. As water cement ratio is
increased in concrete, the durability and strength decreases, however, the workability enhances.
Depending on the type of construction, workability requirements are different.
For large scale production of cement concrete, the proportioning operation is performed in the batch
mixing plant . Figure 3 shows a photograph of a typical concrete batch mixing plant.

Figure 3: A typical cement concrete batch mixing plant

Properties of fresh concrete

Ideally a fresh concrete should be workable, should not segregate or bleed during construction.
Constituent properties, their proportions, aggregate shape and sizes, temperature affect the
performance of fresh mix. The tests that are conducted on fresh concrete include workability test and
air-content test. Some of tests through which workability of can be estimated are Kelly ball penetration
test, slump test, compacting factor test, Vee bee test and flow table test etc.

Curing of concrete

Presence of adequate amount of moisture, at some requisite temperature and for a suitable period of
time, is necessary to complete the hydration process of cement. This process is called curing. The
curing conditions significantly affect the final strength achieved by the concrete. For pavement
construction, only in-situ curing methods are applicable. Curing compounds are sometimes applied to
retain the moisture against evaporation. For final curing of concrete pavements continuous ponding or
moistened hessain/ gunny bags are used .
Properties of hardened concrete

Tests are conducted on hardened concrete to estimate properties like, compressive strength, tensile
strength, modulus of rupture, elastic modulus, Poisson's ratio, creep and shrinkage performance,
durability, thermal expansion coefficient etc. These parameters are of functions of aggregate type,
shape and size, type and quantity of cement and admixtures incorporated, water cement ratio, curing,
age etc.
Compressive strength of concrete is the failure compressive stress on cubical or cylindrical samples of
concrete. Compressive strength of concrete is related to the combined effect of temperature and time,
a parameter called maturity. Maturity of concrete is calculated as the time of curing (in hours), multiplied
by the temperature, (in degrees) above some specified reference temperature. Various empirical
relationships are suggested to obtain the various strength parameters of concrete (elastic modulus,
tensile strength, bending strength etc.) from the compressive strength of concrete.
Direct tension test on concrete is performed by applying tension to the cylindrical or dumble shaped
samples of concrete. Indirect tension is applied to concrete samples by split cylinder test.
Modulus of rupture of concrete is estimated by measuring the maximum bending stress on concrete
beam subjected to pure bending in static condition.
Fatigue test is generally performed subjecting the concrete beams with repetitive flexural loading. The
more is the stress ratio (defined as the ratio between the bending stress applied to the modulus of
rupture) the less is the fatigue life. The empirically derived fatigue equation by PCA (1974) is the
following:
(1)

and
(2)
Where, Nf is the number of load applications to failure, SR is the stress ratio with reference to 90 days
modulus
of
rupture.
The equation suggested by AASHTO (1993) is the following:
(3)
Transportation of concrete

The transportation of concrete is to be done in such a way that segregation and premature setting is
avoided. Wheel barrow, truck mixer, dumper truck, belt conveyor, pipe-line etc. are the various ways
concrete is transported to the construction site. Figure 4 shows a typical truck concrete mixer.

Figure 4: A typical truck concrete mixer

Introduction
Road is a costly infrastructure to build and maintain. Thus there is always a need of development of (i)
new road materials as well as (ii) innovative applications of existing/new materials (Goel and Das
2004). These issues are discussed here.

EMERGING ROAD MATERIALS

Modification of Existing Materials
Existing materials may require modifications so as to

improve engineering properties of material

satisfy general specification requirement of locally available material which in turn would prove
to be cost effective

meet the demand of special purpose materials having specific properties. Example: high or low
permeability, enhanced shear strength etc

These have been discussed further under two sections as,

binder (bitumen) modification

aggregate modification

Binder (bitumen) modification

Binder (bitumen) modification is done with the help of additives which may or may not react chemically
with bitumen. Table 1 presents a partial list of various types of binder modifiers, their purpose and
examples. Binder modification results improvement of one or more properties of the binder (and hence
the mix) viz. fatigue resistance, stiffness modulus, rutting resistance, stripping potential, temperature
susceptibility, oxidation potential etc.
Table 1. Some examples of binder (bitumen) modifiers

(RILEM 1998; ETM 1999; Asphalt Handbook 2000; Widyatmoko 2002, SEAM 2004 )

Non Polymers

Fillers

Anti-oxidants

Anti-stripping additives

Extenders

Polymers

Fibers

Plastics
-Thermoplastics

-Thermosets

3. Elastomers
- Natural
- Synthetic
- Reclaimed rubbers

For conventional binders, it is generally observed that the mixes with high stiffness modulus (E) show
low fatigue life, and vice versa. However, for an economical pavement design, both high elastic
modulus as well as high fatigue life is desirable. Through binder modification, this particular
disadvantage can be avoided. Figure 5 presents this concept schematically.

Figure 5: Schematic diagram explaining the advantage of binder modification.

As can be seen in Figure 5, for mixes with ordinary binder, although elastic modulus E value is higher
initially at low temperatures, at high E value the fatigue performance generally becomes poor. On the
other hand, at high temperature the E value becomes too low and the mix becomes soft. The
bituminous mixes with modified binder does not allow the mix to be too hard (high E value) or too soft
(low E value) at low and high temperatures respectively. Thus the stiffness versus temperature curve
takes a 'S-shape' as shown in Figure 5.
Aggregate modification

The marginal or poor quality aggregates can be improved by using some cementing material
such as cement, lime, pozzolanic substance etc.

The proportions of the cementing material and other ingredients (like water) can be suitably
estimated in the laboratory.

DEVELOPMENT OF ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS

Given the fact that good quality aggregates are depleting and cost of material extraction is
increasing, researchers are looking for suitable alternative materials.

The tests and specifications, which are applicable for conventional materials, may be
inappropriate for evaluation of non-conventional materials ( i.e. alternative materials).

This is because the material properties, for example, particle sizes, grading and chemical
structure, may differ substantially from those of the conventional materials.

Thus, for an appropriate assessment of these materials, new tests are to be devised and new
acceptability criteria are to be formed.

However, with the advent of performance-based tests, it is expected that the performances of
the conventional as well as new materials can be tested on a same set-up and be compared.

Industrial and Domestic Wastes

Industrial and domestic waste products provide a prospective source of alternative materials.

These materials are cheaply available.

Also, their use in road construction provides an efficient solution to the associated problems of
pollution and disposal of these wastes.

Table 2 presents a partial list of industrial waste materials that can be used in road construction. Table 3

summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of using specific industrial wastes in road construction.
Table 2. Industrial waste product usage in road construction (TFHRC 2004; Hamad et al., 2003;
Hawkins et al., 2003; Mroueh et al., 2002; Okagbue et al. , 1999; Sherwood 1995; Javed et al., 1994)

Waste product

Source

Possible usage

Fly ash

Thermal power station

Bulk fill, filler in bituminous mix, artificial aggregates

Blast furnace slag

Steel industry

Base/ Sub-base material, Binder in soil stabilization (ground

slag)

Construction and
demolition waste

Construction industry

Base/ Sub-base material, bulk-fill, recycling

Colliery spoil

Coal mining

Bulk-fill

Spent oil shale

Petrochemical industry

Bulk-fill

Foundry sands

Foundry industry

Bulk-fill, filler for concrete, crack-relief layer

Mill tailings

Mineral processing
industry

Granular base/sub-base, aggregates in bituminous mix, bulk

fill

Cement kiln dust

Cement industry

Stabilization of base, binder in bituminous mix

Used engine oil

Automobile industry

Air entraining of concrete

Marble dust

Marble industry

Filler in bituminous mix

Waste tyres

Automobile industry

Rubber modfied bitumen, aggregate

Glass waste

Glass industry

Glass-fibre reinforcement, bulk fill

Nonferrous slags

Mineral processing
industry

Bulk-fill, aggregates in bituminous mix

China clay

Bricks and tile industry

Bulk-fill, aggregates in bituminous mix

Table 3. Suitability of using industrial waste products in road construction

(TFHRC 2004; Hamad et al., 2003; Hawk ins et al., 2003; Nunes et al. 1996; Sherwood 1995; Javed et
al., 1994)

Material

Advantages

Disadvantages

Fly ash

Lightweight, used as binder in Lack of homogeneity, presence of sulphates,

stabilized base/ sub-base due to slow strength development
pozzolanic properties

Metallic slag

Higher skid resistance

- Steel slag

Light weight ( phosphorus slag)

Unsuitable for concrete and fill work beneath

slabs.
May show inconsistent properties

- Nonferrous slag

Construction and
demolition waste

More strength, can be used as May show inconsistent properties

aggregates granular base

Blast furnace slag Used in production

granular fill

of

cement, Ground water pollution due to leachate

formation, used as unbound aggregates

Colliery spoil

Combustion of unburnt coal, sulphate attack

in case of concrete roads

Spent oil shale

Burning of combustible materials

Foundry sands

Substitute for fine aggregate in Presence of heavy metals in non ferrous

bituminous mixes
foundry origin, less affinity to bitumen

Mill tailings

Some are pozzolanic in nature

Cement kiln dust

Hardens when exposed to moisture, Corrosion of metals (used in concrete roads)

can be used in soil stabilization
in contact because of significant alkali
percentage

Used engine oil

Good air entertainer, can be used in Requires well organized used oil collection
system
concrete works

Rubber tires

Enhances fatigue life

Presence of poisonous materials

cyanide from gold extraction)

(e.g.,

Requires special techniques for fine grinding

and mixing with bitumen, sometimes
segregation occurs

The incenerated municipal soild waste (MSW), after further processing, can be used as fines in
bituminous mixes. Processing is done to remove ferrous and nonferrous metals and to achieve the
required particle size gradation. Due to the presence of larger fraction of fines, MSW ash is primarily
used as fine aggregate. It is also used as a fill material in road construction. The ash can also be
stabilized with portland cement or lime to produce stabilized base/sub-base material (TFHRC 2004).
For conventional road materials, a number of tests are conducted and their acceptability is decided
based on the test results and the specifications. This ensures the desirable level of performance of the
chosen material, in terms of its permeability, volume stability, strength, hardness, toughness, fatigue,
durability, shape,viscosity, specific gravity, purity, safety, temperature susceptibility etc. , whichever are
applicable.
There are a large number tests suggested by various guidelines/ specifications. Figure-6 presents a
suggested flow chart to evaluate the suitability of industrial waste for potential usage in highway
construction.

1.2.2. Other alternative materials

Steel slag aggregate is a good example of synthetic aggregates obtained from by-products of industrial
processes. It has good binding properties with bitumen due to its high calcium oxide content ( NatSteel 1993
The angular shape of the aggregates helps to form strong interlocking structure. Road paving with steel slag
aggregate show

good skid resistance

mechanical strength able to withstand heavy traffic and surface wearing.

Also, many industrial and other waste products like fly-ash, cement kiln dust, incenerated refuse etc . have been
successfully used to produce synthetic aggregates.
Mixing bitumen with rubber (natural or crumb form) sometimes poses difficulty. As an alternative approach, tiny
crumb rubber pieces can be mixed with aggregates - known as dry-process. Research shows improved fatigue
performance for this kind of materials (Sibal et al. 2000), also, this process does not require any modification to
the existing batch mixing plant.

1.3. INNOVATIVE APPLICATIONS

Innovative applications may be construction method based or design principle based. Some of the relevant
issues are discussed in the following.
1.3.1 Construction Method Based

A mixture of aggregate and binding material, at varied proportions, constitute various specifications for
road construction, for example, bituminous concrete, built-up spray grout, wet mix macadam, lean
cement concrete etc. Discussion on all these standard specifications have been skipped here, rather,
some specific mixes and their construction methods are discussed.
Emulsified bituminous mix

Cold emulsified bituminous mix (EBM) is gaining more and more acceptance for its environmental
friendliness and less hazardous construction process. A relative comparison between the EBM and hot
bituminous mix (HBM) has been presented in Table 4. It may be noted that though the rate of strength
gain in EBM is slower (refer Figure 7), the final strength of EBM is comparable to that of HBM.
Table 4. Comparison of hot bituminous mix (HBM) and emulsified bituminous mix (EBM)

Property

HBM

Heating

Strong heating required, oxidative hardening No heating required, so no oxidative

occurs
hardening

Setting time Low

EBM

High

Applicability Clear weather with high ambient temperatures All weather (wet surfaces, rainy seasons,

cold)

Convenience Relatively difficult construction than EBM

Relatively easy construction

Energy

Relatively lower requirement

Relatively higher requirement

Uniqueness Modifiers needed

Inherent anti-stripping agents

Economy

Less costly

More costly

Safety

Hazards from fuming, fire and environmental

Free from such hazards
pollution

Foamed bituminous mix

Foamed bituminous mix (FBM) is a foamed mixture of air, water and bitumen. It is produced by
injecting very small quantity of water into the hot bitumen, resulting in spontaneous foaming and
temporary alteration of the physical properties of the bitumen. Figure-8 represents
schematically the manufacture of FBM.

Although the foamed bitumen technology was developed more than forty years ago, it is now
gaining popularity owing to its good performance, ease of construction and compatibility with a
wide range of aggregate types (Transportek 1998).

Usage of FBM results in reduction in binder content and transportation costs, as it requires less
binder and water than other types of cold mixing methods.

FBM can be compacted immediately and can carry traffic almost immediately after compaction
is completed ( Jenkins et al., 2003 ).

The strength characteristics of FBMs are highly moisture dependent. This is because of the
relatively low binder content and high void content of foamed bituminous mixes.

FBMs are not as temperature susceptible as HBM. Since larger aggregates are not coated with
binder, the friction between the aggregates is maintained at higher temperatures.

Foamed bitumen can achieve stiffness comparable to those of cement-treated materials, with
the added advantages of flexibility and fatigue resistance (Ramanujam and Kendall, 1999).

FBMs usually lack resistance to abrasion and raveling and are not suitable for wearing/friction
course applications.

Figure - 8 Schematic presentation of FBM manufacture ( Romanoschi 2003 )

Some specific situations where use of foamed bitumen technology can be considered are:

A pavement which has been repeatedly patched to the extent that pavement repairs are no longer
cost effective.
A weak granular base overlies a reasonably strong subgrade.
Granular base too thin to consider using cementitious binders.
Can be effectively used in desert road stabilization etc. (Jenkins et al., 2003).
Relatively high cost, requirement of specific equipment for mix production, sensitivity to aggregate
grading and stripping risk are some of the disadvantages with the foamed bituminous mix ( Jenkins et
al., 2003 ).
Fiber reinforced bituminous mix
Addition of various kinds of fibers to the binder and aggregates during mix preparation process results
in fiber reinforced bituminous mix (FRBM). Fibers are generally blended with bitumen binder before

mixing it with the aggregates to achieve complete coating and even distribution throughout the mix.
Research shows that FRBMs develop good resistance to aging, fatigue cracking, moisture damage,
bleeding, reflection cracking etc. (Serfass and Samanos, 1996; Maurer et al., 1989).
Ultra-thin whitetopping

Overlaying technique of pavement rehabilitation is well known and widely practiced. However, ultra thin
whitetopping (UTW) of concrete over existing bituminous pavement is a relatively new concept. UTW
can be designed for low-speed, low volume traffic areas such as street intersections, aviation taxiways
and runways, bus stops and tollbooths.
In this technique, a thin layer of high-strength, fiber-reinforced concrete is placed over a clean, milled
surface of distressed bituminous concrete pavement to achieve a full or partial bonding. Bonding
makes the two layers behave as a monolithic unit and share the load. Due to bonding, the neutral axis
in concrete shifts from the middle of concrete layer towards its bottom. This results in a lowering of
stresses at the bottom of concrete layer. Thick composite section behaviour causes the corner stresses
to decrease. On the other hand, downward shifting of neutral axis may cause critical load location to
shift from edges to corners thus increasing the corner stresses. Short joint spacing is used to decrease
the slab area that can curl or warp thus minimizing the corresponding stresses (MTTP 2004). A
schematic diagram of UTW have been presented in Figure-9.

Figure -9 Flexible composite pavement using UTW

UTW is an excellent resurfacing option for deteriorated bituminous pavements which otherwise require
frequent repair or overlays.
Following are some of the advantages of a UTW system (CAC 2004, Murison 2002):

It is beneficial for repair of roads and intersections having problems of rutting, cracks, and poor
drainage.
It provides improved skid resistance.
Its light colour reflects more light than bituminous pavement.
Its heat-reflecting property can help to lower the average city temperature.
It is less costly to maintain, than conventional flexible pavements, and does not require frequent
resurfacing and repairs.
The UTW concrete resists bitumen aging.

 The UTW concrete prevents degradation of bituminous surface due to fuel spills.
It causes minimal traffic disruption due to faster construction and repair procedure.
Its small panels are ideal for utility maintenance.
Bituminous r ecycling
In recycling method, bitumen and aggregates are separated out (partly or fully) and used again. The specific
benefits of recycling of bituminous pavement can be summarized as:

Conservation of energy and construction material.

Prevention of undesirable rise in height of finished surface and preservation of the existing road
geometrics.

Reuse of deteriorated road materials which in turn solves the disposal problem.

Solution to the problem of scarcity of good quality material.

Preservation of the environment.

Reduction in susceptibility to reflection cracking.

Bitumen ages due to oxidation with atmospheric oxygen as a result of which resins get converted into
asphaltenes (Petersen, 1984). By this process bitumen loses its ductility and becomes more brittle.
Recycling is based on the fact that bitumen obtained from old deteriorated bituminous pavement, may
still has its residual properties and recycling helps in restoring those residual properties of the bitumen.
To judge the suitability for use as a recycled material, aggregates are tested for their gradation and
bitumen is tested for its engineering properties. The optimum quantity of reclaimed material to be mixed
with fresh material is generally determined from mix design process. Fresh thin (soft grade) bitumen
having low viscosity can be used to replenish the aged bitumen. Rejuvenators (like road oils and flux
oils) are sometimes added for improvement in properties of reclaimed bitumen.
There are four major technologies exist for bituminous pavement recycling (NCHRP-452). They are
(i) hot mix recycling

Here recycled asphalt pavement ( RAP) is combined with fresh aggregate and bituminous binder or
recycling agent in a hot mix plant. Mix is transported to paving site, placed, and compacted.
(ii) cold in-place recycling

In this the existing pavement is milled up to a depth of 75 to 100mm, RAP, if necessary and recycling
agent in emulsion form is introduced, then compacted.
(iii) hot in-place recycling

In hot in-place recycling method the existing asphalt surface is heated, scarified to a depth from 20 to
40 mm, scarified material combined with aggregate and/or bituminous binder and/or recycling agent
and compacted. New overlay may or may not be provided.
(iv) full depth reclamation

Here all the bituminous layers and predetermined thickness of underlying material is pulverized,
stabilized with additives, and compacted. A surface course is applied over it.
Mix design considerations
Non-standard gradation

The fatigue life of the mix can be increased by increasing the bitumen content.

But, Voids in Mineral Aggregates (VMA), being fixed for a given gradation and compaction level,
increase in bitumen content will result in less Air Voids (VA), which is undesirable for a mix.

However one can deviate from the specified gradation in order to come up with a new gradation, which
possibly can give rise to better fatigue performance, yet without compromising with the VMA and
Marshall-stability requirements.
Stone matrix asphalt

Stone matrix asphalt (SMA) is a gap-graded bituminous mix with high percentage of coarse aggregates
with high bitumen content. Gap gradation aims at maximizing stone-to-stone contact. This gives a
structurally strong mix due to efficient load distribution through the stone-matrix skeleton. The drawback
of this method is the absence of medium sized aggregates due to gapgradation. This may arise
possibility of drain-down of low-grade penetration bitumen through the stone matrix . To check this
possibility, modifiers, such as cellulose fibers, are used to hold the bitumen in place (Better Roads
2003; GDOT 1995; Decoene et al., 1990).

CLOSING REMARKS

Certain standard methods are followed for road design and construction. They are modified from time-to-time to
match with the technological advancements. Certain modifications in the mix design or structural design can
give rise to substantial economy in terms of the longevity of the pavement or the cost of the material concerned.
Recapitulations

Cement is manufactured by heating a mixture of limestone, iron ore, gypsum, clay and other
ingredients. Cement concrete is a mixture of coarse aggregates, fine aggregates, cement and water,
in suitable proportions.
Through mix design, suitable proportions of the ingredients of concrete are estimated considering
strength, workability, durability and economics.
Workability test and air-content test are the tests generally conducted on fresh concrete. Compressive
strength, tensile strength, modulus of rupture, elastic modulus, Poisson's ratio, creep and shrinkage,
durability, thermal expansion coefficient etc are the tests conducted on hardened concrete.
Various modifications and inovatory applications of pavement materials and pavement design brings
in better performance and economy.

Analysis Of Concrete Pavement:

Objectives

The objective of this lecture is to review the basic concepts involved in the analysis of concrete
pavement structure. It presents a general formulation for load and temperature stresses in concrete
pavement. Solutions obtained for estimation of pavement stresses are also mentioned.
Introduction

The concrete pavement is subjected two types of stresses, load stress and temperature stress. The
load due to traffic acts vertically downward, and the stress is, therefore, tensile at the bottom of the
pavement slab. Temperature stress is generated due to temperature gradient across the depth of the
slab.
Analysis of load stress

A concrete pavement is generally idealized as slab (or, plate) resting on elastic foundation. So as to
develop the formulation for load stress calculation, the theory of plates is to be recapitulated first.
Basic theory of plates

For analysis purpose, a plate can be assumed as infinite in both the directions, semi-infinite, finite in
one direction, or, finite in both the directions and accordingly the reference coordinates can be chosen.
Figure 16 explains this configurations schematically.
For a basic plate analysis, it is assumed that the plate is homogenous, isotropic and elastic material
and the cross section normal to the neutral axis remains plane before and after bending and, thus,
there is no deformation along the thickness of plate. Therefore, the bending stress,
at any
point across the depth ( ) and the analysis becomes a plane stress case. For small deflection ( ) of
plate (Timoshenko, and Kreiger 1959), it can be written,

where,
represents the deflection in Cartesian coordinate system along the z-direction
(thickness) and
is the radius of curvature in the respective direction. The negative sign represents
that the upward curvature is due to downward deflection.

Figure 16: Various possible dimensions of a plate

Plate bending theory can be grossly grouped into two, thin plate theory and thick plate theory. For
concrete pavement analysis purpose, it is generally assumed as thin plate. The assumption of thin
plate (called as Kirchhoff plate) bending theory is that the thickness of the plate ( ) is small as
compared to the other dimensions. Thus, the effects of

and

on bending are neglected

where,
represent the bending stress due to external load in respective planes and
the
depth
from
the
neutral
axis
(Timoshenko,
and
Kreiger
1959).

represent
Thus,

where,
is the strain in the respective direction due to external load. So, the strain-deflection
relationship due to bending may be presented as:

The strain-stress relationship due to bending may be represented as:

where,
bending

and
are the Young's modulus and shear modulus respectively (i.e.
stress-strain
relationship
due
to
external
load

). The
becomes:

Therefore, the stress-deflection relationship may be expressed as:

(4)

(5)

(6)

If
and

are the bending moments per unit length due to load, parallel to
is the respective twisting moment in the

and axis respectively,

plane, then (Timoshenko, and Kreiger 1959),

(7)

(8)

(9)

where, flexural rigidity,

Let,

and

. Also, the stresses may be expressed as:

are the shear forces per unit length parallel to

and axis, then

(10)

(11)

If is the net pressure (downward positive) over the plate surface which may include the external load,
subgrade reaction as well as self weight of the plate, then from the equilibrium considerations:

(12)

Therefore, differentiating equation (10) with respect to and equation (11) with respect to and, then,
substituting in equation (12), the equilibrium equation becomes (Timoshenko, and Kreiger 1959):

(13)

where,

(Laplace biharmonic operator).

When the curvatures in x and y directions are equal such as the case of symmetric interior loading, the
deflection ( ) with free edges may be expressed as shown below:

Equilibrium equations based on foundation types

The equilibrium equation(13) takes different forms depending on the loading condition as well as the
foundation types. In the following three different forms of the equilibrium equations are derived for three
different types of foundations (subgrade). These three foundation models are (i) Winkler foundation (ii)
Pasternak foundation and (iii) Kerr foundation. In all these three cases, external pressure, q is applied
over the surface of the slab. In case of concentrated load, the equilibrium equations are valid, except at
the point of load application.

Slab resting on Winkler foundation

Slab resting on Pasternak foundation

Slab resting on Kerr foundation

Temperature stress analysis

Most of the studies show that the temperature distribution in concrete pavement is nonlinear.
Let,
represent the pavement temperature at depth from the mid-surface (positive downward) and
the reference temperature at which the slab is free from any temperature stress. It is also assumed that elastic
modulus ( ) and Poisson's ratio ( ) does not change with temperature and also the pavement temperature
distribution of the pavement, with respect to time, is fixed. So, if the slab is fully restrained, the restrained strain
(

) due to temperature change from

The corresponding stress (

to

will be:

), may be expressed as:

where, is coefficient of thermal expansion of concrete. The positive strain indicates the compressive stress
(negative). It may be noted that the shape of the stress diagram is similar to the temperature profile. The above
stresses (equation 18 and 19) can be divided into three components, (i) axial, (ii) bending and (iii) residual. This
has been explained schematically in Fig. 17 and Fig. 18, for day time and night time conditions respectively
(Choubane and Tia 1992). The various stress components are discussed further in the following.

Figure 17. Various components of stress during day time comdition

Solutions for load and temperature stress

The formulation for the load stress and temperature stress are solved by various researchers for
various boundary conditions. Some such solutions are presented in the following:

Solutions for load stress

o

Interior stress due to loading at interior (Westergaard 1926)

Edge stress due to loading at edge (Westergaard 1926

Corner stress due to loading at corner (Bradbury 1938, Fwa et al. 1996, Westergaard
1926)

Solutions for temperature stress

Solutions for load stress

The following are various solutions for load stress obtained by various researchers.

Interior stress due to loading at interior (Westergaard 1926)

Edge stress due to loading at edge (Westergaard 1926

Corner stress due to loading at corner (Bradbury 1938, Fwa et al. 1996, Westergaard 1926)

Interior stress due to loading at interior (Westergaard 1926)

Edge stress due to loading at edge (Westergaard 1926)

Corner stress due to loading at corner (Bradbury 1938, Fwa et al. 1996, Westergaard 1926)

where, radius of resisting section,

and Euler's constant,

; if
.

or

; if

Recapitulation

Concrete pavement is generally modeled as thin plate resting on elastic foundation. The load
stress is tensile at bottom. The solutions are different for different types of foundations, such as
Winkler, Pasternak, Kerr etc.

The temperature stress develops in concrete pavement due to the change of temperature and
the existence of temperature gradient across its depth. Most of the studies show that this
temperature distribution is non-linear.

The temperature stress can be considered to be composed of three stress components, viz.
axial, bending and residual. Generally, the axial stress in concrete pavement gets dissipated
due to provision of various joints.

Primarily self-weight provides the restraint against bending (due to temperature gradient) of
concrete pavement. During the day time, a concrete pavement is expected to experience
tensile stress below the neutral axis.

Design Of Dowel Bars:

Objective

The objective of this lecture is to introduce the concept of design of dowel bars.
Introduction

Dowel bars are placed at the transverse joints of concrete pavement and they take part in partial wheel
load transfer from one slab to its adjacent slab. The dowel bars also allow axial thermal expansion and
contraction of the concrete slab along the axis of the dowel.
The bars are generally made up of mild-steel-round-bars of short length. Around half of the length of
this bar is embedded in one of the concrete slabs and the remaining portion is bonded in the other
adjacent slab. One end of the bar is kept free for the movement during expansion and contraction of
the slab due to change in temperature.
The performance of the dowel bar system drastically falls when voids are created between the dowel
bars and the concrete slab (Porter 2001). Such a situation develops stress concentration and failure
may take place rapidly. The void space may get filled with water and corrosion action to the dowel bars
may get aggravated. Subsequently, the load transfer mechanism tends to fail and the differential
settlement of the concrete slab may occur (Porter 2001). Differential settlement may further cause
breakage of slabs due to impact loading of the vehicles. Thus, the design adequacy of dowel bar
system and proper placement to the concrete pavement slab is an important consideration.
Analysis of dowel bar
Analysis

Recall the formulation developed as Equation 13 , in the lecture on 'analysis of concrete pavement' ,
representing beam on elastic foundation. By putting appropriate boundary conditions to that equation,
for a semi-infinite beam with a moment, Mo, and a point load, P, the following solution emerges for
Winker's foundation (Porter 2001, Timoshenko and Lessels 1925 ):
(25)

where,

y = the deflection along the x direction,

, and is called as the relative stiffness of the beam
on the elastic foundation, k = spring constant, E = elastic modulus of the beam and I = moment of
inertia of the beam section.
From Equation 1, the deflection of the dowel bar at the face of the joint, y o, can be obtained as (Friberg
1940):

(26)

where,
relative stiffness of the dowel bar resting on concrete (assumed as elastic
foundation), kd = modulus of dowel support, b d = dowel bar width (i.e. diameter), E d = elastic modulus of
the dowel bar, Id = moment of inertia of the dowel bar, Pd = load transferred through the dowel bar and z
=joint width.
Though the above equation assumes dowel bar to be semi-infinite, Porter (2001) showed that Equation
(26) gives a reasonably good estimate of deflection obtained from more rigorous analysis.
Thus, the bearing stress developed, bd, can be expressed as the product of modulus of dowel support
( kd) and the deflection at the face of joint ( yo) (Porter 2001), i.e.
(27)
For a successful dowel bar design, the value of bd needs to be kept lower than the allowable bearing
stress of concrete, bd, specified as (ACI 1956, Porter 2001, IRC:58 2002):
(28)
where, bd is expressed in MPa, fck = characteristic compressive strength of concrete in MPa and b d is
the diameter (i.e. width) of the dowel bar in mm,
Joint load transfer efficiency

Ideally, the dowel bar system should be able to transfer the whole load applied to it. However, voids
developed due to repetitive loading reduce the joint load transfer efficiency ( JLTE ) of the dowel bar.
The JLTE (expressed in percentage) of a dowel bar can be defined as (Porter 2001, Ioannides and
Korovesis
1992
)

where, Pa is the load applied to the dowel bar. The force transmitted being somewhat difficult to
measure, joint load transfer efficiency is sometimes measured in terms ratio of deflections. If impact
loading (generally, falling weight deflectometer ( FWD ) is used for this purpose) is applied near the
transverse dowelled joint of a slab, the JLTE can be defined as the percentage of the deflection of the
unloaded slab with reference to the deflection of the loaded slab. Figure 1 schematically shows two
extreme situations as JLTE = 0% and JLTE = 100%. Various researches and documents (Porter 2001,

Yoder and Witczak 1975, ACPA 1991 ) suggest that the load transfer efficiency varies between 35 to
50%.

Figue-21 Schematic diagram explaining the deflection based load transfer efficiency (Chakroborty and Das
2003)
Distribution of load

A part of the load applied is shared by the dowel bar system. Essentially, this load is not shared by only
one dowel bar, rather, it is shared by a group of dowel bars. (These dowel bars are placed at some
designed interval). Thus, it is important to know (i) how many dowel bars participate in load transfer,
and (ii) how is this load shared across the various participating dowel bars.
Fridberg (1940) suggested that a length of up to 1.8 radius of relative stiffness (refer to Equation (11)
of the lecture 'analysis of concrete pavement' for definition) participate in the load transfer. It is also
suggested that the load may be taken as linearly varying with maximum share taken by the dowel bar
which is just vertically below the wheel. Tabatabaie et al. (Porter 2001) suggested that instead of taking
the
factor
as
1.8
it
should
be
taken
as
1.0
.
From design point of view, the wheel can be placed in two ways over the transverse edge of the slab,
viz. case (i) the wheel at one edge or, case (ii) the wheel is at the middle. Obviously, the maximum load
shared by a dowel bar in case (i) will be more than case (ii) . Hence case (i) would govern the design of
dowel bar.
Design of dowel bar

By the term design of dowel bar , it is meant to estimate the dowel bar diameter and spacing. One of
them can be assumed as known or fixed, and the other is estimated. Dowel bars are generally
designed from two considerations: (i) Bearing stress approach, where the developed bearing stress is
set equal to or less than the allowable bearing stress, and (ii) Relative deflection approach, where the
relative deflection of the joints is not allowed to exceed some maximum specified value.
Example design

An example on design of dowel bar system from bearing stress consideration is presented in the
following.

Problem

A design wheel load of 65kN is applied on to the concrete pavement slab, and 50% of the load is
assumed to be transmitted through the dowel bar system. Assume the characteristic compressive
strength (fck) of concrete (used in the concrete pavement) is 40MPa, the transverse joint width ( z ) is 15
mm, radius of relative stiffness (l) of the concrete slab as 950mm, Elastic modulus of steel (E) as 2.0 x
105 N/mm2 and modulus of dowel support (kd) as 415N/mm 3 . Design the dowel bar system.
Solution

Assume, 32mm diameter dowel bars are used.

The

allowable

bearing

stress

(ba

can

be

obtained

from

Equation

(28)

as:

= 29.23 MPa
Assume, dowel bar spacing as 300 mm center-to-center. Thus, in 950 mm of effective length (using
Tabatabaie et al. criterion) , 4 dowel bars can be placed.
Assuming, the load carried by the dowel bar which is just below the wheel, is Pd, one can write the load
distribution equation of the dowel bar system as:

or, Pd=15437.5 N
Now,

0.0238 per mm
From Equation (27), the developed bearing stress in dowel bar

N/mm2 = 27.20 MPa

It is noted that
<
, thus the design is safe. Thus, dowel bar of 32 mm may be provided with
300mm center-to-center.
Closing remarks

The side of the dowel bar does not take any shear force, thus it is suggested that a dowel bar with
elliptical cross-section will provide more effective area for distribution of stress (Porter 2001). This has
been schematically explained in Figure 22.

Figure 22. Elliptical cross-section has more effective area for shear stress distribution (Porter 2001)

While designing the thickness of the concrete pavement, generally the stresses at edge, corner and
interior are considered. However, the stresses at the edge of the transverse joint also need to checked,
considering the situation when dowel bars fails to perform load transfer ( Porter and Guinn 2002 ).
Corrosion of the dowel bars, usage of fiber reinforced polymer dowel bars, estimation of modulus of
dowel reaction, dowel-slab interaction and their fatigue (Porter and Guinn 2002) are some of the
emerging issues which demand further research and understanding.

Recapitulation

Dowel bars are placed at the transverse joints of concrete pavement and they take part in load
transfer from one slab to the adjacent slab. The dowel bars also allow axial thermal expansion
and contraction of the concrete slab along the axis of the dowel.

Only a part of the wheel load is transmitted through the 'participating' dowel bars. The dowel
bar which is just vertically below the wheel carries the maximum load. Loads carried by the
other participating dowel bars decrease proportionately as these move away from the point of
load application.

The dowel bar system is designed from the bearing stress and deflection criteria.

Design of Tie Bars:

Objective

Objective of this lecture is to introduce the design concepts of tie bar.

Introduction

Tie bars are used across the longitudinal joint of concrete pavement. The purpose of tie bar is to hold
the concrete slabs together (refer Figure 23). Tie bars supposedly do not transfer any wheel load.

Figure 23: Schematic diagram showing location of tie bar in pavement cross-section

Design principle

The tie bars are designed to withstand tensile stresses, the maximum tensile force in the tie bar is
made equal to the force required to overcome frictional force between the bottom of the adjoining
pavement slab and the soil subgrade. Estimation of spacing and length of tie bar is explained in the
following.
Estimation of spacing of tie bar

Since the purpose of the tie bar is to tie concrete slabs together, the area of steel per unit length of
longitudinal joint is obtained by equating the total friction to the total tension developed in the tie bar
system (as explained in Figure 24).

Figure 24: Estimation of area of steel for tie bar

Thus,
(29)
where = co-efficient of friction between concrete slab and the sub-base, W = weight of the concrete
slab per unit length (say per meter), st = allowable working stress in tension for the steel used as tie
bar, Ast= cross-sectional area of steel per unit length (say per meter). The weight of concrete slab per
unit length can be written as,
(30)
where, w = weight of slab per unit volume (say, cubic meter), B = width of the slab, and h = height of
the slab. Thus, from Equation (29) and (30), the area of steel per unit length,
(31)

Assuming suitable diameter of tie bar, the spacing of tie bar can be found out so as to the requirement
of steel per unit length.
Estimation of length of tie bar

Consider a single tie bar. The tensile force developed in the tie bar should not exceed the bond
strength between the tie bar and the concrete, otherwise it can be pulled out of concrete. Thus,
considering one end of the tie bar,
(32)
where, as = cross-sectional area of one tie-bar, P = perimeter of one tie bar, l = length of tie bar inside
the concrete slab, Sb = allowable bond strength between the concrete and the tie bar.
Thus, total length of the tie bar, can be written as,
(33)
where z = allowance due to inaccurate centering of the tie bar.

Design of tie bar

Input Parameters:
Sr. No. Parameter
1
Slab thickness (h)
2
Slab width (B)
3
Coefficient of friction (\mu)
4
Weight of concrete per unit volume (w)
5
Alowable tensile stress of tie bars (\sigma_{st})
7
Alowable bond stress of tie bars (S_b)
9
Diameter of tie bar (d) =
10
Allowance in length in tie bar (z)
Design of tie bar:
a) Spacing of tie bar
Area of steel bar per meter width along the longitudinal joint
A_{st}=\mu.w.B.h/\sigma_{st}
The cross-sectional area of a single tie bar (a_s)
Spacing of tie bar
Provide a spacing =
b) Length of plain Bar:
Perimeter of tie bar (P)
embedded length of tie bar (l) = (a_s * \sigma_{st})/(P * S_b)
Deisgn lenght of the tie bar = 2*l +z
Provide length of tie bar =

Value
0.33
3.5
1.5
24000
125
1.75
0.012
0.015

Unit
m
m
N/m^3
MPa
MPa
m
m

0.000333
0.000113
0.339999
339

m^2/m
m^2
m c/c
mm c/c

0.037699
0.214286
0.443571
443

m
m
m
mm

Recapitulation

The spacing of tie bar is estimated from the area of the steel required per unit length of the longitudinal
joint. The area of steel required is estimated by equating the maximum tensile force in the tie bar system
with the force required to overcome frictional force between the bottom of the adjoining pavement slab

and the soil subgrade.

The length of the tie bar is estimated by equating the tensile force developed in a tie bar with the bond