Literature Review

A pavement is the durable surface material which laid down on an area intended to sustain
vehicular such as highway, road and walkway. Pavement principal function is to receive load
from the traffic and transmits it through its layers to the subgrade. [a] Pavement performance is
expressed in terms of pavement thickness and materials. [b] There are different types of road
failure, for example transverse cracking, longitudinal cracking, potholes, raveling, water
bleeding and rutting. Common types of flexible pavement failures that could be observed in
Malaysia consist of corrugations, depression, raveling, cracking, potholes, patching etc. [c] The
failures had been attributed to some factors, such as properties of construction materials,
subgrade conditions, environmental conditions, traffic loading, lack of drainage and poor
workmanship [d]. Previous researches had shown that roads failed due to various reasons like
negligence of road maintenance and poor soil properties like low CBR. [e] Rather than the
vertical stress within all the pavement layers, horizontal stress is only effective on wearing and
base course, which is the main cause of fatigue related pavement failures. [f] In recent time,
pavement failure has been a very serious problem which cause unnecessary delay in distorts
pavement aesthetics, unnecessary delay in traffic flow, or breakdown of vehicle, causes road
traffic accident. To ensure stability of road under traffic load, normally pavement structure
consists of a few layers of strong materials. The layers usually have surface course, base course,
subbase course and sub grade. The crack spacing is strongly dependent on the surface layer
thickness, tensile strength of the surface layer and elastic modulus of the surface layer. [g] Sub
grade which consists of the naturally occurring material on which the road is built, or the
imported fill material used to create an embankment on which the road pavement is constructed.
[h] Usually pavements fail from the top, pavement systems generally start to deteriorate from the
bottom (sub grade), which often determines the service life of a road. Although a pavement’s
wearing course is most prominent, the success or failure of a pavement is more often than not
dependent upon the underlying sub grade – the material upon which the pavement structure is
built. [b] Excess fines and very high liquid limit values combined with a very low CBR value are
instigating the failure of the pavement. [i] In the past, cobblestones and granite setts were
extensively used, but these surface have mostly been replaced by asphalt or concrete. Recycled
concrete aggregate and reclaimed asphalt pavement can be used as replacement for natural
aggregates in road constructions. [j]
ious researches had shown
that roads failed due to
various reasons like
negligence of
road maintenance and
poor soil properties like
low CBR
Previous researches had
shown that roads failed
due to various reasons like
negligence of
road maintenance and
poor soil properties like
low CBR
a. Kadiyali, L.R, 1989. Principle and Practice of Highway Engineering. 2nd Edn. Delhi Khanna
Technology Publication.

b. Wikipedia the true encyclopedia. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/

c. Kordi, Nurul Elma, Endut Intan Rohani, and Baharom Bahardin, "Types of Damages on
Flexible Pavement for Malaysian Federal Road." Malaysian University Transportation Research
Forum and Conferences (978-967-5770-0801):pp.421-432, 2010.

d. Arumala, J.O. and Akpokodje, E.G. Soil properties and pavement performance in the Niger
Delta. Q. J. Engng Geol. 1987; 20:287-296.

e. Ogundipe, O.M (2008). Roads pavement failure caused by poor soil roperties along Aramoko-
Ilesha Highway, Nigeria. Journal of engineering and applied sciences, 3(3): 239-241.

f. H. Akbulut and K. aslantas,"Finite element analysis of stress distribution on

bituminouspavement and failure mechanism", Materials and Design 26, pp. 383-387, 2005.

g. Chang Xu, Yan Anzhi, Mingcheng Liao and Tang Chunan,"Analysis of periodic cracks in
surface layer of pavement structures", Engineering Failure Analysis 18, pp. 411-420,2011.

h. Statewise Urban Design and Specifications. Available at: http://www.iowasudas.org/

i. G. Jegede,"Effect of soil properties on pavement failures along the F209 highway at Ado-Ekiti,
south-western Nigeria", Construction and Building Materials 14, pp. 311-315, 2000.

j. Harianto Rahardjo, Alfrendo Satyanaga, Eng-Choon Leong and Jing-Yuan Wang,"Unsaturated

properties of recycled concrete aggregate and reclaimed asphalt pavement", Engineering
Geology 161, pp. 44-54, 2013.