Chapter 7

Structural Design of
Pavement
 General Introduction
o The purpose of structural design of pavement is to
limit the stresses induced in the subgrade by traffic
to a safe level at which sub-grade deformation is
insignificant

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 Cont’d
o Distress due to wheel loading

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 Cont’d

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 Cont’d
o In most design methods it is assumed that, adequate
routine and periodic maintenance is carried out
during the design period
o Since it is impossible to design a road pavement
which does not deteriorate in some way with time
and traffic structural design plays

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 Cont’d
 Generally, there are three main steps to be followed
in designing a new road pavement:-
1. Estimating the amount of traffic and the cumulative
number of equivalent standard axles
2. Assessing the strength of the subgrade soil over
which the road is to be built
3. Selecting the most economical combination of
pavement materials and layer thicknesses

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 Cont’d
 The basic idea in building a pavement for all weather use
by a traffic is to prepare a suitable sub-grade, to provide
necessary drainage and construct the pavement that will:-
o Have sufficient total thickness and internal strength to
carry expected traffic loads.
o Have adequate properties to minimize internal
accumulation of moisture.
o Have a surface that is reasonably smooth and skid
resistant at the same time  resistant to wear, distortion
and deterioration by weather

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 Cont’d
 According to ERA pavement design manual,
pavements can be defined as the structural part
which aim at reducing stress which comes from the
vehicular or other loads and safely transmit to the
sub-grade soil

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 Cont’d
Generally pavements can be classified as either
 flexible pavement
 rigid pavements.
 A number of factors affect the choice of pavement types,
flexible or rigid.
 Design period
 Maintenance requirement
 Initial cost
 Surface characteristics and
 The availability of materials
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