Cement Concrete Road

Road having their wearing surface consisting of cement concrete

slab are called as cement concrete road. Cement concrete roads
are considered as most serviceable and rigid pavements.
Structural components of concrete pavement

Starting from bottom such roads consist of following

component

 Sub-grade
 Sub-base
 Concrete Slab
Advantages of Cement Concrete Road
 Life span of such road is more.
 Such roads provide an impervious layer. cement
 Cement concrete roads are strong and durable and are
unaffected much by weathering agencies.
 They give good visibility at night.
 Cement concrete roads provide dustless and sanitary surface.
 Cement concrete roads does not develop corrugations and
hence it grants noiseless surface.
Advantages of Cement Concrete Road
 Life span of such road is more.
  Such roads provide an impervious layer.cement
 Cement concrete roads are strong and durable and are
unaffected much by weathering agencies.
 They give good visibility at night.
 Cement concrete roads provide dustless and sanitary
surface.
 Cement concrete roads does not develop corrugations and
hence it grants noiseless surface.
 It can be designed more accurately for load distribution.
 Cement concrete roads is practically unaffected by weather
and temperature.
 It is possible to make use of old concrete road as
foundation for new concrete road or for bituminous road.

Cement concrete roads is practically unaffected by weather
and temperature.
 It is possible to make use of old concrete road as foundation
for new concrete road or for bituminous road.
Disadvantages of Cement Concrete Road
Following are the disadvantages of a cement concrete road :
 Initial cost of construction is high especially when suitable
aggregate is not locally available.
 It is liable to crack, warp and twist.
 Skilled supervision as well as skilled workmanship is required
for their construction
 It become noisy under iron tyred traffic.
 Cement concrete roads cannot be opened to traffic earlier as it
require long time curing.
 In case of such pavements, it is very difficult to locate and
repair sewers and water mains, which are lying under it.
Method of Construction of Cement
Concrete Roads
 Continuous Bay Method
 Expansion Joint and Strip Method

Advantages of Alternate Bay Method

 Joints can be constructed easily and its width can be

kept as desired.
 The bays which have been cured can serve as
additional working platform.

Disadvantages of Alternate Bay Method

 During rains, the water collects on the surface of the
bays which are not constructed.
 More time is required to complete the work.
 It requires large number of transverse joints.
 The construction is spread over the full width of road
pavement and due to which the traffic will have to be
completely diverted.

Construction of Cement Concrete Road

The construction of  cement concrete road involves following
operations :

1. Preparation of Sub-grade

 Sub-grade is natural soil on which concrete slab is laid.

 It is cleaned, shaped and leveled .
 After cleaning, it is prepared to the required grade and profile.
 It should be seen that sub-grade has uniform strength over its
entire width.
 If any local weak spots are found, they should be removed
and strengthened by placing new material which is
compacted.
 When concrete is to be directly placed on sub-grade, the
surface should be saturated with water for 6 to 20 hrs in
advance of placing the concrete.
 This is done to ensure that sub-grade does not absorb water
from the concrete.

 Provision of Sub-base :

 When natural sub-grade is not very firm, a sub-base over

the sub-grade is provided.
 Depending upon the type of soil, design load, intensity of
traffic and economic consideration, the decision for
providing the sub-base is taken.
The sub-base serves the following three purposes :
  It provides a capillary cut-off and the damage caused by
mud pumping is prevented.
 Provides a strong supporting layers.
 It reduces the thickness of concrete slab and thus leads to
lower cost of construction.
The sub-base may consists of any one of the following layers :
1. A layer of well graded soil-gravel mixture of
maximum thickness 15 cm.
2. Brick soling with one layer of W.B.M. of maximum
total thickness 10 cm.
3. Two layers of W.B.M. of maximum total thickness 15
cm.
4. A layer of lean cement concrete of maximum
thickness 10
5. Cm.
When sub-grade soil is very poor, the sub-base should be placed
over a blanket of some granular material or stabilized soil

.Placing the Forms in Cement Concrete Road

 The forms may be made up of steel or timber.
 The steel forms are of mild steel channel sections and their
depth is equal to the thickness of the pavement.
 Forms are properly braced and fixed to the ground by
means of stakes.
 Forms are fixed in position by 3 stakes at back of each 3 m
length.
  When the forms are fixed, they must be checked for their
trueness.
 The maximum deviations permissible in the vertical plane
is 3 mm and in horizontal plane 5 mm in 3 m length of the
form.
 The forms are oiled before placing concrete in them.

Watering the Prepared Sub-grade or Sub-base

 After the forms are fixed, the prepared surface to receive

concrete is made moist.
 If the sub-grade is dry, it should be sprinkled with as much
quantity of water as it can absorb.
 It is advisable to wet the surface at least 12 hrs in advance
of placing the concrete.
 When insulating layer of water-poof paper is provided, the
moistening of the surface prior to placing the concrete is
not required.
6. Batching of Materials and Mixing :

 After determining the proportions of ingredients for

the Concrete mix, the fine and course aggregates are
properly proportioned by weight in weight-batching plant.
 They are then fed into the hopper along with necessary
quantity of cement which is also measured by weight.
 The ingredients of concrete are mixed in proper proportions
in dry state. The mixing should preferably be done in a
concrete mixer.
  The measured quantity of water is added so that the desired
water cement ratio is obtained.

 Transporting and Placing of Concrete :

 After mixing, the concrete is transported to the site in
wheel burrows or in pans which are manually carried.
 The mixed concrete is deposited rapidly on the sub-grade in
layer of thickness not more than 50 mm to 80 mm or about
two or three times the size of aggregates.
 The concrete should be placed over the entire width of bay
in successive batches as a continuous operation and
topmost layer is laid about 10 mm higher than the actual
profile for further tamping.
 The top layer should also be laid to the required camber
and gradient, while placing the concrete it is roded with
suitable tool to eliminate voids.
 Segregation of concrete is avoided during transportation
and placing. When reinforcement has been specified in
road slab, concrete is placed in two stages.
 In first stage, concrete is placed and compacted to the depth
corresponding to the level of reinforcement shown on the
drawings.
 Reinforcement is then placed on top of compacted concrete
and remaining thickness of slab is then completed in
second stage.

Compaction of Cement Concrete Road :

 After the concrete is placed in its position, it should
brought in its proper position by heavy screed or tamper
fitted with suitable handles.
 The wooden tamper is at least 75 mm wide and its
underside is shaped to the finished cross-section of the slab.
 Its weight is about 10 kg/m.
 It should have sufficient strength to retain its shape under
all the working conditions
 Its length is equal to length of bay plus 60 mm.
 The underside of tamper is provided by a metal plate of 5
mm thickness as shown in Fig. 4.14.4.
 The tamper is placed on the side form and its handles are
griped by the men who use the tamper.
 Concrete is also compacted by means of a power driven
finishing machine or by vibrating hand screed.
 Upto 12.5 cm thickness of slabs screed vibrators alone can
be used for compaction.
 For greater thickness, immersion vibrator is used.