Highway Engineering II

(CENG-4203)

Instructor: Mastewal Shumet

Lecturer, School of Civil & Environmental
Engineering.
Addis Ababa Institute of Technology
Addis Ababa University
masteshumet@gmail.com
mastewal.shumet@aait.edu.et
mastewal.shumet@aau.edu.et
Highway Engineering II
(CENG-4203)

Chapter 1 - Introduction
 Overview
What is pavement structure?
A pavement is a layered structure that:
• have sufficienttotal thickness and internal strength
to carry expected traffic loads,and distribute them
over the subgrade soil without overstressing;
• have adequate properties to prevent or minimize the
penetration or internal accumulation of moisture;
and
• have a surface that is reasonably smooth and skid
resistant at the same time, as well as, reasonably
resistant to wear, distortion and deterioration by
vehicle loads and weather.
 Requirements of a pavement
 Sufficient thickness
 Structurally strong
 Adequate coefficient of friction
 Smooth surface
 Produce least noise
 Dust proof surface
 Impervious surface
 Long design life
Types of Pavement
 Flexible Pavement
A flexible pavement is one, which has low
flexural strength, and the load is largely
transmitted to the subgrade soil through the
lateral distribution of stresses with increasing
depth.
 Types of flexible pavement
constructions

 Conventional flexible pavement,

Full-depth asphalt pavement

Conventional flexible pavements
 Are multilayered structures with better
materials on top
 Use of local materials - results in a most
economical design.
 Flexible Pavement - Terms
 Seal Coat : is a thin asphalt surface treatment used to waterproof the
surface or to provide skid resistance

 Surface Course: is the top course of an asphalt pavement, sometimes

called the wearing course.

 Binder Course: sometimes called the asphalt base course,is the

asphalt layer below the surface course.

 Tack Coat is a very light application of asphalt used to ensure a bond

between the surface being paved and the overlying course.

 A prime coat is an application of low-viscosity cutback asphalt to

an absorbent surface to bind the granular base to the asphalt
layer.

 Base Course and Subbase Course: It can be composed of crushed

stone ,or other untreated or stabilized materials

 Subgrade: The top of subgrade should be scarified and compacted to

the desirable density near the optimum moisture content.
Full-Depth Asphalt Pavements
 Are constructed by placing one or more layers
of hot-mix asphalt directly on the subgrade or
improved subgrade.

 for heavy traffic and quite popular in areas

where local materials are not available.
 Rigid Pavements
• Are pavement structures constructed of cement concrete slabs, which
derive their capacityto withstand vehicleloads from flexural strength or
beam strength due to high modulus of elasticity.

• High flexural strength permits the vehicle load on cement concrete slab to be
distributed over a relatively wider area and to bridge over minor irregularities
of the soil than flexible pavements and thus, variation in the subgrade soil
strength has little influence.
 Use of Base Course in Rigid
Pavement
• Control of Pumping: the ejection of water and
subgrade soil through joints and cracks and along the
edges of pavements,
• Control of Frost Action: causes concrete slabs
to break and softens the subgrade
• Improvement of Drainage: water table is high
• Control of Shrinkage and Swell: changes
cause the subgrade to shrink and swell as
• Expedition of Construction: can be used a
working platform for heavy construction
equipment
Types of Rigid Pavements
• Jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP): plain
concrete pavements constructed with closely spaced
contraction joints.
• Jointed reinforced concrete pavement (JRCP): are
concrete pavements with steel reinforcements in the form
of wire mesh
• Continuous reinforced concrete pavement
(CRCP): are reinforced concrete pavements designed
joint-free
• Pre stressed concrete pavement (PCP): the pre
application of a compressive stress to the concrete to
greatly reduce the tensile stress caused by the traffic loads
and thus decreases the thickness of concrete required.
Types of Rigid Pavements
Comparison of Rigid and Flexible Pavements
 The manner in which vehicle loads are transmitted to the subgrade
soil,

 Design precision,

 Design life,

 Maintenance requirements,

 Initial cost,

 Suitability for stage construction, Surface characteristics, Permeability, and

 Traffic dislocation during construction.

Basic Design Factors
• Traffic Loading: include axle loads, the
number of load repetitions, tire-contact
areas, and vehicle speeds.
• Environment: include temperature
and precipitation.
• Materials
• Failure Criteria
Failures in Pavements
 Flexible pavement
 fatigue cracking
 rutting
 low - temperature cracking

 Rigid pavement
 fatigue cracking
 pumping or erosion
Flexible Pavement Design Methods
 Empirical Methods: The use of the empirical method without a strengthtest
applied only to a given set of environmental, material, and loading conditions .
 Limiting Shear Failure Methods : is used to determine the thickness of
pavements so that shear failures will not occur.
Pavements should be designed for riding comfort rather than for barely preventing shear failures .

 Limiting Deflection Methods: is used to determine the thickness of

pavements so that the vertical deflection will not exceed the allowable
limit.
Unfortunately,pavement failuresare caused by excessive stresses and strains instead ofdeflections.
 Regression Methods Based on Pavement Performance or Road Tests:
A good example is the AASHTO method
the design equations can be applied only to the conditions at the road test site.
 Mechanistic–Empirical Methods: is based on the mechanics of materials
that relates an input, such as a wheel load, to an output or pavement
response, such as stress or strain .
Rigid Pavement Design Methods
 Analytical Solutions: ranging from simple closed-form
formulas to complex derivations are available for
determining the stresses and deflections in concrete
pavements.

 Numerical Solutions: assumed that the slab and the

subgrade are in full contact . It is well known that, due to
pumping, temperature curling, and moisture warping, the
slab and subgrade are usually not in contact. With the
advent of computers and numerical methods, some analyses
based on partial contact were developed .
 The design process
Input variables Process Design Checking
Fundamentals

Stress-strain analysis

Load and Traffic

Analysis

Environmental
factors
Variability
Selection of D istress and
Material properties Selection of Pavement performance
design values structures
Materials

Soil and base stabilization

Evaluation
Cost analysis
Subgrade materials
Maintenance
Base and subase and
Construction
Surface materials
Check against original assumption and criteria
Thank You