Thickness Design of

Paved and Gravel

Roads

Dr. E Fungo
University of Dar es Salaam
 Paved Roads
 Granular base course and
subbase
 The typical mode of distress in fully
granular pavements is deformation arising
from shear or densification within the
granular pavement materials themselves
commonly the base course
 The pavement type is highly sensitive to
timely periodic maintenance by resealing
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Paved Roads
Cemented subbase and
granular base course
 The use of a cemented subbase
improves the load bearing capacity
of the pavement by reducing surface
deflections; hence strain in the
bituminous surfacing

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Paved Roads
 High compacted density of the granular
base course can be achieved by having a
firm platform underneath and safe use of
‘slush’ techniques is enabled by the low
sensitivity to moisture in the subbase
material

 Cemented subbase shall be the preferred

in areas with scarcity of natural gravel,
provided this is economically viable
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Paved Roads
 Bituminous mixes for base
course
 The modes of distress in bituminous
base courses can be deformation or
fatigue cracking depending on site
conditions and material properties
 The subbase used in this pavement is
either granular or lightly cemented

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Paved Roads
 Penetration macadam base
course
 Penetration macadam is made by spraying
relatively large amounts of bitumen on a
layer of coarse aggregate without fines
 Penetration macadam effectively arrests
crack reflection from underlying layers
when used in overlays

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Paved Roads
 Semi-rigid pavements
 Semi-rigid pavements are those utilising
cemented materials in the base
course layer or both the base course and
subbase layer
 Where both base course and subbase are
cemented this pavement type is a viable
option for high traffic conditions
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 Gravel Road Design
• Gravel road pavements are designed for roads
where AADT is less than 300 at the time of
construction, unless otherwise directed by the
Ministry of infrastructure Development

• Design Principles
• The most essential consideration in the design of
gravel roads is to ensure all-weather access

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Gravel roads
 Surface performance
 The performance of the gravel surface depends
on material quality, the location of the road
and the traffic volume using the road
 Gravel roads passing through populated areas
in particular require materials that do not
generate excessive dust in dry weather
 Steep gradients places particular demands
for gravel wearing course materials that do not
become slippery in wet weather, or erode
easily

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Gravel roads
 Maintenance
 The material requirements for the gravel wearing course include
provision of a gravel surface that is effectively maintainable
 Adherence to the limits on oversize particles in the material is
of particular importance in this regard
 The particles will be exposed and knocked off by traffic
resulting in high surface roughness and traffic hazard.
 Riding quality is affected
 Sufficient reshaping is prevented
 Can lead to potholes when dislodged during grading

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Gravel roads
 Pavement and materials
 Depending on the CBRdesign of the subgrade,
improved subgrade layers shall be
constructed as required, on which the gravel
wearing course is placed
 Crossfall and drainage
 The crossfall of carriageway and shoulders
for gravel roads shall be 4- 6%, depending on
local conditions

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Gravel Wearing Course (GW) for Fully
Engineered Gravel Roads

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Performance of gravel wearing course
material

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Pavement Design - Major Gravel Roads

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Pavement Design - Minor Gravel Roads

• Used where budgetary constraints or other reasons does not allow the
construction of full engineered gravel road
• Limited to roads with max. AADT of 50
• GW material standards shall be aimed, however, CBR can be reduced to 15%
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 Gravel roads
 Conventional thickness design is not usually
applied to gravel roads and a nominal thickness of
150 mm of wearing course material is suggested

 Alternatively, an estimate thickness can be

calculated using the original US Army Corps of
Engineers relationship or the modified equation by
TRL

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 Thickness Design…
 TRL assumes a terminal US Army Corps of Engineers:
rut depth of 40mm in
subgade while original
relationship assumes TRL:
75mm

N= No. of standard 80 kN
axles
h= Thickness (mm) of
granular material
CBR = Subgrade CBR (%)

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