A Project Report

On

DESIGN OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT

AT

NATIONAL HIGHWAY NO. 58

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement

For the award of the degree
Of

Bachelor of Technology
In
Civil Engineering
At

JP INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

In
Department of Civil Engineering

Affiliated to
U.P. Technical University, Lucknow

Under The Guidance of: Submitted by:

Mr. Amit Yadav Ravikant Yadav (1028200037)
(Lecturer) Pankaj Kumar Sharma (1028200033)
Vipin Kumar (1028200046)
Shubham Kumar (1028200041)
Hitendra Kumar (1028200019)
Anujkumar (ML)(1028200008)
 DECLARATION

We hereby declare that this submission is our own work and that, to our Knowledge and

belief, itcontains no material previously published or written by another person nor material

which to aSubstantial extent has been accepted for the of any other degree or diploma of the

university orother institute of higher Learning, except where due acknowledgement has been

made in the text.

Signature: Date:

Name- Ravikant Yadav

Roll No.- (1028200037)

Name- Pankaj Kumar Sharma

Roll No.- (1028200033)

Name- VipinKumar
Roll No.- (1028200046)

Name- ShubhamKumar
Roll No.- (1028200043)

Name- HitendraKumar
Roll No.- (1028200018)

2
 ACKNOLADGEMENT

It gives us a great sense of pleasure to present the synopsis report of partial fulfillment of the
requirement for the award of degree of the B. Tech (CivilEngineering) Project undertaken
during B. Tech. Final Year. We owe special debt of gratitude to Mr. Amit Yadav,
Department of Civil Engineering, JP Group of Institutions, Meerut for their constant
support and guidance throughout the course of our work. Their sincerity, thoroughness and
perseverance have been a constant source of inspiration for us. It is only their cognizant
efforts that our endeavours have seen light of the day. We also take the opportunity to
acknowledge the contribution of Mr. Amit Yadav (Director of Project & Researchand
Mr. S.B. Suman, Head of Department Of Civil Engineering, JP Group of Institutions,
Meerut)for their full support and assistance.

Signature: Date:

Name- Ravikant Yadav

Roll No.- (1028200037)

Name- Pankaj Kumar Sharma

Roll No.- (1028200033)

Name- VipinKumar
Roll No.- (1028200046)

Name- ShubhamKumar
Roll No.- (1028200043)

Name- HitendraKumar
Roll No.- (1028200018)

3
 CERTIFICATE

This is certify that the report of the project submitted is the outcome of the project work
entitled Design of Flexible Pavement at National Highway No. 58 carried out by Ravikant
Yadav (1028200037), Pankaj Kumar Sharma (1028200033), Vipin Kumar (1028200046),
Shubham Kumar (1028200041) Hitendra Kumar (1028200019), Anuj kumar (ML)
(1028200008) under my guidance and supervision for the award of Degree in B.Tech in
Department of CIVIL ENGINEERING of UTTER PRADESH TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY LUCKNOW
at JP Institute of Engineering and Technology, MEERUT.

Project Guide Signature: Examiner Signature:

HOD/Director Signature:

4
 INTRODUCTION

The surface of the roadway should be stable and non-yielding, to allow the heavy wheel load
of road traffic to move with least possible rolling resistance. The road surface should also he
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 fulfil any of the above requirements,
especially during the varying condition of traffic loads and the weather.

The pavement carries the wheel loads and transfers the load stress through a wider area on the
soil subgrade below. Thus the stresses transferred to the subgrade soil through pavement
layers are considerably lower than the contact pressure or compressive stresses under the
wheel load on the pavement surface.

A flexible, or asphalt, pavement typically consists of three or four layers. For a four layer
flexible pavement, there is a surface course, base course, and subbase course constructed over
a compacted, natural soil subgrade. When building a three layer flexible pavement, the
subbase layer is not used and the base course is placed directly on the natural subgrade.
A flexible pavement's surface layer is constructed of hot-mix asphalt (HMA). Unstabilized
aggregates are typically used for the base course; however, the base course could also be
stabilized with asphalt, Portland cement, or another stabilizing agent. The subbase is
generally constructed from local aggregate material, while the top of the subgrade is often
stabilized with cement or lime.
With flexible pavement, the highest stress occurs at the surface and the stress decreases as the
depth of the pavement increases. Therefore, the highest quality material needs to be used for
the surface, while lower quality materials can be used as the depth of the pavement increases.
The term "flexible" is used because of the asphalts ability to bend and deform slightly, then
return to its original position as each traffic load is applied and removed. It is possible for

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these small deformations to become permanent, which can lead to rutting in the wheel path
over an extended time.

The service life of a flexible pavement is typically designed in the range of 15 to 20

years. Required thicknesses of each layer of a flexible pavement vary widely depending on
the materials used, magnitude, and number of repetitions of traffic loads, environmental
conditions, and the desired service life of the pavement. Factors such as these are taken into
consideration during the design process so that the pavement will last for the designed life
without excessive distresses.

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 STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS OF FLEXIBLE
PAVEMENT

Typical layers of conventional flexible pavement includes seal coat, surface course, take coat,
binder course, prime coat, base course, sub-base course, compacted sub-grade and natural
sub-grade.

Seal Coat:
Seal coat is a thin surface treatment used to water proof the surface and to provide skid
resistance.

Tack Coat:
Tack is a very light application of asphalt, usually asphalt emulsion diluted with water. It
provide proper bonding between two layer of binder course and must be thin, uniformly
cover the entire and set very fast.

Prime Coat:
Prime coat is an application of low viscous cutback bitumen to an absorbent surface like
granular bases on which binder layer is placed. It provides binding between two layers.
Unlike tack coat, prime coat penetrates into the layer below, plugs the voids and forms a
water tight surface.

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Surface Course:
Surface course is the layer directly in contact with traffic loads and generally contains
superior quality materials. They are usually constructed with dense graded asphalt concrete
(AC). The functions and requirements of this layer are:

 It provides characteristics such as friction, smoothness, drainage, etc. Also it will

prevent the entrance of excessive quantities of surface water into the underlying base,
sub-base and sub-grade,
 It must be tough to resist the distortion under traffic and provide a smooth and
skid- resistant riding surface,
 It must be water proof to protect the entire base and sub-grade from the weakening
effect of water.

Binder Course:

This layer provides the bulk of the asphalt concrete structure. It's chief purpose isto distribute
load to the base course The binder course generally consists ofaggregates having less asphalt
and doesn't require quality as high as the surfacecourse, so replacing a part of the surface
course by the binder course results inmore economical design.

Base Course:

The base course is the layer of material immediately beneath the surface of binder course and
it provides additional load distribution and contributes to the sub-surface drainage. It may
becomposed of crushed stone, crushed slag, and other untreated or stabilized materials.

Sub-base Course:

The sub-base course is the layer of material beneath the base course and the primary
functions are to provide structural support, improve drainage, and reduce the intrusion of
fines from the sub-grade in the pavement structure If the base course is open graded, then the
sub-base course with more fines can serve as a filler between sub-grade and the base course
A sub-base course is not always needed or used. For example, a pavement constructed over a
high quality, stiff sub-grade may not need the additional features offered by a sub-base
course. In such situations, sub-base course may not be provided.

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Sub-grade:

The top soil or sub-grade is a layer of natural soil prepared to receive the stresses from the
layers above. It is essential that at no time soil sub-grade is overstressed. It should be
compacted to the desirable density, near the optimum moisture content.

TYPES OF FLEXIBBLE PAVEMENT

The following types of construction have been used in flexible pavement:

 Conventional layered flexible pavement,

 Full - depth asphalt pavement, and
 Contained rock asphalt mat (CRAM).

Conventional layered flexible pavement:

Conventional layered flexible pavement are layered systems with high qualityexpensive
materials are placed in the top where stresses are high, and lowquality cheap materials are
placed in lower layers.

Full - depth asphalt pavement:

Full - depth asphalt pavementare constructed by placing bituminous layersdirectly on the soil
sub-grade. This is more suitable when there is hightraffic and local materials are not
available.

Contained rock asphalt mat (CRAM):

Contained rock asphalt mat (CRAM)are constructed by placing dense/opengraded aggregate

layers in between two asphalt layers. Modified densegraded asphalt concrete is placed above
the sub-grade will significantlyreduce the vertical compressive strain on soil sub-grade and
protect fromsurface water.

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 Common Strength Tests Of The Subgrades

Many test are known for measuring the strength properties of the subgrades. Mostly the test
are empirical and are useful for their correlation in the design. Some of the test have been
standerdise for the use. The common strength tests for the evaluation of soil subgrades are:

California Bearing Ratio Test:

It is the ratio of force per unit area required to penetrate a soil mass

with standard circular piston at the rate of 1.25 mm/min. to that required
for the corresponding penetration of a standard material. The California Bearing Ratio Test
(CBR Test) is a penetration test developed by California State Highway
Department(U.S.A.) for evaluating the bearing capacity of subgrade soil for design of flexible
pavement.

Tests are carried out on natural or compacted soils in water soaked or un-soaked conditions
and the results so obtained are compared with the curves of standard test to have an idea of
the soil strength of the subgrade soil.

California Resistance Value Test:

It is found by using Hveem Stabilometer. This test is used in an empirical method of flexible
pavement design based on soil strength.

Tri-axial Compressive Test:

The Tri-axial Compression Test is a laboratory test method that is used to assess

the mechanicalproperties of rocks and fine-grained soils. It provides a measure of the
confined compressive strength as well as the stress-strain characteristics of rock, soil or other
material specimen.

This test is not very commonly used in structural design of pavements. This is because only a
few theoretical methods make use of this tri-axial test results.

Plate Bearing Test:

It measures settlement under load on soils, fill and sub-base to determine whether the ground
has sufficient bearing capacity.  This enables you to get reading such as equivalent CBR
(California Bearing Ratio) on materials that are too large for a standard CBR tests.

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 VARIOUS LAB TESTS ON BITUMEN

Bitumen is a mixture of organic liquids that is black, highly viscous, sticky product used for
paving roads, waterproofing products (used in sealing roofs). There are many tests which are
conducted to check the quality of bitumen. Bitumen is very important component of many
construction sites like roads, highways. Many tests are done to ensure the quality of bitumen.
Some of these are given below:

 Bitumen Content 
 Ductility Of Bitumen
 Penetration of Bitumen
 Specific Gravity of Bitumen
 Softening Point Of Bitumen
 Flash And Fire Point Of Bitumen
 The Marshall Stability of Bituminous Mixture

VARIOUS LAB TESTS ON AGGREGATE

There are many tests which are conducted to check the quality of aggregates. Aggregates are
very important component of concrete, so the quality really matters when it comes to
aggregates.
Various test which are done on aggregates are listed below:

 Sieve Analysis
 Water Absorption 
 Aggregate Impact Value
 Aggregate Abrasion Value
 Aggregate Crushing Value

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  Design Of Flexible Pavement

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
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, thethickness
of layers would vary with CBR of soil and it would affect the cost of the pavement.

Out of the various flexible pavement design methods available, the following are discussed
here:

Design Of Flexible Pavement By Group Index Method:

In order to classify the fine grained soils within one group and for judging their suitability as
sub grade material, an indexing system has been introduced in HRB classification which is
termed as Group Index. Group Index is function of percentage material passing 200 mesh
sieve (0.074mm), liquid limit and plasticity index of soil and is given by equation:
(0.074mm) . Liquid limit and plasticity index of soil and is given by equation:

GI=0.2a+0.005ac+0.01bd

Here,

a=that portion of material passing 0.074mm sieve, greater than 35 And not exceeding 75 %

b=that portion of material passing 0.074mm sieve, greater than 15 And not exceeding 35%

c = that value of liquid limit in excess of 40 and less than 60

d = that value of plasticity index exceeding 10 and not more than 30

Or

GI= (F-35) 0.2+0.05(WL -40) +0.01(F-15) (IP-10)

DATA:

F =66%

WL=55%

IP =31%

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GI = (F-35)0.2+0.05(WL -40)+0.01(F-15)(IP-10) =17.35

So Pavement Thickness =700mm

Thickness of Surface Course =35mm

Thickness of DBM =145mm

Thickness of Base Course=200mm

Thickness of Sub Base=320mm.

California Resistance Value Method:

F.m Hakeem and R.M.Carmany in 1948 provided design method based on stabilometer R-
value and cohesiometer Computer- value.Based on performance data it was established by
Hveem and Car many that pavements thickness varies directly with R value and logarithm of
load repetitions. It varies inversely with fifth root of Computer value. The expression for
pavement thickness is given by the empirical equation.

T=K (TI) (90-R)/C1/5

Here T=total thickness of pavement, cm

K=numerical constant=0.166

TI=traffic index

R=stabilometer resistance value

C =Cohesiometer value

The annual value of equivalent wheel load (EWL) here is the accumulated sum of the
products of the constant and the number of axle loads .The various constant for the different
number of axles in group are given below

Number of axles EWL Constant(Yearly basis)

2 330

3 1070

4 2460

5 4620

6 3040

DATA:

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K =0.166, TI =9.66, R = 44, C =61

Pavements thickness is given by the empirical equation:-

T=K(TI)(90-R)/C1/5

Calculation:

TI = 1.35(EWL)0.11

TI=1.35(32729750)0.11

TI=9.66

T=K(TI)(90-RC)/C1/5

T=0.166(9.66)(90-44)611/5

T=730 mm

So Pavement Thickness =730mm

Thickness Of Surface Course =35mm

Thickness Of DBM =145mm

Thickness Of Base Course=210mm

Thickness Of Sub Base=340mm

Design Of Flexible Pavement By California Bearing Ratio Method:

The following sub sections describe the various variables and parameters involved in design
of flexible pavement of road as per IRC 37 - 2001.

 Traffic- CV/Day Annual traffic census 24 X 7:

For structural design, commercial vehicles are considered. Thus vehicle of gross weight
more than 8 tonnes load are considered in design. This is arrived at from classified
volume count.

 Wheel loads:

Urban traffic is heterogeneous. There is a wide spectrum of axle loads plying on these
roads. For design purpose it is simplified in terms of cumulative number of standard axle
(8160 kg) to be carried by the pavement during the design life. This is expressed in terms
of million standard axles or msa.

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  Design Traffic:

Computation of design Traffic In terms of cumulative number of standard axle to be

carried by the pavement during design life.

365 A [(1+r)n –1]

N = ----------------------------- x F x D
r
Where

N = The cumulative number of standard axles to be catered for in design in terms of

million standard axles - msa.

A = Initial traffic in the year of completion of construction duty modified as shown

below.

D = Lane distribution factor

F = Vehicle damage factor, VDF

n = Design life in years

r = Annual growth rate of commercial vehicles {this can be taken as 7.5% if no data is
available}

OBSERVATION DURING PENETRATION AND DETERMINATION OF CBR:

S.No Penetration Standard load proving ring Plunger

Y(mm) Value (p)(kgf) dial gauge Load on
reading (R) (Pt)=R x f
=R x 1.282
(kgf)

1 0 0 0
2 0.5 10 12.82
3 1.0 18 23.07
4 2.0 33 42.30
5 2.5 1370 54 69.22
6 3.5 63 80.76
7 4.0 71 91.02
8 5.0 2055 78 99.99
9 7.5 85 108.97
10 10.0 91 116.66
11 12.5 102 130.76

DATA:

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 1. Length of Road= 3.45/00 km

2. Traffic intensity as worked out =1001 CV/D Average

3. Growth rate of traffic (assumed) = 7.5%

4. Total Period of Construction =4 months

5. Design C.B.R. of Sub grade Soil=5.00%

6. Design Period of the Road= 10 Years

7. Initial Traffic in the Year of Completion of Construction

A = P x (1 +r) x

Where:

A = Traffic in the year of completion of construction CV/ Day

P = Traffic at last Count April 2013

r = Annual growth rate of traffic

x = Number of years between the last census and the year of completion of
construction

A =1001 x (1 + 0.075) x1 =1076 CV / Day

8. Vehicle Damage Factor =3.5Standard Axle per CV (As per Clause 3.3.4.4 Table 1
of IRC -37 -2001)

9. Design Calculation:

Initial traffic in design lane = Initial traffic x Distribution factor

= 1076 x 0.75 = 807.05 CVPD

N = [365 x {(1+r) x - 1} x A x F] / r =365 x [{(807(1 +0.075)^10-1}x3.5]/0.075 =

14.58 msa Say 15.00 msa

10. Total Pavement Thickness for design C.B.R. = 660 mm (As per Plate - 2 of IRC-
37-2001)

The thickness of individual component layers of flexible pavement by CBR method is

given below:

So pavement thickness =660mm

Thickness of surface course =40mm

Thickness of DBM =70mm

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 Thickness of base course=250mm

Thickness of sub base=300mm.

Tri-axial Method:

L.A.Palmer and E.S.Barber in 1910 proposed the design method based on

Boussinesq’sdisplacement for homogeneous elastic single layer:

The thickness of pavement,

T = √(3P/2∆∏Es)2 –a2

Here T=Pavement thickness, cm

Es=modulus of elasticity of sub grade from triaxialtest result, Kg/cm2

A=radius of contact area, cm

∆=design deflection (0.25 cm)

DATA:

Wheel load=4100Kg

Radius of contact area=15cm

Traffic coefficient=1.5

Rainfall coefficient=1.0

Design deflection=.25cm

E-value of sub grade soil Es=100 Kg/cm2

E-value of base course material Eb =400kg/cm2

CALCULATIONS:

T = √ (3P/2∆∏Es)2 –a2

T= √(3*4100/2*100)2-152

T=740 mm

So Pavement thickness=740mm

Thickness of surface course =35mm

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Thickness of DBM =145mm

Thickness of base course=210mm

Thickness of sub base=350mm.

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 CONCLUSION

The pavement is designed as a flexible pavement upon a black cotton soil sub grade, the CBR
method as per IRC 37-2001 is most appropriate method than available methods.

The pavement is designed as a flexible method from which each method is designed on the
basis of their design thickness from which each method has different cost analysis of a
section, from which CBR as per IRC is most appropriate in terms of cost analysis.

The pavement is designed as a rigid pavement; the method suggested by IRC is most suitable.

It is observed that flexible pavements are more economical for lesser volume of traffic. The
life of flexible pavement is near about 15 years whose initial cost is low needs a periodic
maintenance after a certain period and maintenance costs very high. The life of rigid
pavement is much more than the flexible pavement of about 40 years approx. 2.5 times life of
flexible pavement whose initial cost is much more than the flexible pavement but
maintenance cost is very less.

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 REFERENCES

[1] AASHTO 1993, “AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement Structures”, American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Washington, D.C.

[2] IRC: 37-2001 “Code of guideline for the design of flexible pavement ”, Indian Road
Congress, New Delhi 2001.

[3] IRC: 58-2002 “Code of guideline for the design of plain jointed rigid pavement for
highway”, Indian Road Congress, New Delhi 2002.

Books:

[1] Khanna, S.K., and Justo, C.E.G., (1993), “Highway Engineering”, New Chand and Bros,
7th edition, New Delhi

Thesis:

[1] JAIN,S. Design Of Rigid And Flexible Pavements By Various Methods & Their Cost
Analysis Of Each Method., Samrat Ashok Technological Institute , VIDISHA, MP, 2013.

Journal Papers:

[1] Prasad ,Bageshwar (2007), “Life Cycle Cost Analysis of Cement Concrete Roads Vs.
Bituminous Roads”,Indian Highways, Vol.35, No.9.

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