PAVEMENT DESIGN

What is Design?
Conceive/ Develop plans for something to
serve a specific function
Pavement Function?
Provide smooth, durable and safe vehicle
access between two points under all
climatic conditions
RELIANCE ON ROAD NETWORK
100
95% 90%
90
80

Passenger Traffic
Freight Traffic
70
60

% 50
40
30
20 8%
10
5% 0% 2%
0

ROAD RAIL

ROAD RAIL AIR

 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Concept of paved highways with the
beginning of automobile era in late 1800s
is WRONG.
Signs of road construction in ancient
Egypt relate with the discovery of
WHEEL, 3500 B.C.
Romans were the first scientific road
builders, initiated VIA APPIA, or the
APPIAN way of road construction in 312
B.C. Generally, 3 to 5 feet thick structure
in 3 layers.
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
This practice continued for 2000 years
until superseded by MacAdam’s Light –
Wearing Course Surface in 19th Century.
Most of the earlier work done by the
Europeans
John MacAdam (1756-1836) is the father
of modern pavement construction. His
road x-section is based on the principle of
drained compacted base layer to support
the load and aggregate wearing course as
surfacing.
 ROMAN ROADS

Types of Roman Roads

 Ordinary roman roads
 Important Roman roads

 Built in straight line regardless of gradient

 Excavated parallel trenches 40-ft apart for
longitudinal drainage
 Foundation raised 3-ft above ground level
 Embankment covered with sand or mortar
 CROSS-SECTION
(Ordinary Roman Roads)

1) Foundation layer (10-24inch),composed of

large stones
2) Firm base 9-in thick made of broken stones,
pebbles, cement and sand
3) Nucleus layer about 12-in thick using
concrete made from gravel and coarse sand
4) Wearing surface of large stone slabs at least
6-in deep
5) Total thickness varied from 3ft to 6ft
Ordinary Roman
roads
 CROSS-SECTION
(Important Roman Roads)

 Bottom coarse (25-40cm) made of large

size broken stones in lime mortar
 Base coarse (25-40cm) made with
smaller broken stones in lime mortar
 Wearing coarse (10-15cm) of dressed
large stone blocks/slabs set in lime
mortar
 Total thickness varied 0.75 to 1.20 m
 Heavily crowned central carriage way
15ft wide(total width 35ft)
HIGHWAY AND AIRFIELD PAVEMENTS
Highways are generally 24 feet wide
Runways are 150 feet wide
Taxiways 75 feet wide
Runways are always crowned, whereas, highways
may or may not.
Taxiways and runway ends are constructed using
thicker section than the central portion, due to
high concentration of traffic.
HIGHWAY AND AIRFIELD PAVEMENTS

Rigid Highways, if without base/subbase

layer, due to heavy distresses always
show pumping.
Airfield pavements comparatively show
less pumping.
Highways; more distresses at the edge of
the pavement.
Airfield pavements do not show edge
distresses.
 HIGHWAY AND AIRFIELD
PAVEMENTS
Major difference are repetition of load,
distribution of traffic and geometry of
pavement.
For a given wheel load and tire pressure,
Highway Pavements are thicker than
Airfield Pavements. Due to high repetition
of load on highway pavements and due to
close application to the edges.
 HIGHWAY AND AIRFIELD
PAVEMENTS

However, as the gross weight of aircraft

is very high with the result that airfield
pavements are actually thicker in practice.
FRAMEWORK OF PAVEMENT DESIGN

TYPES OF FAILURES

Structural Failure

Functional Failure
 STRUCTURAL FAILURE

Collapse or a breakdown of one or more of

the pavement components of such
magnitude to make the pavement
incapable of sustaining loads imposed on
the surface.
 FUNCTIONAL FAILURE

May or may not include structural failure,

however, the pavement will not carry out
its intended function without causing
distress and discomfort to passengers or
high stresses to the vehicle due to surface
roughness.
 CAUSES OF DISTRESS

Overloading

High load repetitions

High tire pressure
Climatic and environmental conditions
Freeze-Thaw or Dry-Wet
 SERVICEABILITY
Serviceability is used to describe how “GOOD” a
pavement is.
Developed during AASHO Road Tests.
Present Serviceability Index (PSI)
Used as a measure of serviceability.
Rating scale 0 to 5.
PSI = 5 – Perfect pavement
PSI = 0 – Imperfect pavement
Done by a panel of individuals.
Based on objective measurements made on
pavement surface.
 SERVICEABILITY

Longitudinal Roughness.
Amount of Cracking and Patching.
Rut Depth for Flexible Pavements.
 PSI EQUATION

For Flexible Pavement

PSI = 5.03 - 1.9 log(1+SV) - 0.01√(C+P)

– 1.38(RD)²

For Rigid Pavement

PSI = 5.41-1.8 log(1+SV)-0.09√(C+P)

 ABBREVIATIONS
PSI – Pavement serviceability index
C – Linear feet of cracking per 1000 sq
feet area
P – Bituminous patching in sq ft / 1000 sq
ft area
SV – Slope Variance
RD – Rut Depth in inches (both wheel
tracks) measured with 4 feet straight edge
AGENCY ABBREVIATIONS

AASHTO – American Association of State

Highway and Transportation Officials
FAA – Federal Aviation Administration
AI – Asphalt Institute
TRL – Transportation Research
Laboratory
ARRB – Australian Road Research Board
FHWA – Federal Highway Administration
 AGENCY ABBREVIATIONS
NCHRP – National Cooperative Highway
Research Program
TRB – Transportation Research Board
NHA – National Highway Authority
NTRC – National Transportation Research
Centre
ASTM – American Standards for Testing
Materials
BSS – British Standard Specifications
ACI – American Concrete Institute