RIGID PAVEMENTS

NOTATIONS

ACWC : Asphalt concrete wearing course

AIV : Aggregate impact value

BC : Bituminous concrete

DBM : Dense bituminous macadam

GSB : Granular sub base

NH : National Highway

NHAI : National highway authority of India

PUP : Passenger under pass

QC : Quality control

RCC : Reinforced concrete cement

VUP : Vehicular Under Pass

WMM : Wet mix macadam

BC : Black Cotton

MDD : Maximum Dry Density

OMC : Optimum Moisture Content

CBR : California Bearing Ratio

WBM : Water Bound Macadam

DLC : Dry Lean Concrete

IRC : Indian Road Congress

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 ABBREVIATIONS

AASHTO - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials

AUSTROADS -Association of Australian and New Zealand Road Transport and Traffic
Authorities

BC - Bituminous Concrete

BIS - Bureau of Indian Standards

BM - Bituminous Macadam

CBR - California Bearing Ratio

CFD-Cumulative Fatigue Damage

CTB/CT - Cement Treated Base - includes all type of Cement/Chemical stabilized bases

DBM - Dense Bituminous Macadam

E - Elastic Modulus of Cementitious Layer

GB - Granular Base

GSB - Granular Sub-base

IRC- Indian Roads Congress

KC - Infiltration Rate per Unit Area of Un-Cracked Pavement Surface

MR - Resilient Modulus

MRUP = Modulus of Rupture

MEPDG = Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide

Msa = Million Standard Axles

MORTH = Ministry of Road Transport & Highways

NF = Cumulative No. of Repetitions for Fatigue Failure

NR = Cumulative No .of Repetitions for Rutting Failure

SAMI = Stress Absorbing Membrane Interlayer

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RAP = Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement

RF = Reliability Factor

SDBC = Semi-Dense Bituminous Concrete

VDF = Vehicle Damage Factor

VG = Viscosity Grade

WBM = Water Bound Macadam

WMM = Wet Mix Macadamεt

ΕT = Horizontal Tensile Strain

Εv = Vertical Subgrade Strain

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 INTRODUCTION

1.0 General

Development of a country depends on the connectivity of various places with

adequate road network. Roads are the major channel of transportation for carrying goods and
passengers. They play a significant role in improving the socio-economic standards of a
region. Roads constitute the most important mode of communication in areas where railways
have not developed much and form the basic infra structure for the development and
economic growth of the country. The benefits from the investment in road sector are indirect,
long-term and not immediately visible. Roads are important assets for any nation. However,
merely creating these assets is not enough, it has to be planned carefully and a pavement
which is not designed properly deteriorates fast. India is a large country having huge resource
of materials. If these local materials are used properly, the cost of construction can be
reduced. There is various type of pavements which differ in their suitability in different
environments. Each type of pavement has its own merits and demerits. Despite a large
number of seminars and conference, still in India, 98% roads are having flexible pavements

A highway pavement is a structure consisting of superimposed layers of processed

materials above the natural soil sub-grade, whose primary function is to distribute the applied
vehicle loads to the sub-grade. The pavement structure should be able to provide a surface of
acceptable riding quality, adequate skid resistance, favorable eight reacting characteristics,
and low noise pollution. The ultimate aim is to ensure that the transmitted stresses due to
wheel load are succinctly reduced, so that they will not exceed bearing capacity of the sub
grade. Two types of pavements are generally recognized as serving this purpose, namely
flexible pavements and rigid pavements.

Although there has been considerable advance in the theoretical design of pavements, most of
the current work is based on empirical methods and design charts. For this reason only these
methods will be covered in these pages.Normally a design is carried out for each of the
alternatives and then the most economical chosen. However, if for environmental or technical
reasons one is impractical then it may be omitted.

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The general form of the different types of pavement is shown below. It can be seen that
common to all types of construction is the Sub-base and subgrade. It is this aspect of the
design which is treated first. However, it is first necessary to decide on a failure criteria on
which to base the design.

When construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation costs are considered, the single
most costly element of a highway system is the pavement structure. In an effort to reduce this
cost, various organizations agencies have sponsored a continuous program and research on
pavements over the last 80 years. Although much has been learned, the state of knowledge on
the behavior of paving materials remains incomplete. Variables associated with traffic
loading, location, and environment make absolutely precise pavement performance
predictions for new or rehabilitated sections very difficult.
The lack of perfect predictive capability, however, does not mean that pavement
design activities are useless. On the contrary, current design procedures almost always
provide pavements that perform at least as long as the target design period with a high degree
of reliability. These predictions, combined with sound engineering judgment and knowledge
of previous pavement performance in an area, is essential for most effectively allocating
finite paving resources.
The purpose of pavement design activity is to provide the most cost-effective
pavement structure while optimizing the level of service provided to road users. These goals
may frequently conflict. For instance, it may be most cost-effective to annually place a low-
cost surfacing on a given segment of pavement. However, the service disruption required for
yearly rehabilitation of the pavement would clearly be unacceptable for all but the lowest
level traffic conditions. Conversely, a more initially expensive pavement design with a longer
life, such as concrete or “perpetual” asphalt pavement, may ultimately be more cost effective,
but funding constraints may also make that choice impractical. Cost alone can never wholly
define the “best” pavement design.
1.1 Objects and Requirements of Pavements

The surface of the roadway should be stable and non-yielding, to allow the heavy
wheel loads of road traffic to move with least possible rolling resistance. The road surface
should also be even along the longitudinal profile to enable the fast vehicles to move safely
and comfortably at the design speed. The earth road may not be able to fulfill any of the
above requirements, especially during the varying conditions of traffic loads and the weather.

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 CHAPTER-2. LITERATURE REVIEW

A brief view of how pavement design, construction and performance has evolved

should help provide perspective on present and, possible, future practice. This short view into
the past will start with the Romans, then move on to the Macadam and Telford era, then into
the first 150 years of asphalt and Portland cement concrete pavement. The evolution of
pavement design will emphasize the U.S.A. and the U.K. a bit more than for other parts of the
world.
Roman Roads:
In fairness, the Carthaginians are generally credited with being the first to construct
and maintain a road system (about 600 B.C.) according to Tillson [1900]. The Romans
eventually decided that their neighbors across the Mediterranean were a bit of a threat to the
empire destroying Carthage in 146 B.C. (The Carthage ruins are located in Tunisia (Northern
Africa) next door to Algeria (on the left) and Libya (on the right — so to speak).) It is
suggested that the Romans took up the practice of a military road system from the
Carthaginians. It is estimated that the Romans built about 87,000 km of roads within their
empire (about equal to the length of the U.S. Interstate system).
Apparently, there is no record of “traditional” roads in the U.K. prior to the Romans
[Collins and Hart, 1936]. For the most part, the main Roman roads in the U.K. (total of about
4 100 km) was for military purposes in that they connected camps which were about 30 km
apart (or about one day’s march) [Collins and Hart, 1936; Rose, 1935; Leger, 1875]. Since
the primary purpose of these roads was for foot soldiers, the roads were straight, but virtually
without regard to grade. They generated high noise levels, were rough and labor intensive
(slave and “statue” labor often used).
The Roman design for their primary U.K. roads generally consisted of four layers (top
to bottom) as follows [Collins and Hart, 1936]:
 Summa Crusta (surfacing): Smooth, polygonal blocks bedded in underlying layer.
 Nucleus: A kind of base layer composed of gravel and sand with lime cement.
 Rudus: The third layer was composed of rubble masonry and smaller stones also set in
lime mortar.
 Statumen: Two or three courses of flat stones set in lime mortar.
The total thickness was as much as 0.9 m and road widths of 4.3 m or less. An illustration
of Roman pavement structure near Radstock, England, is shown as Figure 1. Roman roads in

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some countries have been up to 2.4 m thick. These structures had crowned (sloped) surfaces
to enhance drainage and often incorporated ditches and/or underground drains.
As one might expect, Roman road building was varied to suit local conditions
and materials — not unlike today actually. The Romans departed the U.K. about AD 406.
Road design and construction languished for about 1,200 years thereafter.

Roman road construction was not inexpensive. Updated construction estimates of the

Appian Way in Italy are about $2,000,000 per km (updated estimates following Rose [1935]
and Leger [1875]). The oldest known road in the U.K. is near the River Brue in southwestern
England [Coles, 1989]. Actually, the “road” is a 6,000 year old walkway which was
discovered in 1970 in a peat bog. The construction of the road coincides with the arrival of
the first farmers in the U.K. about 4,000 B.C.

Telford:
Thomas Telford (born 1757) served his apprenticeship as a building mason [Smiles,
1904]. Because of this, he extended his masonry knowledge to bridge building. During lean
times, he carved grave-stones and other ornamental work (about 1780). Eventually, Telford
became the “Surveyor of Public Works” for the county of Salop [Smiles, 1904], thus turning
his attention more to roads.
Telford attempted, where possible, to build roads on relatively flat grades (no more
than 1 in 30) in order to reduce the number of horses needed to haul cargo. Further, the
pavement section was about 350 to 450 mm in depth and generally specified in three layers.
The bottom layer was comprised of large stones (100 mm) wide and 75 to 180 mm in depth)

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[Collins and Hart, 1936]. It is this specific layer which makes the Telford design unique
[Baker, 1903]. On top of this were placed two layers of stones of 65 mm maximum size
(about 150 to 250 mm total thickness) followed by a wearing course of gravel about 40 mm
thick (refer to Figure 2). It was estimated that this system would support a load corresponding
to 88 N/mm (500 lb per in. of width).

Macadam:
John Macadam (born 1756) observed that most of the “paved” U.K. roads in early
1800s were composed of rounded gravel [Smiles, 1904]. He knew that
angular aggregate over a well-compacted subgrade would perform substantially better. He
used a sloped subgrade surface to improve drainage (unlike Telford who used a flat subgrade
surface) on which he placed angular aggregate (hand-broken, maximum size 75 mm) in two
layers for a total depth of about 200 mm [Gillette, 1906]. On top of this, the wearing course
was placed (about 50 mm thick with a maximum aggregate size of 25 mm) [Collins, 1936].
Macadam’s reason for the 25 mm maximum aggregate size was to provide a “smooth” ride
for wagon wheels. Thus, the total depth of a typical Macadam pavement was about 250 mm
(refer to Figure 3). An interesting quote attributed to Macadam about allowable
maximum aggregate sizes was that “no stone larger than will enter a man’s mouth should go
into a road” [Gillette, 1906]. The largest permissible load for this type of design was
estimated to be 158 N/mm (900 lb per in. width).
In 1815, Macadam was appointed “surveyor-general” of the Bristol roads and was now able
to use his design on numerous projects. It proved successful enough that the term
“macadamized” became a term for this type of pavement design and construction. The term

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“macadam” is also used to indicate “broken stone” pavement [Baker, 1903]. By 1850, about
2,200 km of macadam type pavements were in use in the urban areas of the UK.
Macadam realized that the layers of broken stone would eventually become “bound”
together by fines generated by traffic. With the introduction of the rock crusher, large mounds
of stone dust and screenings were generated [Gillette, 1906]. This resulted in use of such
fines resulting in the more traditional dense graded base materials which in turn produced
pavement thicknesses as thin as 100 to 150 mm.
The first macadam pavement in the U.S. was constructed in Maryland in 1823.

Early Thickness Trends:

Thus, we have seen pavement structures decrease from about 0.9 m (3 feet) for
Roman designs to 350 to 450 mm for Telford designs, to about 250 mm for Macadam
designs, to 100 mm at about the turn of the century (refer to Figure 4). (Naturally, the thinnest
pavements were not always used.) The Massachusetts Highway Commission standard cross-
section for macadam construction was 150 mm thick as reported by Gillette in 1906. This
thickness was also used on New York state roads at about that time.

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 Up to the early 1900s, the design emphasis was placed on the use of fixed standards
occasionally modified for local soil conditions. Further, the need for more durable pavements
was mandated by the changing vehicle fleet. The following partial quote by L. W. Page,
Director of U. S. Office of Public Roads (contained in a 1907 report [Judson, 1908])
illustrates the problem:
“…The existence of our macadam roads depends upon the retention of the road-dust
formed by the wearing of the surface. But the action of rubber-tire motor-cars moving at high
speed soon strips the macadam road of all fine material, the result being that the road soon
disintegrates…”
Early Bituminous Pavement:
Tar Macadam
It appears that the first tar macadam pavement was placed outside of Nottingham
(Lincoln Road) in 1848 [Collins and Hart, 1936; Hubbard, 1910]. At that time, such
pavements were considered suitable only for light traffic (not for urban streets). Coal tar (the
binder) had been available in the U.K. from about 1800 as a residue from coal-gas lighting.
Possibly this was one of the earliest efforts to recycle waste materials into a pavement!
Soon after the Nottingham project, tar macadam projects were built in Paris (1854) and
Knoxville, Tennessee (1866) [Hubbard, 1910]. In 1871 in Washington, D.C., a “tar concrete”
was extensively used. Sulfuric acid was used as a hardening agent and various materials such
as sawdust, ashes, etc. were used in the mixture [Hubbard, 1910]. Over a seven-year period,
630,000 m2 were placed. In part, due to lack of attention in specifying the tar, most of these
streets failed within a few years ofconstruction. This resulted in tar being discredited, thereby
boosts the asphalt industry [Hubbard, 1910]. However, some of these tar-bound surface
courses in Washington, D.C., survived substantially longer, about 30 years. For these mixes,
the tar binder constituted about 6 percent by weight of the total mix (air voids of about 17
percent). Further, the aggregate was crushed with about 20 percent passing the No. 10 sieve.
The wearing course was about 50 mm thick.
As a side note, the term “Tarmac” was a proprietary product in the U.K. in the early
1900s [Hubbard, 1910]. Actually it was a plant mixed material, but was applied to the road
surface “cold.” Tarmac consisted of crushed blast furnace slag coated with tar, pitch, portland
cement and a resin.

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 Sheet Asphalt
Sheet asphalt placed on a concrete base (foundation) became popular during the mid-
1800s with the first such pavement of this type being built in Paris in 1858. The first such
pavement placed in the U.S. was in Newark, New Jersey, in 1870. Baker [1903] describes
this pavement system as (1) a wearing course 40 to 50 mm thick composed of asphalt cement
and sand, (2) a binder course (about 40 mm thick) composed of broken stone
and asphalt cement, and finally, (3) a base layer of hydraulic cement concrete or pavement
rubble (old granite blocks, bricks, etc.). Generally, the concrete layer was 100 mm thick for
“light” traffic and 150 mm thick for “heavy” traffic [Baker, 1903]. The final thickness was
based on the weight of the traffic, the strength of the concrete and the soil support.
BitulithicPavements:
In 1901 and 1903, Frederick J. Warren was issued patents for the early “hot mix”
paving materials. A typical mix contained about 6 percent “bituminous cement” and
graded aggregate proportioned for low air voids. Essentially, the maximum aggregate size
was 75 mm ranging down to dust. The concept was to produce a mix which could use a more
“fluid” binder than used for sheet asphalt. This material became known as “Bitulithic.”
More specifically, Warren was issued eight U.S. patents in 1903 which were:
 Patent 727,505 Pavement
 Patent 727,506 Asphaltum and its Manufacture
 Patent 727,507 Asphalt Composition and its Manufacture
 Patent 727,508 Pavement
 Patent 727,509 Method of Constructing and Laying Street Pavements or Roadways
 Patent 727,510 Street Sheet Pavement or Roadway
 Patent 727,511 Street Sheet Pavement or Roadway
 Patent 727,512 Renewal of Old Street — Pavements
All of these patents were filed between May 16, 1901, and April 14, 1902. A review of
the associated patent claims reveals that Warren, in effect, patented asphalt concrete,
the asphalt binder, the construction of asphalt concrete surfaced streets and roads, and the
overpayment of “old” streets. It seems that he covered “all the bases” with these patents.
Some might argue that Patent 727,504 issued to Edward Walker of Warren, Pennsylvania,
was actually just as important — the ice cream freezer! Warren’s actual patent claim for
727,505 follows [U.S. Patent Office, 1903]:

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 “A street-pavement mixture composed of mineral ingredients ranging in grades from
three inches down to impalpable powder, from fifty to eight per cent, of such mineral
ingredients lying between one-fourth inch and three inches in diameter, in combination with a
bituminous binder.”
In 1910 in Topeka, Kansas, a court ruling stated that asphalt concrete mixes containing 12.5
mm maximum size aggregate did not infringe on Warren’s patent (727,505) [Steele, 1986].
Thus, asphalt concrete mixes thereafter were more oriented to the smaller
maximum aggregate sizes. (A “fine aggregate” or “modified Topeka asphaltic concrete” is
mentioned in a 1926 Standard Oil Co. of California publication [Goodyear Tire and Rubber
Company, 1985]. The mixture consisted of 30 percent graded crushed rock or gravel (all
passing 12.5 mm sieve, about 58 to 62 percent sand (material passing 2.0 mm and retained on
75 µm), 8 to 12 percent filler (material passing 75 µm sieve). This mixture required 7.5 to 9.5
percent asphalt cement.)
1.2 Types of Pavements:

There are types of pavements depending upon the materials used.

1. Flexible Pavements
2. Rigid Pavements
3. Semi Rigid Pavements

1.2.1 Flexible Pavements

Flexible pavements are those, which on the whole have low or negligible flexural
strength and are rather flexible in their structural action under the loads. The flexible
pavement layers reflect the deformation of the lower layers on-to the surface of the layer.
Thus if the lower layer of the pavement or soil subgrade is undulated, the flexible pavement
surface also gets undulated. A typical flexible pavement consists of four components:
(i) soil subgrade (ii) sub-base course (iii) base course and iv) surface course.

SURFACE COURSE
BASE COURSE
SUB-BASE COURSE
SOIL SUBGRADE

Figure 1

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 The flexible pavement layers transmit the vertical or compressive stresses to the lower
layers by grain to grain transfer through the points of contact in the granular structure. A
compacted granular structure consisting of strong graded aggregate ( inter locked aggregate
structure with or without binder materials) can transfer the compressive stresses through a
wider area and thus forms a good flexible pavement layer. The load spreading ability of this
layer therefore depends on the type of the materials and the mix design factors. Bituminous
concrete is one of the best flexible pavement layer materials. Other materials which fall under
the group are, all granular materials with or without bituminous binder, granular base and
sub-base course materials like the Water Bound Macadam, crushed aggregate, gravel, soil-
aggregate mixes etc.
The vertical compressive stress is maximum on the pavement surface directly under
the wheel load and is equal to the contact pressure under the wheel. Due to the ability to
distribute the stresses to a larger area in the shape of a truncated cone, the stresses get
decreased at the lower layers. Therefore by taking full advantage of the stress distribution
characteristics of the flexible pavement, the layer system concept was developed. According
to this, the flexible pavement may be constructed in a number of layers and the top layer has
to be the strongest as the highest compressive stresses are to be sustained by this layer, in
addition to the wear and tear due to the traffic. The lower layers have to take up only lesser
magnitudes of stresses and there is no direct wearing action due to traffic loads, therefore
inferior materials with lower cost can be used in the lower layers.

The lowest layer is the prepared surface consisting of the local soil itself, called the
subgrade. A typical cross section of a flexible pavement structure is shown in Fig; this
consists of a wearing surface at the top, below which is the base course followed by the
course and the lowest layer consists of the soil subgrade which has the lowest stability among
the four typical flexible pavement components. Each of the flexible pavement layers above
the subgrade, viz. sub-base, base course and the surface course may consists of one or more
number of layers of the same or slightly different materials and specifications.

The structural capacity of flexible pavements is attained by combined action of the

different layers of the pavement. The load is directly applied on the wearing course and it
gets dispersed with depth in the base, sub-base and sub-grade layers and then ultimately to
the ground. Since the stress induced by traffic load is highest at the top, the quality of top and
upper layer materials is better. The sub-grade layer is responsible for transferring the load

13
from above layers to the ground. Flexible pavements are designed in such a way that the load
transmitted to the sub-grade does not exceed its bearing capacity. Consequently, the thickness
of layers would vary with CBR of soil and it would affect the cost of the pavement.The
thickness design of a flexible pavement also varies with the amount of traffic. The range of
variation in volume of commercial vehicles at different highways has direct effect on
therepetitions of the traffic loads. The damaging effect of different axle loads is also different.

Figure 2Basic flexible pavement structure

Flexible pavements are commonly designed using empirical design charts or

equations taking into account some of the design factors. There are also semi-empirical and
theoretical design methods.

The pavement design method for fully flexible pavements that has been used in the
United Kingdom since the mid 1980s was established by considering the performance of a
wide range of experimental pavements which formed part of the trunk road network.
Performance trends from these roads were extrapolated to provide a design life of 40 years,
based on staged construction in which major strengthening in the form of an overlay is
normally applied after 20 years to carry the traffic predicted over the next 20 years. Since this
method was developed in 1984, traffic levels have increased, with the consequent increase in

14
traffic disruption at roadworks. Recently the option of considering a 40 year design life for
very heavily trafficked locations was introduced that would not require major structural
strengthening during the design life. This option was developed by further extrapolating the
design curves. Since these design curves were established, the most heavily trafficked roads
have carried in excess of 100 million standard axles and these now provide the opportunity to
confirm the validity of the initial extrapolations.
Also, more information has become available on the performance of heavily
trafficked roads and changes that occur in asphalt over the life of the road. This has indicated
that deterioration, as either cracking or deformation, is far more likely to be found in the
surfacing than deeper in the pavement structure, as assumed by the current design method.
Also, it was found that the great majority of the thick pavements examined have maintained
their strength or become stronger over time, rather than gradually weakening with trafficking.
The overall conclusion of this project is that a well constructed pavement, built above a
threshold strength, will have a very long structural service life provided that distress, in the
form of cracks and ruts appearing at the surface, is treated before it begins to affect the
structural integrity of the road. These roads are referred to as long-life roads. 
1.2.2 Rigid Pavements
Rigid pavements are those which possess note worthy flexural strength or flexural
rigidity. The stresses are not transferred from grain to grain to the lower layers as in the case
of flexible pavement layers. The rigid pavements are made of Portland Cement Concrete-
either plain, reinforced or prestressed concrete. The plain cement concrete is expected to
take-up about 40 kg/cm2 flexural stress. The rigid pavement has the slab action and is capable
of transmitting the wheel load stresses through a wider area below. The main point
ofdifference in the structural behaviour of rigid pavement as compared to the flexible
pavement is that the critical condition of stress in the rigid pavement is the maximum flexural
stress occurring in the slab due to wheel load and the temperature. Changes where-as in the
flexible pavement it is the distribution of compressive stresses. As the rigid pavement slab
has tensile strength, tensile stresses are developed due to the bending of the slab under wheel
load and temperature variations. Thus the type of stresses developed and their distribution
within the cement concrete slab are different. The rigid pavement does not get deformed to
the shape of the lower surface it can bridge the minor variations of lower layer.
The cement concrete pavement slab can very well serve as a wearing surface as well
an effective base course. Therefore usually the rigid pavement structure consists of a cement

15
concrete slab, below which a granular base or sub-base-course may be provided. Though the
cement concrete slab can also be laid directly over the soil this is not preferred particularly
when the subgrade, consists of fine grained soil. Providing a good base or sub-base course
layer under the cement concrete slab, increases pavement life considerably and therefore
works out more economical in the long run rigid pavements are usually designed and the
stresses are analysed using the elastic assuming the pavement as an elastic plate resting over
elastic or a viscous foundation

cement concrete slab

base course
soil subgraoe

Figure 3
A rigid pavement structure is composed of a hydraulic cement concrete surface course
and underlying base and subbase courses (if used). Another term commonly used is Portland
cement concrete (PCC) pavement, although with today’s pozzolanic additives, cements may
no longer be technically classified as “Portland.”

The surface course (concrete slab) is the stiffest layer and provides the majority of
strength. The base or subbase layers are orders of magnitude less stiff than the PCC surface
but still make important contributions to pavement drainage and frost protection and provide
a working platform for construction equipment.

Rigid pavements are substantially ‘stiffer’ than flexible pavements due to the high
modulus of elasticity of the PCC material, resulting in very low deflections under loading.
The rigid pavements can be analyzed by the plate theory. Rigid pavements can have
reinforcing steel, which is generally used to handle thermal stresses to reduce or eliminate

16
joints and maintain tight crack widths.shows a typical section for a rigid pavemet

Figure 4Typical section for a rigid pavement

1.2.3 Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement

Continuously reinforced concrete pavements (CRCP) contain continuous

longitudinal reinforcement, usually steel, and do not have transverse joints except
wherenecessary for construction purposes (e.g., end-of-day construction header joints) or at
bridge approaches or transitions to other pavement structures. Continuous reinforcement is
a strategy for managing the transverse cracking that occurs in all new concrete pavements.
In new concrete, natural volume changes due to cement-water hydration are restrained by
the pavement base and other physical features adjacent to the concrete, causing stresses to
develop in the concrete. These stresses build faster than the concrete’s strength so, at some
point, full-depth cracks form, effectively dividing the pavement into individual slabs.

CRCP provides joint-free design. The formation of transverse cracks at relatively

close intervals is a distinctive characteristic of CRCP. These cracks are held tightly by
the reinforcement and should be of no concern as long as the cracks are uniformly
spaced, do not spall excessively, and a uniform non-erosive base is provided. Figure 2-4.
shows a typical section of CRCP.

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Following is a brief list of key practices that help ensure successful CRCP projects:

• Design, mix, and construction decisions and practices should maximize load-
transfer efficiency and minimize flexural stresses.

• Cracks that are closely spaced (3-4 ft. maximum is optimum) and tight (0.2 in. at
the depth of the reinforcement) help maximize load-transfer efficiency and minimize
flexural stresses, maintaining steel stress well below the yield strength.

CRCP provides joint-free design. The formation of transverse cracks at relatively

close intervals is a distinctive characteristic of CRCP. These cracks are held tightly by
the reinforcement and should be of no concern as long as the cracks are uniformly spaced
donot spall excessively, and a uniform non-erosive base is provided.

Figure 5Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement

1.2.4 Concrete Pavement Contraction Design (CPCD)

CPCD uses contraction joints to control cracking and does not use any reinforcing steel.
An alternative designation used by the industry is jointed concrete pavement (JCP).
Transverse joint spacing is selected such that temperature and moisture stresses do not
produce intermediate cracking between joints. Nationally, this results in a spacing no
longer than 20 ft. The standard spacing in Texas is 15.0 ft.

Dowel bars are typically used at transverse joints to assist in load transfer. Tie bars are
typically used at longitudinal shows a typical section of CPCD.

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 Figure 6Concrete Pavement Contraction Design (CPCD).

1.2.5 Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement (JRCP)

JRCP uses contraction joints and reinforcing steel to control cracking. Transverse
joint spacing is longer than that for concrete pavement contraction design (CPCD) and, in
Texas, it typically ranges from 30 ft. to 60 ft. This rigid pavement design option is no
longer endorsed by the department because of past difficulties in selecting
effectiverehabilitation strategies. However, there are several remaining sections in service.a
typical section of jointed reinforced concrete pavement.

Properties
Crack Control
Contraction joints as well as reinforcing steel.

Joint Spacing
Longer than JPCP and up to a maximum of about 15 m (50 ft.). Due to the nature of
concrete, the longer slabs associated with JRCP will crack.

Reinforcing Steel
A minimal amount is included mid-slab to hold cracks tightly together. This can be in
the form of deformed reinforcing bars or a thick wire mesh.

Load Transfer
Dowel bars and reinforcing steel. Dowel bars assist in load transfer across transverse
joints while reinforcing steel assists in load transfer across mid-panel cracks.

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 Figure7Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement (JRCP).

1.2.6 Post-tensioned Concrete Pavements

Post-tensioned concrete pavements remain in the experimental stage and their design is
primarily based on experience and engineering judgment. Post-tensioned concrete has
been used more frequently for airport pavements than for highway pavements because
the difference in thickness results in greater savings for airport pavements than for
highway pavements.

1.2.7 Composite Pavement

A composite pavement is composed of both hot mix asphalt (HMA) and hydraulic
cement concrete. Typically, composite pavements are asphalt overlays on top of concrete
pavements. The HMA overlay may have been placed as the final stage of initial
construction, or as part of a rehabilitation or safety treatment. Composite pavement
behaviour under traffic loading is essentially the same as rigid pavement.

1.2.8 Rigid and Flexible Pavement Characteristics

The primary structural difference between a rigid and flexible pavement is the manner in
which each type of pavement distributes traffic loads over the subgrade. A rigid
pavement has a very high stiffness and distributes loads over a relatively wide area of
subgrade

20
 Figure 8 Load distribution on pavement

The load carrying capacity of a true flexible pavement is derived from the load-
distributing characteristics of a layered system (Yoder and Witczak, 1975). shows load
distribution for a typical flexible pavement and a typical rigid pavement.

Figure 9Typical stress distribution under a rigid and a flexible pavement.

1.2.3 Semi-Rigid Pavements

When bonded materials like the pozzolonic concrete (lime-flyash-aggregate mix), lean
cement concrete or soil-cement are used in the base course or sub-base course layer the
pavement layer has considerably higher flexural strength than the common flexible pavement
layers. However these bonded materials do not possess as much flexural as the cement
concrete pavements. Therefore when this intermediate class of materials are used in the
base or sub-base course layer of the pavements, they are called rigid pavements. This third
category of semi-rigid pavements is either designed as flexible pavements with some
correction factors to find the thickness requirements based experience or by using a new
design approach. These semi-rigid pavement materials low resistance to impact and abrasion
and therefore are usually provided with flexible pavement surface course.

21
figure (10) Porous asphalt concrete (left) and a semi-rigid pavement cored sample (right)
Semi-rigid (or in some countries called as semi-flexible) pavement is originally termed as
Resin Modified Pavement (RMP) which was developed in France in early 1960’s as a
cost effective alternative to Portland cement concrete pavement [2]. The semi-rigid
pavement is a composite pavement material consisting a porous asphalt concrete (PAC)
with air voids between 25-30% (by volume of Marshall mix design) which is filled or
flooded by a special formulated high performance polymer modified cement mortar
grouting material as shown in Figure 1. Based on this definition, the semi-rigid pavement
system is the combination the characteristics of Porous Asphalt Concrete (PAC) and
Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement. Since 1990’s, semi-rigid pavement has
become popular throughout in Europe countries, United States, Africa and Asia region for
new and maintenance of civil infrastructures construction such as roads, airfields, sea
ports, industrial heavy loading yard, and etc.
Porous asphalt concrete (left) and a semi-rigid pavement cored sample (right)

1.4 Objective of the present study

In the present study an attempt has been made to design Rigid Pavement.The overall
objective of the study was to assess Caltrans long-life pavement rehabilitation strategies for
rigid pavements, which aim to add at least 30 years of service life, require minimal
maintenance (although zero maintenance is not a stated objective), and allow approximately
six lane-kilometers to be rehabilitated or reconstructed.Using this as a framework, the
research objectives and outcomes listed in Table 1 were identified for the study. Specifically
excluded from the study’s objectives were:

22
• Development of alternative strategies, unless related to structural load transfer or slab
geometry technology;

• Evaluation of drainage;

• Thickness design (although this was considered as part of the study where pertinent).

The research objectives would be achieved through the following investigations,

• A desktop study covering design analysis, computer modeling, and estimation of critical
stresses and strains within the pavement structure under typical environmental conditions and
traffic loading, for comparison with failure criteria;

• Laboratory testing of the strength, fatigue properties, and durability of concrete materials
that could be considered for use in rigid pavements

• Although the effects of the climate on concrete pavement behavior and performance have
been recognized since the time of the earliest concrete pavement design experiments,

•concrete pavement thickness design practice traditionally has not explicitly considered most
of these climatic effects.

•Several recent field and analytical studies have contributed greatly to better understanding
and quantifying these effects so that they may be more adequately considered in thickness
design .

•Climatic effects will be more adequately considered in thickness design in the 2002 Design
Guide through a program that compiles much of the recent field and analytical studies into
weather stations that allow the designer to triangulate the design location or to input its exact
latitude and longitude from weather stations in major cities.

1.5 CONCRETE PAVEMENTS-WHY AND WHY NOT?

Despite the above facts, long time research and high level well wishers
concrete roads are still only 2% in the country. Every year, there are many seminars in the
country which give emphasis over the use of Concrete roads. In PMGSY also, a separate
code has been issued to design the concrete roads. But the percentage of concrete roads is less
than 2% in this Yojna also. First of all it is to be understood why concrete roads fall?

23
 1. Concrete required even days curing. At least for one day, nothing should ply over the
pavement. But in actual, people feel that it wastage of their time. So like on
bituminous pavements, they start playing the vehicles over concrete pavements also.
2. Some researchers have proposed thin bituminous section without using steel in it.
Such sections may suit thin lanes where only scooters or cars are plying but on rural
roads or highways, where there is no control over loading, these concrete roads are
bound to fail.
3. Concrete roads cannot be compared with concrete beams, columns or slabs where
sufficient curing time is available and the load over that comes after gaining sufficient
strength.

So considering the above facts it can be concluded that Concrete roads should not
flagged as cheaper roads. Rather they should be announced as good roads. If one has
sufficient funds and he traffic can be diverted for sufficient time only then, concrete roads
will go on failing and blame will go to the technology rather than construction
deficiencies.Much of it consists of developing better information for inputs to pavement
management systems, comparing the performance of alternative designs under dynamic
loads, finding solutions to durability problems, and developing more economical ways of
recycling/reconstructing old pavements.
Some pavement designers assume "average concrete" properties in their calculations without
any information about which aggregates, cement, pozzolans, or mixture proportions that the
con- tractor will use later on the job. Concrete properties of particular importance to
pavement design are: E (Modulus of Elasticity), strength, thermal expansion, shrinkage,
creep, heat generation, and durability (physical and chemical reactivity). A good pavement
designer should also be a concrete expert.
5.2. CONCRETE MIX DESIGN:
The concrete mix design is performed to ensure that the concrete mix formulation
meets or exceeds the specification requirements. The mix design is used to establish
the proper proportioning of components (hydraulic cement, aggregates, water,
pozzolans, and admixtures) in the mixture to achieve the specified properties.
Significant properties are strength, air content, slump, and sometimes the coefficient
of thermal expansion (COTE). The mix design may be developed for the current
project or may have been previously developed. The mix design must be formally
approved by an engineer.

24
In addition to the required mix design strength, the job control strength needs to be
established. The job control strength is used to verify that the concrete being used on
the project will perform similarly to the concrete used to develop the mix design. The
default is to use the 7-day mix strength as the job control strength. This 7-day strength
testing may be altered with the approval of the engineer. The contractor may want to
develop job control strengths at an earlier age, such as four days, to permit the job
control specimen to also be used to open the pavement to traffic at an earlier age.
Reduction of curing time for the job control specimens may reduce the reliability of
the test in ensuring that the specified strengths will be reached. Testing at four days
should still provide a reliable estimate of the long term strength.

The standard job control testing at seven days was established many years ago and
ensured that the strength test of the job control specimens occurred on the same day of
the week as the concrete paving. The result is that there would be no testing on
Saturday or Sunday, unless the paving work was performed on those days. This was
also a management tool to eliminate the need for laboratory technicians to report to
work on Sunday to perform a single strength test.

It is recommended that air-entrainment requirements be maintained for concrete

pavement at all locations around the state, regardless of the number of freeze-thaw
cycles in that area. The benefits provided by entrained air to slip-formed pavement in
workability and water demand are substantial. A good air-entrained system also
benefits the long-term durability of hardened concrete.

For concrete pavements, the target air content will be between 2.5 and 5.5%, with
values as high as 7% acceptable as long as strength requirements are met. Since Item
360 allows occasional and minor (less than 10%) strengths below job-control targets,
an entrained-air range of 2.5 to 7% should not be a production challenge, nor should it
require excessive cement to ensure minimum strengths are consistently obtained.

Many urban highway construction projects have severe traffic control and congestion
issues. To expedite construction and minimize travel delays for the public, contract
restrictions on dates and times that travel lanes can and can not be closed to travel are
imposed. Project contracts may also impose large bonuses and disincentives for time
of completion. Pavement using Class P concrete may be opened in as little as two days
to contractors' vehicles and as little as three days to all traffic, if opening strength is

25
achieved. After curing is complete and when earlier age job control testing is
permitted or required, and the tested strength is greater than the required opening
strength, the pavement may be opened to traffic.

Class HES (high early strength) concrete may be used in small areas and leave-outs.
Class HES has additional strength requirements beyond Class P concrete to ensure
that the high early strengths for opening to traffic are realized.

The maturity method, "Tex-426-A, Estimating Concrete Strength by the Maturity

Method," may be used to open the pavement to traffic at an earlier age than seven
days with either Class P or Class HES concrete. It is still necessary to complete the
specified curing. A maturity curve may be developed during the mix design process to
establish the relationship between the concrete maturity and concrete strength. This
may be used to identify what the maturity of the concrete should be when the opening
strength has been reached. This maturity value may be used to estimate the in situ
strength and open pavement to traffic that has completed the required curing. A
maturity test should not be used in lieu of job control strength testing to determine the
conformance of the mix to the mix design

5.3.STEEL PLACEMENT:
In this section, only the placement of longitudinal and transverse rebars is described.

Reinforcing Steel

The longitudinal reinforcing steel keeps the naturally occurring transverse cracks in
continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) tight, thereby providing high level
of load transfer across cracks. When transverse cracks are kept tight, aggregate
interlock also transmits the shear forces across the crack, resulting in reduced wheel
load stress and fatigue damage in concrete.

Transverse reinforcing steel is used to provide support for longitudinal steel. It also
keeps longitudinal cracks tight if they occur.

ASTM A966 Type R bars may only be used as straight bars and only in concrete
pavements. This type of bar is permitted to encourage the use of recycled steel in
TxDOT concrete paving projects. It may not meet the “pin” test requirements of
ASTM and may not have sufficient strength if bent. If this type of reinforcing steel is

26
used in concrete pavement, care must be taken that these bars are not diverted to other
uses on the project.

Only Grade 60 deformed steel bars that meet the requirements of the Item 440 are
used. Grade 70/75 steel bars have been used in some TxDOT projects and no
pavement performance improvements have been noted. On the other hand, when
reduced amount of longitudinal steel was used with Grade 70/75 steel, transverse
cracks were wider than those in sections with Grade 60 steel. Cracks with larger
widths reduce load transfer across cracks, resulting in larger wheel load stress and
poor long-term CRCP performance.

The reinforcing steel should be placed at the locations shown on the plans. As the
pavement thickness increases, the amount of steel is increased. For thinner pavements,
all the steel is fit into one mat or layer of steel placed at the mid-height of the
pavement.

For 14- and 15-in. thick concrete pavements, two layers of steel are necessary. Enough
room must be provided between adjacent bars to allow the plastic concrete that is
placed on top of the steel mat to pass completely through the steel mat to the lower
portion of the concrete placement.

Storing Reinforcing Steel

The steel must be stored above the surface of the ground upon platforms, skids, or
other supports and shall be protected from damage and deterioration. This prevents
excessive rusting that would occur if sitting directly on the ground. It also prevents
mud and dirt from collecting on the steel.

When placed in the work, reinforcement shall be free from dirt, paint, grease, oil, or
other foreign materials. Reinforcement shall be free from defects such as cracks and
laminations.

Splicing Longitudinal Steel

In CRCP, maintaining steel continuity in the longitudinal direction is important in

ensuring good performance of the pavement. The length of the reinforcing steel bars is
40 ft. The continuity of the longitudinal steel is achieved by overlapping individual

27
steel bars. Extensive testing shows that as long as the overlapping is more than 33
times bar diameter, stresses in one steel is effectively transferred to the next steel via
surrounding concrete. For example, No. 6 bars would need a 25-in. splice for effective
stress transfer.

Spliced or Lapped Reinforcing Steel.

Splice Locations

If all the splices occur at the same longitudinal location, transverse cracks that occur at
the location could cause steel bonding failure, resulting in wide cracks and
performance problems. To make sure that all the splices do not occur at the same
transverse location, Item 360 requires staggering splices to avoid having more than
1/3 of the splices within a 2-ft. longitudinal length of each lane of the pavement.

Following are drawings that show acceptable and non-acceptable splice locations or
patterns.

28
Acceptable Splicing Pattern- 33% (4 of the 12 bars) within the box are spliced.

Acceptable Splicing Pattern.

29
 Acceptable Splicing Pattern.

Non-acceptable Splicing Pattern – 66% of bars in the box are being spliced.

30
Holding the Reinforcing Steel in Place

Contractors like to keep the steel mat from moving excessively prior to paving due to
the paving operation itself or because of temperature changes. Figure shows a piece of
reinforcing steel being used as a pin. This pin can be left, or can be removed before
the concrete pour.

Pinning the mat.

Steel depth has an effect on CRCP performance. Design Standards CRCP (1)-03 and
CRCP (2)-03 requires the tolerance of longitudinal steel at +/- 1 in. horizontally and
+/- 0.5 in. vertically. Figure illustrates the checking of the depth of steel.

Checking depth of steel.

31
2. FACTORS GOVERNING DESIGN:
2.1 Introduction:

The factor governing design considered are single axle and tandem axle loads, there
repetition and lateral placement characteristic of commercial vehicles.

2.2 Wheel load:

Though the legal axle load limits in India have been fixed as 10.2, 19 and 24 tonnes
for single axles and tandem axles respectively, a large number of axles operation on National
Highways carry much higher loads than the legal limits. Data on axle load distribution of the
commercial vehicles is require to compare the number of repetitions of single and tandem
axles of different weights expected during the design period, for this purpose, an axle load
survey may be conducted for a day, covering a minimum size of sample of 10 per cent in
both the direction.

For most of the commercial Highway vehicles, the tyre pressure ranges from about
0.7 to 1.0 Mpa but is found that stresses in concrete pavement having thickness of 20 cm or
more are not affected significantly by the variation of tyre pressure in the range mentioned
earlier. A tyre pressure of 0.8 Mpa may be adopted for design.

For computation of stresses in the pavements magnitude of axle loads should be

multiplied by load safety factor (LSF). This take care of unpredicted heavy truck loads. For
important roads, such as, express ways, National highways and other roads where there will
be uninterrupted traffic flow and high volumes of truck traffic, the suggested value of LSF is
1.2. for roads of lesser importance having lower proportion of truck traffic, LSF may be taken
as 1.1. for residential and other streets that carry small number of commercial traffic, the LSF
may be taken as 1.0.4

It is recommended that the basic design of the slab be done with a 98 percentile axle
load, and the design thereafter checked for fatigue consumption for higher axle loads.

2.3 design period:

Normally, cement concrete pavements have a life span of 30 years and should be
design for this period. When the traffic intensity cannot be predicted accurately for a long
period of time, and for low volume roads, a design period of twenty years may be considered.

32
2.4 Design traffic:

Assessment of average traffic should normally be based on seven-day 24-hour count

made in accordance with IRC:9 “traffic census on non-urban roads”. The actual value of
growth rate ‘r’ of heavy commercial vehicles should be determined. However, if actual data
is not available, an average annual growth rate of 7.5 per cent may be adopted.

A Design traffic of 25 per cent of the total two lane two-way commercial vehicles
may be considered as a very conservative estimate for design against fatigue.

The cumulative number of repetitions of axle during the design period may be
computed from the following formula:

C=365*A{1+r}n-1}/r

Where,

C= cumulative number of axles during the design period.

A= initial number of axles per day in the when the road is operational.
R= annual rate of growth of commercial traffic.
N=design period in years.
Expected number of applications of different axle load groups during the design period can be
estimated from the axle load spectrum.

2.5 Temperature Differences:

It is between the top and bottom of concrete pavements causes the concrete slab to
warp, giving rise to stresses. It is a function of solar radiation received by the pavement
surface at the location, losses due to the wind velocity, etc…, and thermal diffusivity of
concrete, and is thus affected by geographical features of the pavement location.

2.6 characteristics of subgrade and subbase:

2.6.1 Strength:

The strength of subgrade is expressed in terms of modulus of sub grade reaction k,

which is defined as pressure per unit deflection of the foundation as determined by plate
bearing tests. As the limiting design deflection for cement concrete pavement is taken as 1.25
mm, the k-value is determined from the pressure sustained at the deflection.

33
 Recommended Temperature Differences For Concrete Slabs:

Zo Status 15c 20c 25c 30c

ne m m m m
1 Punjab,UP,uttatanchal, 12. 13. 14. 15.
Gujarat,rajastan,Haryana, 5 1 3 8
North MP,excluding
Hilly regions
2 Bihar,jharkand,westBengal,assam and eastern Orissa,excluding 15. 16. 16. 16.
hilly regions and coastal areas 6 4 6 8
3 Maharasta,Karnataka,southMP,chattisgarh,AP,westernOrissa,north 17. 19. 20. 21.
tamilnadu,excluding hilly regions and costal areas 3 0 3 0
4 Kerala and south tamilnadu,,excluding hilly regions and costal 15. 16. 17. 18.
areas 0 4 6 1
5 Coastal areas bounded by hills 14. 15. 16. 17.
6 8 2 0
6 Coastal areas unbounded by hills 15. 17. 19. 19.
5 0 0 2

k-value is influenced by test plate diameter; the standard test is to be carried out with
a 75 cm diameter plate.IS:9214:1974,”method of determination of modulus of subgrade
reactions of soil in the field” may be referred or guidance in this regards.

In case of homogenous foundation, test value obtained with plates of smaller diameter
may be converted to the standard 75 cm plate value by experimentally obtained correlations
given by:

K75=0.5*k30

Where k75 and k30 are the k-values obtained on 75cm and 30cm diameter plates
respectably.

Approximate k-values corresponding to CBR values for Homogenous soil subgrades:

Soaked 2 3 4 5 7 10 15 20 50 100`
CBR
value%
k-value 2.1 2.8 3.5 4.2 4.8 5.5 6.2 6.9 14.0 22.2

The recommendation of IRC:15-2002 shall be followed and if the k-value tested o wet
condition of the subgrade is less than 6.0 kg/cm2/cm, cement concrete pavement should be
laid directly over the subgrade.

k-values over granular and cement treated subbases:

34
 k-value of subgrade Effective k over untreated Effective k over cement treated
(kg/cm2/cm) granular layer subbase of subbase of thickness in cm
thickness in cm
15 22.5 30 10 15 20
2.8 3.9 4.4 5.3 7.6 10.8 14.1
5.6 6.3 7.5 8.8 12.7 17.3 22.5
8.4 9.2 10.2 11.9 -- -- --

k-values over dry lean concrete subbase

k-value of 2.1 2.8 4.2 4.8 5.5 6.2

subgrade
kg/cm2/cm
Effe over 5.6 9.7 16.6 20.8 27.8 38.9
100ctive k mm
DLC
kg/cm2/cm
Effe over 9.7 13.8 20.8 27.7 41.7 --
150ctive k mm
DLC
kg/cm2/cm

The maximum value of effective k shall be 38.9 kg/cm2/cm for 100 mm of DLC and

41 kg/cm2/cm for 150 mm of DLC.

2.6.2 Separation layer between subbase and pavement:

Foundation layer below concrete slabs should be smooth to reduce the inter layer
friction. A separation membrane of minimum thickness of 125 micron polythene is
recommended to reduce the friction between concrete slabs and dry lean concrete
subbase(DLC).

2.6.3 Drainage layer:

To facilitate the quick disposal of water that is likely to enter the subbase, a drainage
layer may be provided beneath the pavement throughout road width above the subgrade. The
recommendation contained in IRC:15-2002 in this regard may be followed:

2.7 Characteristics of concrete:

2.7.1 Design strength:

35
 Since the concrete pavements fail due to the bending stresses, it is necessary that their
design is based on the flexural strength of concrete. The relationship between the flexural
strength and compressive strength may be worked.

Then the target average flexural strength is given as:

S=S’+Za

Values of standard normal variety for different values of tolerance:

Accepted proportion of low Quality level Standard normal variate,Za

results(tolerance)
1 in 15 Fair 1.50
1 in 20 Good 1.65
1 in 40 Very good 1.96
1 in 100 Excellent 2.33
For pavement construction, the concrete mix should preferable be designed and
controlled on the basis of flexural strength, strength should be determined by modulus of
rupture tests under third point loading the preferred size of the beam should
be15cm*15cm*70cm.

2.7.2 Modules of elasticity and poison’s ratio:

The modulus of elasticity and poison’s ratio of cement concrete are known to vary
with concrete material and strength, andpoison’s ratio decreases with increasing in the
modulus of elasticity.

Modules of elasticity of concrete E=experimentally determined value.

Poisson’s ratio=0.15

2.7.3 Coefficient of thermal expansion:

The coefficient of thermal expansion of concrete of same mix proportions varies with
the type of aggregate. However, for design purpose, a value of 10*10-6 per degree centigrade
may be adopted in all cases.

2.7.4 Fatigue behaviour of cement concrete:

Due to repeated application of flexural stresses by the traffic loads, a progressive

fatigue damage takes place in the cement concrete slab the form of gradual development of
microcracks especially when the applied the stress in terms of flexural strength of concrete is
high.

36
The relation between fatigue life(N) and stress ratio is given is:

N=(4.2577/SR-0.4325)1.268 when 045<=S<=0.55

Log10 N=( 0.9718-SR)/.0828 for SR>0.55

The values of fatigue life of different values of stress ratio are given in below table.
use of the fatigue criteria is made on the basis of Miner’s hypothesis. Fatigue resistance not
consumed by repetitions of one load is available for repetitions of other loads.

Stress ratios and allowable repetition in cement concrete:

Stress ratio Allowable repetitions Stress ratio Allowable repetitions

0.45 6.279*10^7 0.66 5.83*10^3
0.46 1.4335*10^7 0.67 4.41*10^3
0.47 5.2*10^6 0.68 3.34*10^3
0.48 2.4*10^6 0.69 2531
0.49 1.287*10^6 0.70 1970
0.50 7.62*10^5 0.71 1451
0.51 4.85*10^5 0.72 1099
0.52 3.26*10^5 0.73 832
0.53 2.29*10^5 0.74 630
0.54 1.66*10^5 0.75 477
0.55 1.24*10^5 0.76 361
0.56 9.41*10^4 0.77 274
0.57 7.12*10^4 0.78 207
0.58 5.4*10^4 0.79 157
0.59 4.08*10^4 0.80 119
0.60 3.09*10^4 0.81 90
0.61 2.34*10^4 0.82 68
0.62 1.77*10^4 0.83 52
0.63 1.34*10^4 0.84 39
0.64 1.02*10^4 0.85 30
0.65 7.7*10^3 --

2.8 DESIGN OF JOINTS:

2.8.1 Spacing and layout:

Great care is needed in the design and construction of joints in cement concrete
pavement, as these are critical locations having significant effect on the pavement
performance. the joints also need to be effectively sealed, and maintained well. The
recommendation of the IRC:15, para 8 and supplementary notes para N.2 “Arrangements of
joints”, may be followed with regards to joint layout and construction joints spacing

37
 Cement concrete pavements have transverse and longitudinal joints. Different types of
transverse joints are:

a. Expansion joints
b. Contraction joints
c. Construction joints

Longitudinal joints are required in pavements of width greater than 4.5m to allow for
transverse contraction and warping.

Contraction joints spacing (Based on IRC:15-2002):

Slab thickness, cm Maximum Contraction joints spacing, m

Unreinforced slabs
15 4.5
20 4.5
25 4.5
30 5.0
35 5.0

Recommended dimensions of dowel bars for rigid pavement for an axle load of 10.2 T:

Slab thickness Dowel bar details

Cm Diameter mm Length mm Spacing mm
20 25 500 250
25 25 500 300
30 32 500 300
35 32 500 300
Note: the values given are for general guidance. The actual values show be calculated for the axles load
considered in the design.

2.8.2 Design of tie bars:

The area of steel required for meter length of joint may be computed using the
following the formula:

As = bfW/S

Where,

As = area of steel in cm2, required for meter of joint,

b = lane width in meters,
f = coefficient of friction between pavement and the subbase (usually taken as 1.5),
W = weight of slab in kg/cm2,
S = allowable working stress of steel in kg/cm2.

38
 The length of any tie bar should be at least twice that required to develop a bond strength
equal to the working stress of the steel. Expressed as a formula, this becomes:
L = 2SA/B**P
Where,
L = length of tie bar in cm,
S = allowable working stress of steel in kg/cm2,
A = cross sectional area of one tie bar in cm2,
P = perimeter of tie bar in cm,
B = permissible bond stress of concrete a)for determined tie bars 24.6 kg/cm2, b)for plane tie
bars 17.5 kg/cm2.

Details of tie bars for longitudinal joint of Two-lane rigid pavements:

Slab Tie bar details

thickness
Cm
Diameter Max.spacing Min.spacing
Mm Cm cm
15 8 33 53 44 48
10 52 83 51 56
20 10 39 62 51 56
12 56 90 58 64
25 12 45 72 58 64
16 80 128 72 80
30 12 37 60 56 64
16 66 106 72 80
35 12 32 51 58 64
16 57 91 72 80

Tie bars are either deformed steel bars or connectors used to hold the faces of abutting slabs
in contact .Tie bars are deformed rebars or connectors used for holding faces of rigid slabs in
contact to maintain aggregate interlock. Tie bars are not load transferring device. For
instance, tie bars are used in longitudinal joints in concrete pavement.

• Placed across longitudinal joints at the mid-depth of the slab

• Prevent lanes from separation and differential deflections

• Made of deformed epoxy coated steel

• Reduce transverse cracking

• If properly designed and installed, dowels and tie bars significantly improve performance of
pavement joints

• Although they increase the initial cost, dowel and tie bars reduce Life Cycle Cost

• Both dowel baskets and dowel bar inserters are good installation alternatives

39
• Improper dowel installation may reduce effectiveness of the dowels and tie bars

•Nondestructive testing methods give an opportunity to trouble shoot the problems and
determine their extent

Although they may provide some minimal amount of load transfer, they are not designed to
act as load transfer devices . Tie bars are typically used at longitudinal joints or between an
edge joint and a curb or shoulder. Typically, tie bars are about 12.5 mm (0.5 inches) in
diameter and between 0.6 and 1.0 m (24 and 40 inches long).

Figure(12)Tie Bars Along a Longitudinal Joint

2.8.3dowelbars:
Dowel bars are smooth round bars which mainly serve as load transfer device across concrete
joints. They are placed across transverse joints of concrete pavement to allow movement to
take place. Where movement is purposely designed for longitudinal joints, dowel bars can be
adopted.Dowel bars are short steel bars that provide a mechanical connection between slabs
without restricting horizontal joint movement. They increase load transfer efficiency by
allowing the leave slab to assume some of the load before the load is actually over it. This
reduces joint deflection and stress. Dowels increase the initial cost between5 and 8 percent,
but increase the loadcarrying capacity over 100 percent.

The use of dowel bars increases theinitial pavement life by about 60 percentandresults in
similar total Life CycleCost reduction than not using dowels.

40
Figure(13) Dowel baskets placed on a lean concrete base

• Placed across transverse joints at the mid-depth of the slab

• Transfer load from one slab to another without preventing the joint from opening

• Commonly made of round, smooth, epoxy coated steel bars

• Reduce joint faulting and corner cracking

Figure(14) Dowel bar

The Need for Dowel Bars The majority of the concrete pavements built in the 1950’s through
1970’s were on interstate highways constructed as part of the Federal Aid Highway Act of
1956. Most of these pavements are still in service while receiving little or no rehabilitation
(which has primarily been in the form of panel replacements, dowel bar retrofits and diamond
grinding) while carrying anywhere from two to five times the originally estimated traffic
volumes. This longevity reflects well upon the structural capacity of these pavements but may
also be a reflection of an original design that was overly conservative for the estimated 20-
year design life.The design for these pavements was 8 inches of concrete over 6 inches of
clean granular material. For “large volume roadways” in wetter climate areas, the concrete
thickness was increased to 9 inches while keeping the same 6 inches of clean granular base.

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 Figure(15) Dowel baskets

In some cases an asphalt treated base was placed beneath the concrete slab.The older
pavements did not use dowels but relied on aggregate interlock to prevent movement of
adjacent panels. Unfortunately, over time the aggregate interlocking of the slabs failed
resulting in faulting. The decision to forgo dowels was based largely on the potential for the
plain steel dowel bars used at the time to corrode and lock up the joint. Locked joints were
viewed as more detrimental to performance than faulting. Pavement designs are based on the
expected traffic loading over a 50-year design life which results in thicknesses of 11 to 13
inches on interstate routes. This includes an additional inch to accommodate future diamond
grinding to remove wear from studded tires. Dowel bars are required at all transverse
joints.Dowel bar retrofitting began in 1992 with the construction of the first test section on I-
90 near Snoqualmie Pass. Since that date approximately 571 lane miles have been retrofitted.
Retrofitting involves cutting slots in the pavement at each transverse joint; placing dowel bars
at mid slab height in the slots; backfilling the slots with concrete patching material and then
diamond grinding the pavement to remove the faulting.

• If properly designed and installed, dowels and tie bars significantly improve performance of
pavement joints

• Although they increase the initial cost, dowel and tie bars reduce Life Cycle Cost

• Both dowel baskets and dowel bar inserters are good installation alternatives

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• Improper dowel installation may reduce effectiveness of

the dowels and tie bars

•Nondestructive testing methods give an opportunity to

trouble shoot the problems and determine their extent

The axle load spectrum obtained from axle load survey is given in the following table:

Single axle loads Tandem axle loads

Axle load class % of axle loads Axle load class % of axle loads
Tons Tons
19-21 0.6 34-38 0.3
17-19 1.5 30-34 0.3
15-17 4.8 26-30 0.6
13-15 10.8 22-26 1.8
11-13 22.0 18-22 1.5
9-11 23.3 14-18 0.5
Less than 9 30.0 Less than 14 2.0

Total 93.0 Total 7.0

The total repetitions of the single axle and tandem axle loads are as follows:

Single axles Tandem axles

Loads in tones Expected repetitions Loads in tones Expected repetitions
20 71127 36 35564
18 177820 32 35564
16 569023 28 71128
14 1280303 24 213384
12 2608024 20 177820
10 27622135 16 59273
Less than 10 3556397 Less than 16 237093

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 Conclusion:

When compare to Flexible pavements show wider range of variation in cost with respect to
design parameters of traffic and soil. The overall variation in cost of rigid pavements is
comparatively small. The design of a rigid pavement is highly influenced by the occurrence
of small number of heavy axle loads. The fatigue life of a rigid pavement is prone to small
changes in the stress ratio which can happen with a small increase of the loading along the
axle load axis. It is observed that flexible pavements are more economical for lesser volume
of traffic.rigid pavements are most economical and by this total analysis the rigid pavement
design is consider to be safe.

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 CHAPTER 7.
DISCUSSIONS
7.1. ROLE OF TRANSPORTATION:
Transportation plays a pivotal role in over all development of any country. Since
every commodity that is produced needs to be transported at all stages from production to
distribution or it is a chain of events that needs transportation from production to distribution
i.e., from production centers to marketing centers from there to retailers and consumers for
distribution . In adequate transportation affects socio-economic development of a country.
Adequate transportation system highlights the social and economic development.
7.2. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY AND TRANSPORTATION:
Two important factors of economic activity are demand and supply. The importance
of transportation in economic activity depends on human needs for goods and commodities
and how effectively there are produced and distributed or it may be said that increased
productivity and effective transportation can lower the cost of production as transportation
cost always influence the price of commodities.
7.3. SOCIAL EFFECTES OF TRANSPORTATION:
Population always settle along river shores, road sides and near railway stations
hoping that there would be a constant supply of goods and commodities through this modes
of transportation that is rail, road and water .In the present concept of transportation network
attempts are being made of decentralize the population and centers away from the sides of
main transportation roots. In order to avoid congestion around the populated areas, sub urban
living and industrial enterprises not developing. This sub urban and satellite down should be
linked with rapid transits system. Improved transportation reduces sectionalism due to
reduced travel time .As prosperity and employment of urban areas attracts the population
from other areas. Adequate mass transportation is required to cater the mobility from the
place to another that is office, schools, hospitals, Factories etc. Efficient transits facilities are
required for intercity and long distance travel. This encourages people to live in places away
from their work places. Transport facilities are also important for safety, & law and order.
7.4. ROLE OF TRANSPORTATION IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT:
Overall development of country cannot be assessed by the development in urban
centers alone as majority of people live in villages. Improvement of transportation in rural
areas is a must so that fertilizers and other inputs for agriculture and cottage industries can
reach rural population and also facilitate than by seeing their product at a remunerative prices

45
at various marketing centers. This improves economic growth and decreased wastage. With
improved facilities for education and health care the urge for migration to urban centers
decreases thus helping in the balanced development of country.
7.5. DIFFERENT MODES OF TRASPORTATION:
The four major modes of transportation are road ways, railways, waterways &
airways. Transportation by air is fastest among four as it saves transport time and
transportation by water is the slowest is among the four modes but it is possible only between
the ports of sea roots or where island transportation methods are available. Transportation
through railways could be advantages both for passengers and goods particularly for longer
distances. As these could serve as a feeder system for transportation to the interior parts
between railway stations through road transport of the products .Therefore full advantage of
this mode should be taken for transportation of bulk goods along land where the railway
facilities are available.
Transportation by the road is the only mode that has maximum flexibility for travel
with reference to route, direction, time and speed of travel. It is possible to provide door to
door service through any mode of road vehicle. All the other three modes of transport are
dependent on road transportation for the service to and from the respective terminals,
airports, harbors or stations. Therefore road transportation serves as feeder system for other
modes of transportation for distribution throughout the country.
` Transportation engineering which deals with planning, design, construction and
maintenance of airport is termed as airport engineering. The design and laying of railway
tracks and yards, and their maintenance is termed as railway engineering. The planning,
design, construction and maintenance of roads are covered under road engineering or
highway engineering.
7.6. CHARACTERISTICS OF ROAD TRANSPORT:
Road transport is nearest to the people as the passengers and goods are to be
transported by roads before reaching a railway station or an airport. Only road transport could
connect the remotest villages of the vast country like ours.
The characteristics of road transport are:
1. Roads are used by various types of road vehicles like cars, buses, trucks, two and
three wheelers, carts etc.
2. Not only road transport requires small investment, maintenance of roads is also
cheaper than that of railway tracks, harbors and airports.

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 3. Road transport offers a complete freedom to road users. Flexibility of changes in
location, direction and speed and time of travel are higher than any other mode of
transport, in particular for short distance travel.
7.7. IMPORTANCE OF ROADS IN INDIA:
Deficiency in road development led to the setbacks in agricultural, commercial and
industrial sectors. Overall economic progress can be achieved by providing adequate
transport facilities between villages and other district head quarters and there is a need for
express ways to keep pace with the requirement of uninterrupted movement of fast vehicles.
Roads in terms of length and quality are to be laid in order to meet the demand. Road
development generates considerable employment potential. A road in reasonably good
condition can save 15 to 40% in vehicle maintenance cost and the revenue from road
transport in higher than the investment mode on road development plans.

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References:

1.IRC:58-2002, “Guidelines for the Design of Plain Jointed Rigid Pavements for Highways”
(Second Revision), Indian Roads Congress, 2002, New Delhi.

2. The comparative study of pavement design by srinivasrao

3. Kadiyali, L.R., and Danavate, M.G. A Comparative Study of the Economics of Rigid and
Flexible Pavements. The Indian Concrete Journal, India, 1984.

4. Mohammadi, J. and Shah, N. (1992), “Statistical Evaluation of Truck Overloads”, J.

Transportation Engineering, ASCE, 118(5), 651-665

5. PCA 1984, “Thickness Design fop/88068/88068r Concrete Highway and Street

Pavements”, Portland CementAssociatio PCA 1984,

6. IRC:37-2001, “Guidelines for the Design of Flexible Pavements”, The Indian Roads
Congress, New Delhi.

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