INTRODUCTION 

TO PAVEMENT DESIGN

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Evaluation Pattern
 Course Code: CE 6L404 (Credits: 3‐1‐0)
 Teachers’ Assessment‐ 20 %
 Quiz
 Assignment
 Tutorial
 Mid Semester Exam – 40 %
 End Semester Exam – 40%

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Reference Books
 E.J. Yoder and M.W. Witczak, “Principles of Pavement Design”, John Wiley &
Sons, Inc.
 Nick Thom, “Principles of Pavement Engineering”, second edition, ice
publishing, London.
 Rajib B. Mallick and Tahar El‐Korchi, “PAVEMENT ENGINEERING‐Principles and
Practice”, second ed., CRC Press, New York.
 Y. H. Huang, “Pavement Analysis and Design”, Prentice Hall Publications, New
Jersy.
 Athanassios Nikolaides, “Highway Engineering”, CRC Press, New York.
 Per Ullidtz, “Pavement Analysis” Elsevier Publications, The Netherlands.

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Philosophy of Pavement Design
 Why are pavements constructed?
 Needs??
 Type of Traffic
 Importance of the road
 Riding comfort desirable

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Philosophy of Pavement Design
Pavement design consists of:
 Identifying the need
 Analysing the need
 Deciding on potential solutions
 Evaluating the various components in the potential solutions
 Selecting a solution based on technical and economic considerations
 Implementing the solution
 Managing the solution

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Pavement Functions
 Bear the Traffic Load and Transfer the same to the foundation
 Protect the subgrade
 Provide reasonably smooth riding surface
 Provide adequate surface friction and safety

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Pavement Structure
 The field of pavement design is dynamic as the concepts are continually
changing as new data become available.
 There are many methods of design available, since opinions regarding
suitability of designs vary from place to place.
 In particular, materials that are available for construction of pavements
have a major influence on design.
 There are, however, principles of design that are common to all
problems irrespective of other extenuating circumstances.
 The design of pavements involves a study of soils and paving materials,
their behaviour under load, and the design of a pavement to carry that
load under all climatic conditions.

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Types of Pavement
 Flexible Pavements
 Rigid or Concrete Pavements
 Composite Pavements

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Flexible Pavements 
 Constructed of several layers
 Covered with one or more waterproof bituminous surface layers
 Will bend under the load of a tyre
 Objective 
 avoid excessive bending of any layer
 prevent over‐stressing of layer 
 Load distribution pattern changes from one layer to another
 Dependent on strength of each layer
 Strongest material typically located in top layer
 Weakest material in lowest layer
 Traffic cause high stress levels on surface 
 deeper down ‐ wheel load applied to larger area
 result ‐ lower stress levels 
 use of weaker materials
Flexible Pavements
 The pavements in which, the total
pavement structure "bends" or "deflects"
under the traffic load, are called "flexible"
pavements.
 Usually constructed of bituminous and
granular materials.
 Three types of flexible pavements in use:
 Conventional Flexible Pavement
 Full Depth Asphalt Pavement
 Deep Strength Asphalt Pavements
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Flexible Pavement

Distribution of Loads in Thick and Thin Flexible Pavement Structure
Conventional Flexible Pavement
 Conventional flexible pavements are layered
Surfacing systems with strong materials on top, where
Binder Course the intensity of stresses are high, and
relatively low quality materials at the bottom
Base Course
where the intensity is low.
 Adherence to this design principle makes
possible the use of local materials and usually
Subbase Course results in a most economical design.
 This is particularly true in regions where high‐
quality materials are expensive, but local
Subgrade marginal materials are readily available .

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Subgrade
 The subgrade is the top 500 mm of the embankment immediately
below the bottom of the pavement, and is made up of in‐situ
material, select soil, or stabilized soil that forms the foundation of a
pavement.
 It should be well compacted to limit the scope of rutting in pavement
due to additional densification during the service life of pavement.
 Subgrade shall be compacted to a minimum of 97 per cent of
laboratory dry density achieved with heavy compaction as per IS:
2720 (Part 8) for Expressways, National Highways, State Highways,
Major District Roads and other heavily trafficked roads.

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Subbase
 Unbound Subbase (Granular Subbase)
 Sub‐base materials may consist of natural sand, moorum, gravel,
laterite, kankar, brick metal, crushed stone, crushed slag and
reclaimed crushed concrete/ reclaimed asphalt pavement or
combinations thereof meeting the prescribed grading and physical
requirements.
 Bound Subbase (Cement Treated Subbase)
 The material for bound sub‐base may consist of soil, aggregate or soil
aggregate mixture modified with chemical stabilizers such as cement,
lime‐flyash, commercially available stabilizers etc.

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Base Layer
 Unbound Base (Granular Base Course)
 The base layer may consist of wet mix macadam, water bound
macadam, crusher run macadam, reclaimed concrete etc.
 Bound Base (Cement Treated Base)
 Cemented base layers may consist of aggregates or soils or both
stabilized with chemical stabilizers such as cement, lime, lime‐
flyash or other stabilizers.

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Binder Course
 The binder course, sometimes called the asphalt base course, is
the asphalt layer below the surface course.
 There are two reasons that a binder course is used in addition to
the surface course .
 First, the HMA is too thick to be compacted in one layer, so it must
be placed in two layers .
 Second, the binder course generally consists of larger aggregates
and less asphalt and does not require as high a quality as the
surface course, so replacing a part of the surface course by the
binder course results in a more economical design.

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Surface Course
 The surface course is the top course of an asphalt pavement,
sometimes called the wearing course. It is usually constructed of
dense graded HMA .
 It must be tough to resist distortion under traffic and provide a
smooth and skid‐resistant riding surface .
 It must be waterproof to protect the entire pavement and
subgrade from the weakening effect of water .
 If the above requirements cannot be met, the use of a seal coat
is recommended .

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Seal Coat
 Seal coat is a thin asphalt surface treatment used to waterproof
the surface or to provide skid resistance where the aggregates in
the surface course could be polished by traffic and become
slippery.
 Depending on the purpose, seal coats might or might not be
covered with aggregate

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Tack Coat
 Tack coat is a very light application of asphalt, usually asphalt
emulsion diluted with water, used to ensure a bond between the
surface being paved and the overlying course.
 It is important that each layer in an asphalt pavement be bonded
to the layer below. Tack coats are also used to bond the asphalt
layer to a PCC base or an old asphalt pavement.
 The three essential requirements of a tack coat are that it must be
very thin, it must uniformly cover the entire surface to be paved,
and it must be allowed to break or cure before the HMA is laid .

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Prime Coat
 A prime coat is an application of low‐viscosity cutback asphalt or
asphalt emulsion to an absorbent surface, such as an untreated
granular base on which an asphalt layer will be placed .
 It’s purpose is to bind the granular base to the asphalt layer.
 The difference between a tack coat and a prime coat is that a
tack coat does not require the penetration of asphalt into the
underlying layer, whereas a prime coat penetrates into the
underlying layer, plugs the voids, and forms a watertight surface.

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Full Depth Asphalt Pavement
Asphalt Surfacing  Full‐depth asphalt pavements are
constructed by placing one or more layers
of HMA directly on the subgrade or
Asphalt Base Course improved subgrade.
 This concept was conceived by the Asphalt
Institute in 1960 and is generally
Asphalt Treated Subabse Course considered the most cost‐effective and
dependable type of asphalt pavement for
heavy traffic.
 This type of construction is quite popular in
Compacted Subgrade areas where local materials are not
available.

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 Deep Strength Asphalt Pavement

Asphalt Surfacing
 Deep‐strength pavements consist of
asphalt layers on top of a thin granular
base.
Asphalt Base Course  It is similar to full depth asphalt pavement,
except that a layer of granular material is
placed on the subgrade first.
Granular Subbase
 In this, the base and wearing courses are
constructed of asphalt mixes.
Compacted Subgrade

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 Rigid Pavement

• Rigid pavement, because of PCC’s high elastic modulus (stiffness), tends to

distribute the load over a relatively wide area of subgrade.
• The concrete slab itself supplies most of a rigid pavement’s structural capacity.
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Types of Concrete Pavement
 Jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP)
 Jointed reinforced concrete pavement (JRCP)
 Continuous reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP), and
 Pre‐stressed concrete pavement (PCP)

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Types of Concrete Pavement

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 Composite Pavements
 A composite pavement is composed of both
Asphalt Base and Surfacing HMA and PCC.
 The use of PCC as a bottom layer and HMA as
a top layer results in an ideal pavement with
JPCP/ JRCP
the most desirable characteristics.
 The PCC provides a strong base and the HMA
Granular Base/ Subbase provides a smooth and non‐reflective
surface.
 However, this type of pavement is very
Compacted Subgrade expensive and is rarely used as a new
construction.

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Inverted Pavement/ Flexible Composite Pavement
Surfacing  Inverted pavement is a deep pavement, whose
supporting layers are thicker and stiffer than
Granular Base Course top layers.
 These pavements involve a well‐compacted
granular aggregate base, built between the
Cement Treated Subbase & Base
asphalt surfacing layer and a cement‐treated
base.
 The cement‐treated base provides a stiff
Subgrade foundation for efficient compaction and
constrains the deformation of the stress‐
sensitive granular aggregate base.

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Other Pavements
 Interlocking Concrete Block Pavements
 Cell Filled Concrete Pavement
 Short Panelled Concrete Pavement
 Pervious Pavements
 Roller Compacted Concrete Pavement

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 Interlocking Concrete Block Pavement
• Footpaths
• Residential Streets
• Rural Roads
• Fuel Stations
• Parking Areas
• Toll Plaza
• Bus Depots
• Intersections
• Industrial Floors
• Airports
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 Interlocking Concrete Block Pavement
 ICBP consists of solid un‐reinforced pre‐cast concrete paver blocks laid
on a thin, compacted bedding material, which is constructed over a
properly profiled base course and confined by edge restraints.
 A properly designed and constructed lCBP gives excellent performance
when applied at locations, where conventional systems have lower
service life due to a number of geological, traffic, environmental and
operational constraints.
 Many applications for light, medium, heavy and very heavy traffic
conditions are currently in practice around the world.

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 Interlocking Concrete Block Pavement
• Concrete Paver Blocks
• Bedding Sand
• Joint sand
• Geotextile Fabric 
(optional)
• Edge Restraints
• Base / Sub‐base
• Subgrade
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 Advantages of ICBP
• Blocks are of high quality as manufactured at a factory.
• No need of curing at site and it can be laid directly and traffic can start
immediately after installation.
• More skid resistance as compared to the bituminous surfaced
pavements.
• These blocks restrict the vehicle speed to 60 km/h, which is good in
terms of reduction in the probability of accidents due to over speeding.
• Since these pavements are constructed of blocks which are made of
high strength concrete, they are resistant to water damage, high
temperatures, chemicals & oil spills and point loads etc.

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Advantages of ICBP
• Repair of these pavements is easier after repairs of pipelines or electric
wires lying beneath the road.
• Maintenance of this pavement is simple and easy, also its cost effective
because frequency of maintenance is lesser.
• As the concrete blocks are grey in colour, they reflect light much better
than bituminous pavements.
• Because of availability of paver blocks in different shapes, sizes and
colours, it can complement any architectural style.
• This pavement can also act as permeable block pavement. which can
help in replenishing ground water level after filtering the pollutants.

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 Construction of Cell Filled Concrete Pavement
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 Short Panelled Concrete Pavement

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 Short Panelled Concrete Pavement
Square panels   of 
concrete slab formed by 
sawing to one third 
depth from the surface. 

Concrete slab panels over Cement/ Asphalt treated or 
Untreated Granular subbase   
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 Panelled Concrete Pavement‐Analysis
• If a pavement is made of small concrete blocks  there is only 
compressive stress at the bottom.

Compressive pressure at the bottom

M
M
y

• Tensile stresses in slab due to bending moment in a large slab 
bottom. No solution available for such cases
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 Pervious Concrete Pavement

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 RCCP
Shared Materials from  Shared Construction type 
PCC Pavement  from HMA Pavement

• Same materials (with different

RCCP • Similar aggregate gradation
proportion) • Similar placement and
• Similar curing requirements compaction
 General Impression

“Pavements are very simple

engineered systems.”

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 Reality
Pavement geometry looks simple,
but it’s design is complex!
• Materials • Environment
– Availability – Temperature
– Behaviour – Moisture
• Traffic Loads • Distresses
– Volume – Variety (caused by
– Magnitude subgrade and materials)
– Dynamic effects – Interactions

• Construction
– Rehabilitation

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Pavement Design Approaches
 Empirical Approach
 Mechanistic Approach
 Mechanistic‐Empirical (M‐E) Approach

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Empirical Approach
 Relationships between design inputs (e.g., loads, materials, layer
configurations and environment) and pavement failure are
established using experience, experimentation or a combination
of both.
 Although the scientific basis for these relationships is not firmly
established, they can be used with confidence as long as the
limitations with such an approach are recognized.
 The disadvantage of an empirical method is that it can be applied
only to a given set of environmental, material, and loading
conditions. If these conditions are changed, the design is no
longer valid.

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Empirical Approach
 Group Index Method
 CBR Method
 California R Value Method
 McLeod Method

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Mechanistic Approach
 Analytical/ Mechanistic approach takes into account the
mechanistic behaviour of pavement components.
 Structural responses of pavement to applied load are analysed.
 Critical Responses having strong bearing on the performance are
identified and controlled during design.
 Lacks field validation.

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Mechanistic Approach
 Bearing Capacity Method
 Limiting Deflection Method
 Burmister’s Method

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Mechanistic‐Empirical Approach
 In this approach, the mechanistic pavement responses such as
stress, strain etc., estimated using some analytical tool and
appropriate material models are related to the actual pavement
performance making the models more rational.
 This method takes the advantage of the previous two approaches.

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Mechanistic‐Empirical Approach
Basic advantages of the M‐E pavement design method:
 Can be used for both existing pavement rehabilitation and new
pavement construction
 Can accommodate changing load types
 Can better characterize materials allowing for better utilization of
available materials and accommodation of new materials
 It provides more reliable performance predictions
 It accommodates environment and aging effect of materials in
the pavement

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M‐E Design Approach

Simplified Flow Chart of M‐E 
Pavement Design

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Choice of a Pavement
 Material Availability & Cost
 Constructability
 Performance Adequacy
 Maintainability

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Design Philosophy
 Different philosophies regarding pavement design
 Functional and structural service level
 Empirical vs Mechanistic
 Analysis and design periods
 Life cycles and design strategies
 Design process overview
 Difference between philosophy and tools
Design Philosophy
 Serviceability
 Indication of riding quality
 Distress
 Functional or structural
 Visual manifestation of deterioration
 Pavement failure
 Functional or structural
 Pavement performance
 Indication of user satisfaction
 Serviceability

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 Performance

Rut depth
Riding quality

Cracking

Time and traffic

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 Performance Studies (Road Tests)
 Maryland Road Test: The objective of this project was to determine the
relative effects of four different axle loadings on a particular concrete
pavement (HRB, 1952).
 WASHO Road Test: The Western Association of State Highway Officials
(WASHO) conducted a similar test, but on sections of flexible
pavements in Malad, Idaho, with the same objective in mind (HRB,
1955).
 AASHO Road Test: The objective was to determine any significant
relationship between the number of repetitions of specified axle loads
of different magnitudes and arrangements and the performance of
different thicknesses of flexible and rigid pavements (HRB, 1962)
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 Performance Studies (Road Tests)
 Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP): It was anew program,
intended not to duplicate any ongoing research activities but rather to
focus on some long‐neglected needs for improving basic technologies
and material properties.
 The research was targeted in four areas: highway operations, concrete
and structures, asphalt, and long‐term pavement performance.

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 Summary
 Pavement Design is not an exact process
 For any given situation, no two designers are expected to come up
with exactly the same solution
 Several alternative solutions in terms of the type of pavement,
materials used and the combination of new construction,
rehabilitation and maintenance
 Pavements can be designed to serve for long periods without any
maintenance (without any inconvenience to users)
 Alternatively, pavements can be built with low initial cost and be
provided with maintenance at regular intervals
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 Thank you

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