COMPARATIVE STUDY

BETWEEN FLEXIBLE AND

RIGID PAVEMENT

Fariha Azad Anika

1018042305
Pavement:
A pavement is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot
traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, cobblestone and granite setts were
extensively used, but these have mostly been replaced by asphalt or concrete laid on a compacted base
course.

Figure 1 : Pavement structure

Types of Pavement:
The pavements can be classified based on the structural performance into two, flexible pavements and
rigid pavements. In flexible pavements, wheel loads are transferred by grain-to-grain contact of the
aggregate through the granular structure. The flexible pavement, having less flexural strength, acts like a
flexible sheet (e.g., bituminous road). On the contrary, in rigid pavements, wheel loads are transferred to
sub-grade soil by flexural strength of the pavement and the pavement acts like a rigid plate (e.g., cement
concrete roads). In addition to these, composite pavements are also available. A thin layer of flexible
pavement over rigid pavement is an ideal pavement with most desirable characteristics. However, such
pavements are rarely used in new construction because of high cost and complex analysis required.

Flexible Pavement:
A typical flexible pavement consists of a bituminous surface course over base course and sub-base
course. The surface course may consist of one or more bituminous or Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) layers.
These pavements have negligible flexure strength and hence undergo deformation under the action of
loads. The structural capacity of flexible pavements is attained by the combined action of the different
layers of the pavement. The load from trucks is directly applied on the wearing course, and it gets
dispersed (in the form of a truncated cone) with depth in the base, sub base, and subgrade courses, and
then ultimately to the ground. Since the stress induced by traffic loading is highest at the top, the surface
layer has maximum stiffness (measured by resilient modulus) and contributes the most to pavement
strength. The layers below have lesser stiffness but are equally important in the pavement composition.
The subgrade layer is responsible for transferring the load from the above layers to the ground.

Figure 2 : Flexible pavement

Rigid Pavement:
Portland cement concrete is used as primary structural element for rigid pavement. The reinforcement is
provided in the slab depending upon the soil strength and loading conditions. Pre-stressed concrete slabs
can also be used as surface course.  The concrete slab usually lies on a compacted granular or treated
subbase, which is supported, in turn, by a compacted subgrade. Compared to flexible pavement, rigid
pavements are placed either directly on the prepared sub-grade or on a single layer of granular or
stabilized material. Since there is only one layer of material between the concrete and the sub-grade, this
layer can be called as base or sub-base course.

Figure 3 : Rigid pavement

Comparison between Flexible and Rigid Pavement:
A comparative study between flexible and rigid pavement is given below:

Figure 4 : Flexible and Rigid pavement

1. Layer system:
The flexible pavement is an asphalt pavement. It generally consists of a relatively thin wearing surface of
asphalt built over a base course and sub base course. These layers rest upon a compacted sub grade
(compacted soil). In contrast, rigid pavements are made up of Portland cement concrete and may or may
not have a base course between the pavement and sub grade. The essential difference between the two
types of pavements flexible and rigid, is the manner in which they distribute the load over the sub grade.
Rigid pavement having high modulus of elasticity of materials tends to distribute the load over a
relatively wide area of sub grade. The concrete slab itself supplies a major portion of a rigid pavement's
structural capacity. So, no surface deformation occurs when wheel load passes over it. Flexible pavement
having relatively less modulus of elasticity of materials does not spread loads as well as concrete and
deflects when wheel load passes over it. Therefore, flexible pavements usually require more layers and
greater thickness for optimally transmitting load to the sub grade.

Figure 5 : Load distribution of Flexible and Rigid Pavement

2. Design criteria:
A cement concrete pavement is amenable to a much more precise structural analysis than flexible
pavement. The fact is that the flexural strength of concrete, which is used as the main basis for design, is
well understood. The most common design method for rigid pavement is Portland Cement Association
method (PCA, 1984). AASHTO design method considers the following factors:
 Effective modulus of sub grade reaction
 Concrete elastic modulus
 Concrete modulus of rupture
 Load-transfer coefficient
 Drainage coefficient
 Reliability and standard deviation
 Traffic load applications
 Serviceability loss
According to the PCA (Portland Cement Association) Method the criteria are:
 Fatigue
 Erosion
Flexible pavement design methods are mainly empirical. Latest research in understanding the
performance of bituminous materials has furthered the knowledge on their behavior. Computer aided
analysis of layered system is making the flexible pavement design more exact than previous. The most
common design methods for flexible pavement design are:
 The Asphalt Institute method:
 AASHTO flexible pavement design method:
According to the AASHTO design method a structural number is determined based on the following:
 Traffic
 Reliability
 Sub grade soil property
 Environmental effects
 Loss of serviceability

3. Service Life and Maintenance:

Rigid pavement has greater service life than flexible pavement. Rigid pavement is designed for about 40
years, where flexible pavement is designed foe about 12 to 20 years. Flexible pavement also requires
frequent maintenance to maintain its design life and quality. On the other hand, rigid pavement does not
require frequent maintenance.
4. Initial cost:
The initial cost of making of a rigid pavement is high compared to flexible pavement. Therefore, for low
budget road construction flexible pavement is preferable.
5. Stage construction:
A new flexible road, for example is constructed with barest minimum specification, as traffic grows,
additional layers can be added on with respect to traffic growth. Cement concrete slabs do not fit into
such scheme of stage construction. Due to extreme scarcity of resources in the country, road construction
is generally done adopting a policy of stage construction, especially for low volume roads. Stage
construction is possible for flexible pavements.
6. Surface characteristics:
A rigid pavement is smooth and free from imperfections such as rutting, potholes. It also has a skid
resistance surface. But with time it may become too smooth and increase cost to restore non-skid
characteristics. In flexible pavement the surface may easily become damaged, but can be instantly
restored back to its original quality by adding new surface layer.
7. Water permeability:
A cement concrete slab is practically impervious, except at joints. If joints are sealed and well maintained,
water will not penetrate and soften the sub grade. A bituminous surface is not impervious. Water can find
its way into the lower layers through cracks and pores. Such water can impair the stability of the
pavement.
8. Utility Location:
For concrete pavement it is difficult to rip open the slab and restore it to the original condition if any
changes in the utility lines are to be made. For this purpose, gaps are left in the pavement. In flexible
pavement random cut in pavement structure is possible. So for an unplanned and densely populated city
flexible pavement is preferable because utility cutting is a very common feature in these road areas.
9. Glare and Night visibility:
Rigid pavements have a grey color which can cause glare under sunlight. Black bitumen pavement is free
from this defect. But flexible pavement required more street lighting than rigid pavement.
10. Traffic dislocation:
A cement concrete pavement requires 28 days before it can be thrown open to traffic. On the other hand, a
bituminous surface can be thrown to open to traffic shortly after it is rolled. So, from construction point of
view concrete pavements cause longer dislocation of traffic than flexible pavements. But maintenance
work needed for flexible pavement is very frequent than rigid pavement, which causes small dislocation
or disturbance of traffic very frequently over the lifetime of flexible pavement.
11. Environmental factors:
During construction of a flexible pavement where bituminous layers are to be provided, the process of
heating of bitumen and aggregates and mixing them together in hot-mix plants can prove to be much
more hazardous to the environment than cement concrete construction where no heating of any material is
involved. Use of bitumen cutbacks can also prove to be environmentally hazardous due to evaporation of
volatile constituents into the atmosphere. Concrete pavement is longer lasting and therefore environment
friendly in a sense that
• They don’t need to be rehabbed or reconstructed as often.
• This means fewer raw materials are used both in the short term and over the life of the pavement.
• This also means fewer pollutants are going into our water, air, and soil.
• It also results in less energy being used in construction. i.e., less motor fuels and oils are needed for
heavy construction equipment.

12. Pavement recycling:

All pavements eventually have to be rehabilitated. In case of concrete pavement recycling, the recycled
material is used as granular fill, base course for new pavement, or as aggregate to strengthen new concrete
pavement. Asphalt pavement can be recycled as "Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement" (RAP). RAP is
essentially old pavement that is reclaimed for use. In its most common form, it is collected in loose
granular form as a byproduct of pavement rehabilitation or reconstruction. RAP can be used in a variety
of ways such as:

• As an addition to regular HMA

• As an aggregate in cold-mix asphalt
• As a granular base course when pulverized
• As a fill or embankment material