PAVEMENT DESIGN MANUAL

ANNEX 1
General Requirements for the Pavement Design

The following requirements should be fulfilled for road pavement design for Abu Dhabi Emirate
projects;

4. General Design Considerations

A. The designed pavement layer thickness should be based on full design calculations (as
specified in this manual) and not referring to tables to estimate minimum Asphalt layer
requirement for the project. The values of minimum required asphalt layer thickness for
different road class addressed in this manual, should be used as a final check after
conducting full design calculation as per this manual.

B. As per this manual, Empirical Pavement Design procedure shall be conducted, and
design check to be applier using the Mechanistic – Empirical Design Method,

C. In case that an existing pavement to be considered in pavement design, full pavement

condition evaluation study is required (as per this manual) to assess the current
pavement condition and recommend the required action(s) to be taken to ensure
proper utilization of the existing asphalt pavement along the project life,

D. Several pavement design options should be studied and value engineering optimized
(Technically, Financially and Environmentally) based on sustainability criteria to
achieve the following;
ƒ Longer Pavement Service Life,
ƒ Less overall Life-Cycle Cost,
ƒ Faster and more economical Constructability.
ƒ Faster and more sustainable Maintenance Activities,
ƒ Saving in raw material, water and energy consumption,
ƒ Have Less Carbon Emissions and Less Impact on Natural Environment,
ƒ Studying the Utilization of non-traditional solutions (such as Pavement Recycling,
Asphalt Mix Additives, Recycled Materials, Design Using Geosynthetics ….) to
achieve more sustainable pavement design on project basis

5. Required Basic Related Studies,

A. To review and issue No Objection on pavement design for any project in Abu Dhabi
Emirate, an Geotechnical Study (approved by the relevant governmental Engineer /
Authority) is a major requirement. The relevant Geotechnical information should be
submitted to the Abu Dhabi Emirate relevant authority, then reviewed and an official No
Objection should be issued accordingly, attached with conditions (if any), then the
accepted geotechnical report, attached with the geotechnical No Objection conditions
to be submitted to Road Pavement Design Reviewer for consideration. In some cases
(if any) that no need for geotechnical study, or some previous geotechnical information
are used in the pavement design, this should be accepted by the relevant
governmental geotechnical specialist.

B. Traffic Study of the project area including ; The existing and expected ADT (Average
Daily Traffic) or PHV (Peak Hour Volume) and the traffic classification(Composition) of
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different traffic vehicles that expected to utilize the project area along the pavement life
and Traffic Growth Factor along the road design life (In addition to all other
requirements of the project traffic Study as required by Abu Dhabi Emirate relevant
Traffic Specialist / Authority). In case of Non – Available Traffic Study, Traffic Estimates
should be accepted by the Abu Dhabi Government relevant specialist / Authority.

C. Any other study (or information) that may be required as an input data for Pavement
Design Analysis, should be submitted, Reviewed and Accepted by the Governmental
relevant Specialist / Authority.

6. Pavement Design Report Contents

The pavement design report (or section in an overall design report) should fulfill (but Not
limited to) the minimum standard required contents as follows;

1 Introduction,
- Project Information (Location, Area, scope, objective, etc)
- Land Use of Project area and adjacent areas,
- Road Hierarchy of roads included in project scope,

2 Reference Standards of Pavement Design,

3 Selected values of Reliability (R), Standard Deviation (S0), and Standard

normal Deviation (ZR) according to road hierarchy.

4 Design Geotechnical Data,

The following geotechnical data are considered as minimum requirement for pavement
design purpose. Further testing and Geo-Physical / Geotechnical requirements that may
be required by Abu Dhabi Emirate Geotechnical Specialist to fulfill the Geo-Physical /
Geotechnical scope should be fulfilled by the consultant.

- Summary of Approved Project Geotechnical Report Results,

- Soil Classification and Selected value of Soil CBR,
- Highest Ground Water table, and related recommendations of Geotechnical
study,
- Soil Resilient Modulus (MR) value, and method of MR calculation, (as per
this Manual)
- Geotechnical study recommendations that should be adopted in Pavement
design (if any),

5 Pavement Layers Material Properties, (As Per this Manual and Abu Dhabi
Emirates relevant Standard Specifications).
- Mr value of Supporting Soil,
- Mr value of Pavement layers,
- Layer coefficient (a) for different pavement layers,
- Drainage factor of granular base course and sub-base layer.

6 Design Traffic Data, (As Per this Manual and as agreed with the relevant
authority design reviewer);
- Summary of Approved Traffic Study results,
- Selected peak hour traffic volume,
- Calculated Average Daily Traffic ADT,
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- Traffic Classification percentage of different traffic vehicle types utilizing the

project area,
- Traffic growth factor along pavement design life,
- Truck factor for different types of traffic vehicles,
- Selected Traffic Parameters, Directional Distribution factor (Dd), and Lane
Distribution factor (Ld),..etc.
- Calculation of Predicted number of ESALs equivalent single axle load W18,

7 Pavement Design Calculations,

- Calculation of SN for each pavement layer,
- Calculation of Pavement layers thickness design options,
- Layered – Analysis Check for Each Pavement Layer,
- Minimum Asphalt Thickness Check,
- Design Calculation Check, using Mechanistic – Empirical Design Method (as
per this Manual),
- Comparison between different pavement design options (Technically,
Financially and Environmentally),
- Selected Pavement layers thickness for different design options in the
project, showing the bases of selection,

8 Recommendations,
- Recommended Pavement Section(s), Considering Standard Drawings and
Specifications,

9 After Getting No – Objection on Final Pavement Design for the Project, the
consultant is requested to submit the project pavement design data in GIS
format. The GIS format to be discussed and agreed with the Abu Dhabi
Government related Pavement Design Reviewer and GIS Specialist.

10 Appendices,
- Appendix (A),
i. Project Location Map & Satellite Image,
ii. Land Use Plan (for Different land use inside the project),
iii. Road Hierarchy Plan,

- Appendix (B), Pavement Design Drawings,

i. Plan showing different pavement types,
ii. Pavement structure details for all types of pavement,
iii. Construction details, including Tie – Inn, widening, connection details
for different types of pavements, and connections between old & new
pavements,

- Appendix (C), Traffic Study Data,

i. Official Traffic No Objection, and its conditions (if any),
ii. Summary of Traffic Volumes, selected for Pavement Design
Calculations.

- Appendix (D), Geotechnical Study Data,

i. Official Geotechnical No Objection, and its conditions (if any),
ii. Plan of boreholes and test pits locations,
iii. Soil profile including proposed design level, ground water level and
soil layers along project roads,

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