AASHTO Flexible Pavement Design

Method
 Design considerations for the
AASHTO Flexible Pavement Design
The following factors are considered in the pavement thickness
design.

• Pavement performance Traffic

• Roadbed soils (subgrade material)
• Materials of construction Environment
• Drainage
• Reliability
 Pavement performance
Structural  Cracking, faulting, raveling, etc.
Functional  Riding comfort (measured in terms of
roughness of pavement.)

Serviceability Performance: Measured by PSI  Present

Serviceability Index with scale 0 to 5.
5 “Just constructed”
4.2 Initial PSI (pi)

PSI Terminal PSI (pt)

 2.5 to 3.0 for major highways
 2.0 for lower class highways
0 “Road closed”  1.5 for very special cases
Faulting

A difference in elevation across a joint or crack. Typically

occur is JPCP (jointed plain concrete pavement)

Source: https://pavementinteractive.org/reference-desk/pavement-management/pavement-
distresses/faulting/
 Raveling:

Disintegrated asphalt road.

Source: https://www.roadbotics.com/2019/10/07/distress-call-raveling/

Reveling is the disintegration of an asphalt road surface. It is due to the dislodgment of the aggregate
materials (gravel, sand, and crushed stone)
Pavement Condition
From the AASHO Road Test
(1956 – 1961)
 Typical PSI vs. Time
Serviceability (PSI)

p0

p0 - pt

Terminal Serviceability Level

pt

Time
 Definitions
The initial serviceability index (po) is the PSI immediately
after the pavement is open.

The terminal serviceability index (pt) is considered to

be the PSI that represents the lowest acceptable level before
resurfacing or rehabilitation or reconstruction becomes
necessary.
 Traffic
In the AASHTO flexible pavement design, traffic is considered in termsof
ESAL for the terminal PSI (Table 20.13 for pt = 2.5.)
We must assume the structural number of the pavement. So, we must check
if the final SN3 is similar to the assumed SN. Higher SN means stronger
pavement, thus the impact of traffic on pavement deteriorations is less.
 Roadbed soils (Subgrade material)

CBR (California Bearing Ratio), R-value (Resistance), and

Mr (Resilient modulus) are used to describe the property of the
subgrade material.
During the structural design, only Mr values are used. The
following conversion formulas are used if either CBR or R-
values are given.

Mr (lb/in2) = 1500 x CBR for fine-grained soils with soaked CBR of 10 orless.
Mr (lb/in2) = 1000 + 555 x (R-value) for R <= 20
Basic Explanation
Mr is a measure of material stiffness and provides a mean to
analyze stiffness of materials under different conditions, such as
moisture, density and stress level.

The Soil Resilient Modulus measures the amount of recoverable deformation at

any stress level for a dynamically loaded test specimen. The environment can
affect pavement performance in several ways. Temperature and moisture
changes can have an effect on the strength, durability, and load-carrying
capacity of the pavement and roadbed (subgrade) materials. Another major
environmental impact is the direct effect roadbed swelling, frost heave,
disintegration, etc. can have on loss of riding quality and serviceability. If any of
these environmental effects have the potential to be present during the life cycle of
the pavement, the Mr should be evaluated on a season by season basis, and a
seasonal modulus developed. As learned in the class (given in upcoming slides)

For more information about the lab performance of Mr,

You may consult: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/materials/mr/pdfs/mrlabtesting.pdf
 Materials of construction (Subbase), a3
Charts are available to convert the properties of pavement
construction materials to structural coefficients: a3, a2, and a1

Use CBR, R-value, or Mr

to find a3 values
Structural coefficient
of the subbase, a3
 Materials of construction (Base course), a2

Use CBR, R-value, or Mr

to find a2 values
Structural coefficient
of the base course, a2
 Materials of construction (AC surface), a1

0.44

Structural coefficient
of the AC surface, a1

= Resilient modulus, Mr
 Step 1 Environment
Temperature and rainfall
affect the level of strength of the
subgrade, reflected on the value
of resilient modulus. AASHTO
developed a chart that helps us
to estimate the effective roadbed
soil resilient modulus using the
serviceability criteria (in terms
of “relative damage, uf.”)
Determine the average uf.
value and obtain Mr from the
chart or the equation of uf. .

The bar on the right is used

twice: Once to read uf value for
Step 2 each month’s sample Mr, then to
read annual average Mr using the
Step 3 average uf value.
 Drainage

The effect of drainage on the performance of flexible pavements

is considered with respect to the effect of water on the strength of
the base material and roadbed soil.
This effect is expressed by the drainage coefficient, mi. This
value is dependent on the drainage quality and the percent of time
i.e., the time to which a pavement structure is exposed to moisture
levels approaching saturation.
 Definition of drainage quality and finding
recommended mi values

Time required to
drain the
base/subbase layer to
Step 1 50% saturation.

If “Fair” and 30%

exposure, then mi
is 0.80.

Step 2
 Reliability
The reliability factor (FR) is computed using:
The Reliability design level (R%), which determines assurance levels
that the pavement section designed using the procedure will survive for its
design period (it is a z-score from the standard normal distribution)
The standard deviation (So) that accounts for the chance variation in the
traffic forecast and the chance variation in actual pavement performance
for a given design period traffic, W18.

log10 FR  Z R S o Flexible pavements

SD, So
0.40-0.5
Rigid pavements 0.30-0.40

Functional Classification Recommended Level of Reliability

Urban Rural
Interstate and other freeways 85-99.9 80-99.9
Principal arterial 80-99 75-95
Collectors 80-95 75-95
Local 50-80 50-80
 Structural design
The object of the design using the AASHTO method is to determine a flexible
pavement SN adequate to carry the projected design ESAL.
The method discussed in the text applies to ESALs greater than 50,000 for the
performance period. The design for ESALs less than this is usually considered
under low-volume roads.

log10 W18  Z R S o  9.36log10 SN 1 0.20

log10 PSI /(4.2 1.5)


0.40  1094/(SN 1)5.19  Where
 2.32log10 M r  8.07
SN  a1 D1  a2 D2 m2  a3 D3m3

Simplify this as f(W18) = f(ZRSo) + f(SN)

 How to use Fig. 20.20 to get structural numbers based on Eq. 20.13.
It may be noted all the Figures and Tables are numbered the same as in AASHTO Manual.

For sub-base, For base course,

Mr=13500 lb/in2 Mr=31000 lb/in2

SN1= 2.6

For subgrade, SN3= 4.4

Mr= 9000 lb/in2 SN2= 3.8
 Once SN value is set, thickness design begins…
SN  a1D1  a2 D2m2 a3D3m3
SN1  a1D1
Proceed in SN2  a1D1  a2 D2m2
this direction
SN3  a1D1  a2 D2m2  a3D3m3
Use Fig.20.15 for a3, Fig.20.16 for a2, Fig.20.17 for a1, and Tab. 20.14and
20.15 m2 and m3. Find the depth that results in a SN value close to the SN
value obtained from Fig. 20.20.
20.13 a
20.13 b
Equivalent Axle Load Factors, Single axles
Equivalent Axle Load Factors, tandem axles
Equivalent Axle Load Factors, triple axles