CONSTRUCTING

THE ROADBEDS
Chapter 7
7-1to3
Presented by: Cometa, Matthew T.
7-1 . Soil as Structure
 Early road constructions have
concentrated mainly on the
road surface pavement. Little
attentions was given to the
base materials, the placing,
compacting of the pavement
foundation etc.
As a result :
 Because of these very expensive
undertakings, highway agencies
were prompted to undertake
researches and studies.
 After a long study of the unending
road failures, they established a
more detailed procedure regarding
to the type and behavior of the
soil.
Three Major Structural Parts:

1.The Sub-grade or Sub base

2.The Base Course
3.The Pavement
1. The Sub-grade or Sub-base
 Is the earth beneath the road,
properly arranged and graded,
compacted and stabilized. It is
defined as the “Supporting
structure on which the
pavement surface and its
special under- courses rest”.
 2. The Base Course
 Is the materials laid on top of
the sub-grade consisting of
crushed stone or gravel,
sometimes mixed with asphalt
binders.
 3. The Pavement
 Is
the material laid over the
base course consisting of
Asphalt Concrete or
Portland Cement Conrete.
7-2 Types of Base Course
Base course is classified into two
types :
1. The
granular base course or
untreated soil mixture
2. Treated base course
 Granular Base Course
 Is a road surface of untreated soil
mixture described as gravel road.
 Gravel road consist largely of
stone pebbles or crushed rock
particles combined with either;
clay, lime, iron oxide or other fine
materials sufficient enough to
serve as binder coarse particles.
 Construction and Maintenance
Requirements of Untreated Gravel
Road Surface
1. That, the road must be stable to support
the super imposed loads w/o detrimental
deformation. It must be resistant against
various traffic activities and could
withstand the abrasive action of traffic.
2. It must shed the large portion of rain that
falls on the surface because water
penetrating the sub grade might soften it
and loosen the surface stability.
3. It must be free from large rocks or
stones over one inch in diameter so
that it could be regularly maintained by
blading or dragging.
4. Gravel road must possess capillarity
properties sufficient enough to replace
the moisture lost through the surface
evaporation. The road must maintain
the desired damp condition that is
required to bind the particles together.
5. On dry weather, the moisture film on the
clay particles should bind the entire mass
together, and in wet weather, the first rain
that fall on the surface, should expand the
clay and close the pores to prevent water
from entering and softening the materials.
6. An excessive amount of highly expensive
clay materials should be avoided because
clay will swell and unseat the coarser
materials when wet and ultimately will
weaken the stability of the road.
7. Gravel road must be low cost.
Funds for low traffic road is very
limited that most of the time
overlooked in the list of appropriation
priorities except on election period.
8. Use local materials. Meaning,
those materials that could be found
nearby the project must be utilized.
 TABLE 1 Gradation Requirements for Soil-Aggregate Materials
Weight Percent Passing Square Mesh Sieves
Sieve Size Typ Typ
eI       e II  
(Square Gradation Gradatio Gradatio Gradation Gradati Gradation
Openings) n   n on  
A B C D E F
     
2-in. (50-mm) 100 100 ... ... ... ...
   
1-in. (25.0- ... 75 to 95 100 100 100 100
mm)    
3⁄8-in. (9.5-mm) 30 to 65 40 to 75 50 to 85 60 to 100 ... ...
   
No. 4 (4.75- 25 to 55 30 to 60 35 to 65 50 to 85 55 to 70 to 100
mm)   100  
No. 10 (2.00- 15 to 40 20 to 45 25 to 50 40 to 70 40 to 55 to 100
mm)   100  
No. 40 (425- 8 to 20 15 to 30 15 to 30 25 to 45 20 to 30 to 70
µm)   50  
No. 200 (75- 2 to 8 5 to 15 5 to 15 8 to 15 6 to 8 to 15
µm)   15  
Subbase Materials
Soil-aggregate materials for subbase shall conform
to the requirements of Section 5 and Table 1for Type
I, Gradation A, B, C, or D, or for Type II, Gradation E
or F. The type and grading desired shall be specified.
NOTE —Where local experience has shown that, in
order to prevent damage by frost action, it is
necessary to have lower percentages of the subbase
materials passing the No. 200 (75-µm) sieve than
are required by Table 1, the engineer should specify
such lower percentages.
Base-Course Materials
Soil-aggregate materials for base course shall
conform to the requirements of Section 5 and
Table 1 for Type I, Gradation A, B, C, or D, or for
Type II, Gradation E or F. The type and grading
desired shall be specified.
NOTE —Where local experience has shown that, in
order to prevent damage by frost action, it is
necessary to have lower percentages of the base-
course materials passing the No. 200 (75-µm) sieve
than are required by Table 1, the engineer should
specify such lower percentages. 
Surface-Course Materials
Soil-aggregate materials for surface
course shall con- form to the
requirements of Section 5 and Table
1 for Type I, Gradation C or D; or for
Type II Gradation E or F. The type
and grading shall be specified.
 7-3 Treated Base Course
 To stabilize the base coarse, it is
sometimes treated with either Asphalt,
Lime, Portland Cement or other materials
as binders mixed with the aggregate base
course.
 Asphalt or bituminous treatment is
employed to waterproof and bind the
granular aggregate to the sand and clay.
Thus, the primary function of the asphalt
The type of asphalt binders for base
course depends on several factors
enumerated as follows :
1. Mixing procedure is either by plant or field
mixing.
2. If mixing is processed in the plant, the
aggregate is heated to specified
temperature and mixed with either;
Asphalt Cement, Cutback asphalt or
Emulsion asphalt.
3. The quality of asphalt is classified as
either for stabilizing or for
waterproofing purposes only.
4. If the purpose is for stability,
mixtures are measured in procedures.
The weight of asphalt in percentage
would probably in the range of 5% to
7%.
5. If the purpose is for
waterproofing only, 2% to 3% of
the asphalt binder is added.
6. If emulsion asphalt is used,
enough water is included in
mixture to allow compaction at
near optimum moisture content.
 Sand and Asphalt Base Course
 Is
composed of either,
loose beach sand, dune pit
or river sand cemented
with asphalt materials.
 Asphalt binders with grade of
asphalt cement for hot plant
mixing should be :
a. Medium viscosity, rapid or
medium curing asphalts.
b. Slow setting emulsified asphalt or
c. Tars of grade RT-6 to RT-10.
 The content of asphalt binder is
in percent by weight ranging
4% to 10%. Compaction is done
using either pneumatic tired or
smooth wheeled roller. In case
the surface is tight and non-
friable, sealing could be
disregarded.
 Fine Grain Asphalt Base
 As asphalt stabilized base and sub-grade
constructed with fine grained has a
controlled Plastic Index of 6 to 10
respectively. Aggregates with Plasticity
Index up to 30 are processed with lime.
Those with up to 50% passing the No. 200
sieve and Plastic Index up to 18 can be
stabilized even without pretreatment.
 Soil and Base Course Stabilized
with Cement
 The use of Portland Cement in stabilizing
soils and aggregates was initially
practiced after World War-1 in 1914.
1.Cement stabilization by mixing natural
materials and Portland Cement compacted
at optimum moisture content and cured to
hydrate the cement is considerably strong
and stable base. It is less susceptible to
deformation caused by moisture and
temperature changes.
2. Comparatively, this is less
rigid than the Portland cement
concrete because its modulus of
elasticity ranges from 100,000
for clay soils with little cement
up to 1,000,000 for the strong
mixture. Its compressive
strength ranges from 300psi to
3. Portland cement concrete
modulus of elasticity ranges
3 million to 6 million with
compressive strength of
about 3,000 to 5,000 psi.
The stabilized cement mixture is called
“Soil Cement” produced by using
abundant native local materials
subdivided into three types :
1. Sandy and gravelly soils containing
less than 25% silt and clay.
2. Sand w/ lesser amount of fines like
beach sand, glacial and windblown
sand.
3. Silty and Clayey Soils.
 Materials having plasticity index
greater than 30 is rarely used, unless
lime is added. Materials w/ high PH of
sulfate content are not advisable for
use. The cement content for stabilized
mixture ranges from 5% to 14% by
volume of 3% to 16% by weight of dry
aggregates. Sandy and gravelly soils
required less amount of cement, unlike
the silty and clayey soils that needs
 The dry densities of cement stabilize
mixture compacted by AASHTO standard
methods, ranges from 135lb per ft3 for a
well graded gravel down to 85lb/ft3 for
silty or clayey soils, the recommended
field density is about 95%. The quality of
aggregate cement mixture is measured by
its ability to resist abrasion and
disintegration. Other methods of testing
for stabilize cement is the Unconfined and
Tri-axial Compression and Flexure Tests.