TYPES OF

PAVEMENT

Flexible Rigid
Pavements Pavements
 FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS

Flexible Pavements are

constructed from bituminous or
unbound material and the stress is
transmitted to the sub-grade
through the lateral distribution of
the applied load with depth.
 Wheel Load

Bituminous Layer

Sub-grade
Vertical stress

Foundation stress
 Load , W

Pavement Structure

P0
P0

P1
P1

(b)
Subgrade (a)
Concrete Slab

Sub-grade
 PRINCIPLES OF PAVEMENT
DESIGN
 The tensile and compressive stresses induced in a
pavement by heavy wheel loads decrease with increasing
depth. This permits the use, particularly in flexible
pavements, of a gradation of materials, relatively strong
and expensive materials being used for the surfacing and
less strong and cheaper ones for base and sub-base.

 The pavement as a whole limit the stresses in the sub-

grade to an acceptable level, and the upper layers must in
a similar manner protect the layers below.
 PRINCIPLES OF PAVEMENT
DESIGN

Pavement design is the process of developing the

most economical combination of pavement layers
(in relation to both thickness and type of
materials) to suit the soil foundation and the
traffic to be carried during the design life.
 DESIGN LIFE

The concept of design life has to be

introduced to ensure that a new road will
carry the volume of traffic associated with
that life without deteriorating to the point
where reconstruction or major structural
repair is necessary
 PERFORMANCE AND FAILURE
CRITERIA
A road should be designed and constructed
to provide a riding quality acceptable for
both private cars and commercial vehicles
and must perform the functions i.e.
functional and structural, during the design
life.
 ASPECTS OF DESIGN

Functional Structural

Can sustain
Safety Riding Quality
Traffic Load
 SOURCES OF PREMATURE PAVEMENT FAILURE

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Construction Practices Construction Practices

& &
Quality Control Quality Control

Inadequately Designed Pavements Will Fail Prematurely Inspite

Of Best Quality Control & Construction Practices
WHAT IS PAVEMENT DESIGN

Strength

Safety

Comfort
 How to make natural ground (soil)
strong enough to take traffic loads?

Replace it? Improve it? Protect it?

Pavement Thickness Design is the determination of required thickness
of various pavement layers to protect a given soil condition for a given
wheel load.
Given Wheel Load

150 Psi
Asphalt Concrete Thickness?
Base Course Thickness?
Subbase Course Thickness? 3 Psi

Given In Situ Soil Conditions

 PAVEMENT DESIGN PROCESS

Climate/Environment

Load Magnitude
Traffic
Volume
Asphalt Concrete
Base
Material
Properties Subase
Roadbed Soil (Subgrade)
Comprehensive Definition
Pavement Thickness
Design is the
Truck
determination of
thickness of various
pavement layers (various Asphalt Concrete Thickness ?
paving materials) for a
given soil condition and Base Course? Thickness ?
the predicted design
traffic that will provide Sub-base Course Thickness ?
the desired structural and
functional performance • Pavement Design Life = Selected
over the selected
pavement design life. • Design Traffic = Predicted
• Structural/Functional Performance = Desired
 WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ?

 SELECTED DESIGN LIFE

DESIGN LIFE OF CIVIL ENGINEERING STRUCTURES?
 Each traffic load repetition causes a certain
amount of damage to the pavement structure Thus, pavements are
that gradually accumulates over time and designed to perform
eventually leads to the pavement failure. for a certain life span
before reaching an
unacceptable degree
They are subjected of deterioration
to moving traffic
loads that are
repetitive in nature

In other words,
pavements are
Pavements are designed to fail.
alive Hence, they have a
structures certain design life.
 WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ?

 SELECTED DESIGN LIFE

 DESIRED STRUCTURAL AND

FUNCTIONAL
PERFORMANCE
 WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ?

 SELECTED DESIGN LIFE

 DESIRED STRUCTURAL AND

FUNCTIONAL
PERFORMANCE

 PREDICTED DESIGN TRAFFIC

 Traffic Loads Characterization

Pavement Thickness Design Are Developed

To Account For The Entire
Spectrum Of Traffic Loads

Cars Pickups Buses Trucks Trailers

13.6 Tons
Failure = 10,000 Repetitions

11.3 Tons
Failure = 100,000 Repetitions

4.5 Tons
Failure = 1,000,000 Repetitions

2.3 Tons
Failure = 10,000,000 Repetitions
4.5 Tons
13.6 Tons
Failure = Repetitions ?
11.3 Tons 2.3 Tons
 RELATIVE DAMAGE CONCEPT

Equivalent
18000 - Ibs Damage per
Standard ESAL Pass = 1
(8.2 tons)
Axle Load

• Axle loads bigger than 8.2 tons cause damage greater

than one per pass
• Axle loads smaller than 8.2 tons cause damage less than
one per pass
• Load Equivalency Factor (L.E.F) = (? Tons/8.2 tons)4
 Consider two single axles A and B where:
A-Axle = 16.4 tons
 Damage caused per pass by A -Axle = (16.4/8.2)4 = 16
 This means that A-Axle causes same amount of damage per
pass as caused by 16 passes of standard 8.2 tons axle i.e,

=
16.4 Tons 8.2 Tons
Axle Axle
 Consider two single axles A and B where:
B-Axle = 4.1 tons
 Damage caused per pass by B-Axle = (4.1/8.2)4 = 0.0625
 This means that B-Axle causes only 0.0625 times damage per
pass as caused by 1 pass of standard 8.2 tons axle.
 In other works, 16 passes (1/0.625) of B-Axle cause same amount
of damage as caused by 1 pass of standard 8.2 tons axle i.e.,

=
4.1 Tons Axle 8.2 Tons Axle
AXLE LOAD & RELATIVE DAMAGE

75.2
80

63.4
70
DAMAGE PER PASS

53.1
60

44.1
50

36.3
29.5
40

23.8
18.9
30

14.9
11.5
20
8.7
6.5
4.7
3.3

10
2.3
1.1
1.0

0
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
SINGLE AXLE LOAD (Tons)
PAVEMENT THICKNESS DESIGN APPROACHES

MECHANISTIC-
EMPIRICAL
EMPIRICAL
PROCEDURE
PROCEDURE
 EMPIRICAL PROCEDURES
• These procedures are derived from experience (observed field
performance) of in-service pavements and or “Test Sections”

• These procedures define the interaction

A given set of
Pavement
paving materials
between
performance, traffic
loads & pavement
for and soils,
thickness
geographic
location and
climatic conditions

• These procedures are only accurate for the exact conditions for
which they were developed and may be invalid outside the range
of variables used in their development.
• EXAMPLE
•AASHTO Procedure (USA)
•Road Note Procedure (UK)
MECHANISTIC-EMPIRICAL PROCEDURES
 These procedures, as the name implies, have two parts:
=> A mechanistic part in which a structural model
(theory) is used to calculate stresses, strains and
deflections induced by traffic and environmental
loading.
=> An empirical part in which distress models are used
to predict the future performance of the pavement
structure.

 The distress models are typically developed from the

laboratory data and calibrated with the field data.

 EXAMPLES
• Asphalt Institute Procedure (USA)

• SHRP Procedure (USA)