Correlation between Functional Properties and Structural

Properties of Flexible Pavement

Nurzahrin Mohmad Barudin1, Haryati Yaacob2
1
Undergraduate, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
2
Lecturer, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
zahrinbarudin@yahoo.com

Keywords: Functional properties; Structural properties; Flexible pavement; Non-destructive test

Abstract: The functional properties and structural properties are very important in order to evaluate and determine the
pavements performance. This study had measured the functional properties and structural properties on selected road. The
correlations between these properties were developed and identified. The study had collected 1198 numbers of data for
International Roughness Index (IRI), Rut Depth and texture depth. While for structural properties, 120 numbers of elastic
Modulus and 12 numbers of California Bearing Ratio (CBR) data has been measured. These data have been collected by
using Multi Laser Profiler (MLP), Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) and Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP). The
data collection was done along 60 km of road located in Muar. Regression analysis shows that the coefficient of
correlation, R obtained for all parameter is near to 0. These results generally conclude that there were no correlations
between the functional properties and structural properties.

INTRODUCTION
Functional properties and structural properties are key pavement performance indicators. There are two types of pavement
failures; consist functional failure and structural failure. The first type is functional failure, describes the incapable of
pavement in carrying out their functions at the intended serviceability; causing discomfort to passengers or high stresses to
vehicles given their excessive roughness. The second type is structural failure, describes a pavement structures incapable
of carrying the traffic loads imposed. The conditions of flexible pavement are important to ensure the roads are always in a
safe and comfortable to use. Comfort and road safety is also influenced by the nature of the functional properties and
structural properties of the road.

Problem Statement
The relationship between these two indicators has been a topic of frequent and continuing discussion in the pavement
community, but to date an accepted and widely used relationship has not been identified. Perhaps this functional properties
and structural properties could be related each other. Flexible pavements also have preferences with the multiple pattern of
damage caused either functional failure or structure failure or both. Therefore, the functional properties and structural
properties are very important in order to evaluate and determine the pavements performance. The relationship between
deterioration of functional properties and structural properties of a pavement need to be further explored. Therefore this
study will further look into various probabilities of the correlations between the functional properties and structural
properties.

Objectives
The objectives of this study are:
1. To determine and assess the functional properties and structural properties on selected road.
2. To evaluate the correlation between structural properties and functional properties on flexible pavement.

Scope of Study
This research has involve three (3) different site testing consists of Jalan Muar – Yong Peng (FT24), Jalan Parit Yusuf
(FT085) and Jalan Pintasan Muar (FT224). The types of material on the road involved are asphaltic concrete for surface
layer and granular base for road base. This research had focused only on data collection relates to IRI, rut depth, texture
depth, elastic modulus and CBR by conducting non-destructive tests. The study was involved data collection by non-
destructive test by using the Multi Laser Profiler (MLP), falling weight deflectometer (FWD) and dynamic cone
penetrometer (DCP).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Findings from Rada et al. (2012)(Figure 1), shows that there’s no correlation between riding quality and structural
properties of the road. This study concludes that a good riding quality does not represent a good structural support. Clearly,
pavement structural and functional performances are not independent of each other, even though they are not related in a
one-to-one manner that can provide a Pavement Management System (PMS) shortcut. However, this does not mean that
structural parameters are not important for consideration in roughness prediction models, that roughness could not be one
factor in the rate of structural deterioration, or that many common factors do not affect both roughness and structural
capacity.(Rada et al, 2012).

Figure 1: Relationship between percent change in IRI and SN. (Rada et al, 2012)

According to Jyoti S.Trivedi, and Rakesh Kumar (2015) the strength parameters of subgrade and granular layer are
correlated with the permanent deformations characteristics. The characteristics of subgrade, granular and base layer
material properties have a significant impact on the performance of the flexible pavement. On this study, the correlation of
CBR and modulus of elasticity are moderated with the rutting. The characteristic of deflection, California bearing ratio
(CBR) were correlated individually with the rutting measurement and sensitivity analysis that has been performed. The
result shows that characteristic deflection and modulus of elasticity of subgrade, and granular layer individually consists
good relation with rutting value. Findings from Y. Richard Kim and Heemun Park (2002), also concludes that the rutting
prediction procedure using multi-load level deflections can estimate an excessive level of rutting quite well and, thus,
improve the quality of prediction for rutting potential in flexible pavements

As additional, the correlation between functional parameter itself was also explored by Yero et. al (2012). Findings from
Yero et. al (2012) shows weak correlation between texture depth and roughness index of the road surfaces. But the general
trend shows a weak positive correlation where a higher the texture depth will leads to a higher roughness index.

Apart from that, based on Lin et al, (2003), the results of the analysis prove that IRI can be used either to evaluate the
quality of pavement projects or to fully respond to the characteristics of the pavement deterioration process, which can be
used as the basis for road maintenance evaluation

METHODOLOGY
For this study three different site testing (roads) were identified, located in Muar, Johor. The data collection was done
along 60 km of road. Figure 2 below shows the location of study.

Figure 2: Site location

For functional properties, the data was collected at every 100m interval on by using Multi-laser Profiler, that produced
1198 numbers of data for IRI, rut depth and texture depth. While for structural properties there were two non-destructive
tests was conducted. First, data collection at every 1000m interval by using falling weight deflectometer that produced 120
numbers of data for elastic modulus young. For second test, CBR data was collected at every 5000m interval by using
dynamic cone penetrometer which produced 12 numbers of data in total. All tests were conducted at both directions of the
road. Figure 3 below shows the research flow that was conducted in this study.

Figure 3: Research flow chart

RESULTS
Pavement functional data
Measured IRI, rut depth and texture depth were classified as good, fair, poor or bad based on criteria provided by
Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) (OPUS, 2015). The results were summarized in Table 1. Figure 4 shows the
percentage for International Roughness Index. It can be seen here, in terms of roughness, 31 % of the roads are in good
conditions. Only 20% of the roads are in bad while the rest are in fair and poor conditions. Figure 5 shows the rut depth
value for 60km of road. It shows that 85% of the road are in good condition with maximum rut depth value of less than
5mm. For texture depth, Figure 6 clearly shows that 69% of the road are in good conditions.

Table 1: Summary of Pavement Functional Properties

Functional Properties Numbers of Data Percentage

International Roughness Index (m/km)

Good <2 370 31%
Fair 2-3 399 33%
Poor 3 - 3.8 188 16%
Bad > 3.8 241 20%
Total 1198 100%
Rut Depth (mm)
Good <5 1019 85%
Fair 5 - 10 152 13%
Poor 10 - 20 27 2%
Bad > 20 0 0%
Total 1198 100%
Texture Depth (mm)
Good < 0.5 832 69%
Fair 0.3 - 0.5 318 27%
Poor <0.5 48 4%
Total 1198 100%
Figure 4: International Roughness Index

Figure 5: Rut Depth Figure 6: Texture Depth

Pavement structural data

Elastic modulus and CBR values were measured and classified based criteria provided by Malaysian Public Work
Department.(JKR,1994 and JKR, 2013). The results were summarized in Table 2 and presented in Figure 7 (elastic
modulus) and Figure 8 (CBR).
Table 2: Summary of Pavement Structural Properties

Range to Types of Layer Numbers of Data Percentage

Structural
Category (E1) (E2) (ES) (E1) (E2) (ES) (E1) (E2) (ES)
Bituminous Granular Base Subgrade Bituminous Granular Base Subgrade Bituminous Granular Base Subgrade
Elastic Modulus (Mpa)
POOR <1500 <200 < 50 47 35 0 39% 29% 0%
SATISFACTORY 1500 - 2500 200-300 50-100 16 25 26 13% 21% 22%
SOUND >2500 >300 >100 57 60 94 48% 50% 78%
Total 120 120 120 100% 100% 100%
California Bearing Ratio (%)
ABOVE MIN. LIMIT NA >80 >5 NA 3 3 NA 25% 25%
BELOW MIN. LIMIT NA <80 <5 NA 9 9 NA 75% 75%
Total NA 12 12 NA 100% 100%
 (E1) Bituminous (E2) Granular Base (ES) Subgrade

Figure 7: Elastic Modulus

Figure 8: California bearing ratio

Correlation between elastic modulus and IRI; rut depth; texture depth
Figure 9 shows the correlation between elastic modulus (for different structural layers) and IRI. The correlations
coefficient, r, were found to be within the range -0.2975 to 0.039, showing no correlations at all. This results agrees with
the findings by Rada et. al (2012), where the study concludes that a good riding quality is not totally depending on the
structural layers materials properties.
Similar result has been found when looking at correlations between elastic modulus and rut depth as presented in Figure
10. Correlation coefficient, r, which is near to zero indicates no correlation at all between these properties. This result
slightly contradict from what been found by Jyoti S.Trivedi, and Rakesh Kumar (2015), where a moderate correlation
between elastic modulus and rutting properties was reported.
A negative correlations was also found between elastic modulus of asphalt layer and texture depth. With correlation
coefficient – 0.1401 , it shows that with a lower elastic modulus for asphalt layer, lower texture depth was recorded. Less
stiffness on asphalt mixture has led to a deeper embedment of aggregates which contributes to a lower texture depth.
However, this correlation was considered as very weak since r value is very near to zero as presented in Figure 11.
 Figure 9: Correlation between Elastic Modulus and IRI

Figure 10: Correlation between Elastic Modulus and Rut Depth

Figure 11: Correlation between Elastic Modulus and Texture Depth

Correlation between CBR and IRI; rut depth
Figure 12 and Figure 13 show the correlations between CBR (roadbase and subgrade) towards IRI and rut depth
respectively. With correlations coefficient, r, approaching near to zero, it is clearly shows that are no correlations observed
between structural property (CBR) and functional properties ( IRI and texture depth). Again, these results were contradicts
with findings by Jyoti S.Trivedi, and Rakesh Kumar (2015)

Figure 12: Correlation between CBR and IRI

Figure 13: Correlation between CBR and Rut Depth

Correlation between functional properties
This study also looks at the correlation between functional properties itself. Figure 13 and Figure 14 both present the
correlations between IRI with texture depth and rut depth. A very weak positive correlation was found between IRI and rut
depth with a correlations coefficient of 0.2388, while no correlation was observed between IRI and texture depth with R
value near to zero. These results agree with the findings by Yero et. al (2012) where a very weak correlations was observed
between IRI and texture depth.

Figure 13: Correlation between IRI and rut depth

Figure 14: Correlation between IRI and texture depth

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
The results obtained from this study indicate that there are no correlations (r near to zero) and some with very low
correlations (r < 0.5) between functional and structural properties. These outcomes might be due to the lack of variations in
data conditions severity. Most of the functional and structural data (> 60%) presented in this study were found to be in
good and fair conditions. With a very minimum numbers of poor and bad conditions data had led to a weak /no
correlations between these properties. Apart from that, CBR data measured from DCP test was more to a spot measuring
test which represents a small specific area of the road while the rest of the tests were considered as network survey where
data collections were more precise at smaller scale and had been average at certain length depending on the setting of the
equipment. Different data collection accuracy which represents the conditions of the pavement at existing locations might
be another reason which contributes to these weak/no correlations results between structural and functional properties.
Besides that, the functional and structural data collections were done separately at different time approximately 3 months
apart. With 3 months different, there’ll be possibility that the conditions of the pavement had slightly changed and
therefore, the structural data collected were not denote purely to the earlier functional conditions measured. And this could
be another reason that cause to this weak/ poor correlations observed in this study

CONCLUSION
From the results obtained, the following conclusions were drawn;

3. In terms of functional and structural conditions, more than 60 % of the road measured, were considered in good
and fair conditions.

4. There were no correlations observed between structural and functional properties of the road, with some
conditions showing a very weak correlation.

References

[1] Rada, Perera, Prabhakar and Wiser, Relating Ride Quality and Structural Adequacy for Pavement Rehabilitation
and Management Decisions, Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, January 22 – 26, 2012.Washington
D.C
[2] Jyoti S.Trivedi, and Dr.Rakesh Kumar, Impact of Subgrade and Granular Layer Material Properties on Rutting
American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture 2015, vol. 3(3): 64-70
[3] Y. Richard Kim and Heemun Park, Use of Falling Weight Deflectometer Multi-Load Data for Pavement Strength
Estimation, North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC;2002
[4] Suleiman Arafat Yero, Mohd. Rosli Hainin & Haryati Yacoob, Texture Depth, Pendulum Test Value and
Roughness Index, International Journal of Recent Research and Applied Studies (IJRRAS), 2012) Vol. 13 (1): 104
– 109
[5] Lin et al, Correlation Analysis Between International Roughness Index (IRI) and Pavement Distress by Neural
Network, 82th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, January 2003, Washington, D.C.
[6] OPUS Management Sdn. Bhd., Pavement Condition Assessment along North-South Expressway for Year 2014.
Executive Summary, January 2015.
[7] Jabatan Kerja Raya, Interim Guide To Evaluation And Rehabilitation of Flexible Road Pavement, Kuala Lumpur
Cawangan Jalan; 3.1 – 3.31; 1994.
[8] Jabatan Kerja Raya, Manual for the structural design of flexible pavement. ATJ 5/85 (pindaan 2013), Kuala
Lumpur Cawangan Kejuruteraan Jalan dan Geoteknik, 1 – 17; 2013