Use of Cemented Base & Sub-Base

on National Highways

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Necessity for Cemented Base/ Sub-Base in the
pavements

• For catering to heavy traffic load on roads/ highways, it is

necessary to strengthen the pavement crust by increasing the
crust thickness
• Sometimes crust thickness works out to more than 1.2 m.
Accordingly, the material requirement increases
• In some states like Bihar, non-availability of adequate and
requisite aggregates results in cost and time over-run
• Therefore, it is necessary to introduce some other
techniques/methodology which requires less materials for
equivalent strength and is cost-effective.

One of the methods already available in IRC 37:2012 is to use

Cemented Base/Sub-Base in the pavements. This technique
helps in reduction of the material requirement and consequent
reduction of project cost.
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Necessity to use Cemented Base/ Sub-Base in the
pavements Contd..

• Cemented Base/Sub-Base in pavements is being adopted in

only about 2% projects on various roads in India.

• The main reasons for not adopting this technique/methodology

in India:

• Lack of Quality Control during execution

• Non availability of requisite equipment / machinery

• Lack of skilled manpower

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Provisions as per IRC 37:2012

The following combinations can be provided:

• Bituminous Pavements with Cemented Sub-Base

• Bituminous Pavements with Cemented Base

• Bituminous Pavements with Cemented Base &Sub-Base with

Crack Relief Interlayer of Aggregates

• Bituminous Pavements with Cemented Base & Sub-Base with

Stress Absorbing Membrane Interlayer (SAMI) Interface

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Use of Cemented Sub-Base on Birpur-Bihpur section of
NH-106 in Bihar

• Design parameters(designed by IIT-Kharagpur)

• Elastic Modulus of BC : 1650 Mpa
• Poisson’s ratio of BC : 0.35
• Elastic Modulus of DBM : 1650 Mpa
• Poisson’s ratio of DBM : 0.35
• Elastic Modulus of WMM : 350
• Poisson’s Ratio of WMM :0.35
• Elastic Modulus of CTSB : 600 Mpa
• Poisson’s Ratio of CTSB : 0.25
• Elastic Modulus of Sub-Grade : 66.60 Mpa
• Poisson’s Ratio of Sub-Grade : 0.35
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Comparison between design of pavement using CTSB
and GSB as per IRC:37

Designed BC DBM WMM CTSB Total

Traffic (mm) (mm) (mm) /GSB (mm)
(MSA)
(mm)
Pavement design 25 30 50 150 200 430
with CTSB
Pavement design 25 40 90 250 200 580
with GSB

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 Comparison of cost with CTSB & GSB (Per Km)
Using CTSB Method (25 MSA)

Layer Description Depth Qty. in Cum/KM Unit Cost Amount

SG 0.500 6750 350 2362500

CTSB-I 0.100 1372 9843 13504596
CTSB-II 0.100 766 8952 6857232
WMM 0.150 1074 6041 6488034
DBM 0.050 350 15809 5533150
BC 0.030 210 16591 3484110
TOTAL = 0.930 38229622
Using Conventional Method (GSB) (25MSA)

Layer Description Depth Qty. in Cum/KM Unit Cost Amount

SG 0.500 6750 350 2362500

GSB 0.200 2700 5143 13886100
WMM 0.250 1825 6041 11024825
DBM 0.090 630 15809 9959670
BC 0.040 280 16591 4645480
TOTAL = 1.080 41878575
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Comparison of Material requirement with CTSB & GSB
For 2 lane without paved shoulders

CTSB GSB Excess/ % Excess/

Description Unit
Qty. in Cum/KM Qty. in Cum/KM Saving Saving

Aggregate MT 8723.83 12800.13 4067.30 31.78%

Cement MT 112.06 - -112.06 -100%
Bitumen MT 64.40 104.05 39.66 38.11%

Using Conventional Method (GSB) (25MSA)

CTSB GSB Excess/ % Excess/
Description Unit
Qty. in Cum/KM Qty. in Cum/KM Saving Saving
Aggregate MT 11049.37 15491.82 4442.45 28.68%
Cement MT 125.80 - -125.80 -100%
Bitumen MT 92.00 148.65 56.65 38.11%

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Construction Methodology

• Laying of CTSB layers using Sub-Base Stabilizer machine.

• CTSB laying in two layers as detailed below:
• First layer on sub- grade of 100 mm thick as Filter layer as
per IRC 37:2012
• Second layer of 100 mm thick as Drainage layer as per IRC
37:2012

•Curing - Curing is being carried out at least for 7 days on each layer.
No traffic to be allowed till laying of DBM layer.

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Construction Methodology

Sub Base Stabilizer Machine 10

Construction Methodology

Cement Spreader Machine 11

Construction Methodology

Stabilization of CTSB layers 12

Construction Methodology

Compaction of CTSB layers 13

Construction Methodology

Curing 14
Merits & Demerits of CTSB
Merits
• Increase in structural strength of pavement
• Reduction in crust thickness
• Reduction in material requirement
• Reduction in financial implication
• Increase in life of pavement due to more structural strength
• Suitable for heavy rainfall area due to less pervious layer i.e. filter layer
above the sub-grade which prevent the water to percolate into the sub-
grade
Demerits
• Allowing Traffic during Curing can cause stabilized layers to crack.
• Proper Curing is a must to prevent thermal and shrinkage cracks
• In case of crack in the CTSB, it can reflect through the surfacing and allow
water to enter into the sub-grade which may become the cause of failure of
the sub-grade/road.
• The construction operation requires more skill and quality control than for
equivalent un-stabilized materials.
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Challenges during construction using CTSB Method
• Regular supply of cement as cement requirement is very high
• The rate of construction using CTSB method is comparatively slow to that of conventional
GSB method.
Description GSB CTSB

Length 3030 m 3058 m

No. of Days (per km) 14 22
Minimum no. of CTSB Machine required to achieve at par progress 2 Nos.
using conventional method

• Continuous feeding of spreader is required. For CTSB first layer 80 T/Km & for second layer
35T/KM cement is to be spread and in one go only 15 T can be transported through spreader.
The spreader takes 5 to 6 hrs to be filled manually. So number of spreaders are to be increased.
• The width of machine is 2.4 M so it takes 6 round to complete 1 Km works (width 13.72m 1st
layer)
• Frequent refilling of water tanker is required.
• Next layer can only be done after 7 days curing.
• For widening the existing road to 2 lane/2 lane with paved shoulders, more efforts are required to
divert the traffic till completion of DBM.
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 Measures to overcome Challenges on NH 106

• Three extra Silos with arrangements, have been kept at three camps so
that cement can be fed from these silos to the spreaders from nearest
camp.
• This saves time by one third as compared to manual loading of cement
in spreader.
• Extra water tankers have been kept to avoid wastage of time in refilling.
• Concrete crash barriers are being kept on the surface of CTSB to
prevent Traffic.
• Contractor has been directed to deploy 2 more Spreaders

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 Recommendations

• Areas where there is shortage of aggregates, CTSB may be made

mandatory in the contract agreement.
• To encourage this type of techniques, we may make some provision in
the agreement to give incentive to the concerned contractor.

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THANK YOU

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