Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Elective III
Design Methods
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Design of flexible pavements
Introduction to analysis and design of flexible pavements,
Stresses and deflections in homogeneous masses, Burmister’s
2 layer and 3 layer theories, Wheel load stresses, ESWL of
multiple wheels, Repeated loads and EWL factors, Empirical,
semi - empirical and theoretical approaches for flexible
pavement design, Group index, CBR, Triaxial, Mcleod and
Burmister layered system methods
Empirical, semi - empirical and theoretical
approaches for flexible pavement design,
Group index, CBR, Triaxial, Mcleod and
Burmister layered system methods
General
Tremendous changes over years
Empirical
Theoretical
Mechanistic Empirical
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Empirical methods
Factors: vary widely
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Empirical Methods
Group 1
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Group Index Method
Group Index (GI)
a number assigned to the soil based on its physical properties like particle size,
Liquid limit and plastic limit
varies from a value of 0 to 20, lower the value higher is the quality of the sub-
grade and greater the value, poor is the sub-grade
(source: theconstructor.org)
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Group Index
a= percentage of soil passing 0.074 mm sieve in excess of 35 per cent, not exceeding 75
b= percentage of soil passing 0.074 mm sieve in excess of 15 per cent, not exceeding 55
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Pavement design using GI
1. Group index of soil subgrade 2. Traffic volume
Group index value range of different soils: It is the measure of Annual average daily traffic,
peak-hour traffic. It is denominated by commercial
For good soil – 0 to 1 vehicles/day or CVPD.
For fair soil – 2 to 4
It is classified in three categories. Based on number
For poor soil – 5 to 9 of vehicles per day.
For very poor soil – 10 to 20
If no. of vehicles per days is
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Pavement design using GI
Calculation total thickness (T):
From chart for given group index of soil subgrade and traffic volume value select appropriate
thick curve value of “combined thickness of surface, base and sub-base line” which will give
the total thickness of pavement
(Note: thick line indicates the total thickness value and the dotted line indicates thickness of
surface and base)
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Group index design chart
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Group index method
Calculation of thickness of base and surface course (t b & ts):
Thickness of surface and base course = total thickness – sub-base thickness
= T – tsb
The combined value of thickness of base and surface course can be found out from above chart form
dotted curve with the help of group index value and traffic volume.
Tb = T-tsb-ts
The group index method is essentially an empirical method based on the physical properties of the subgrade soil and
it does not consider the strength characteristics of soil and is therefore disputed regarding its reliability
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Illustration
Soil Subgrade sample collected from the site was analysed and the results are given below;
Soil portion passing 0.074 mm sieve, percent =50
Liquid limit =40
Plastic limit = 20
Design the pavement section by GI method for the anticipated traffic volume of over 300 commercial
vehicles per day.
GI =7: a=15; b=35; c=0; d=10
From design chart; soil rated as poor traffic volume – heavy. Use design chart ,
Thickness of sub base for GI of 7 is 17cm
Combined thickness of surface, base and sub base course(using curve D for heavy traffic) =47 cm.
Hence thickness of surface and base = 47 -17 =30 cm.
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Empirical Methods
Group 2 Methods:
Thickness design charts using CBR methods (California Bearing Ratio)
Material strength parameters North Dakota Cone Method (Cone
penetrometer, penetration value)
Density
US Navy method (plate load test, k)
Truck volume
California Resistance Value Method
Climate, environment, frost, ground
water level (stabilometer and cohesiometer ,R and C)
Parameters related to in-situ Triaxial Method (triaxial compression,
conditions elastic modulus)
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CBR methods
Cut the top level, invert the mould, replace disc by annular surcharge weight 0f 2.5 kg
(optional: soak for four days, drain for 15 mins)
Place in a 50 kN loading machine, fix plunger, measuring units, dial gauge, and apply load
noting it for pentrations of 0,0.5, 1.,1.5, 2,2.5,4,5,7.5,10, 12.5
Find loads corresponding to 2.5 and 5 mm penetration, find CBR ratio of this load with
standard load
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Standard Load
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CBR Graph
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P (1+r) n+10
T=]0.5 =] 0.5
T =pavement thickness, cm
P=wheel load, kg
p =tyre pressure, kg/cm2
A =area of contact,cm2
When the CBR value of the subgrade soil is less than 15 percent.
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Illustration
The CBR value of subgrade soil is 5%.Calculate the total thickness of a pavement using
design curve developed by California State Highway Department
ii) design chart recommended by IRC
iii) design formula developed by the US corps of Engineers
Assume 4100 kg wheel load or medium light of 200 cvpd for design.
Tyre pressure =6kg/cm2
Solution
Using the design chart recommended by IRC, thickness =37.5 cm
Using design formula, t =35.5 cm
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Illustration 2
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CBR method of Design by cum. std axle load
Basic information
1. Initial traffic after construction in terms of number of Commercial Vehicles per day
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Design Traffic
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CBR method of Design by cum. std axle load..Contd..
IRC suggested the minimum thickness of the pavement component layers of sub base,
base and surfacing and the combinations of various ranges of cumulative standard
axles.
For the range of 20 to 30msa, the sub base should have CBR at least 30% and the
minimum compacted thickness of this component should be 390 to 405 mm; the base
course should have a minimum compacted thickness of 250 mm and the surfacing
should consist of 100 to 150mm dense bituminous macadam and 40mm asphaltic
concrete.
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Tri axial Method
Palmer and Barber in 1910
Boussinesque’s displacement equation for homogeneous elastic single layer
From which
T= where T=pavement thickness, cm.
p = contact pressure, kg/cm2
P=wheel load, kg
Es=modulus of elasticity of subgrade from triaxial test results, kg/cm 2
a=radius of contact area
=design deflection(0.25cm)
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Tri axial Method Contd….
● Introducing traffic coefficient (X)and saturation coefficient(Y)
● Ts= where
Ts-pavement thickness
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Tri axial Method Contd…
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Tri axial Method Contd…
● If the pavement and subgrade are considered as a two layer system, a stiffness
factor has to be introduced to take into account the different values of modulus of
elasticity of the two layers.
● The pavement thickness is calculated
Ts= (Es/Ep)1/3
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Tri axial Method Contd…
● Relation between pavement layers of thickness t 1 and t2 of Elastic modulus E1 and
E2 is given by
t1/t2 = (E2/E1)1/3
Kansas Highway Department design method may be categorised as semi empirical method.
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Illustration
● Design the pavement section by triaxial test method using the following data:
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Mc Leod Method
● Canadian Department of transport
● Plate bearing tests
T=K log
P= gross wheel load ,kg
S = total subgrade support, kg( for the same contact area,
deflections and number of repetitions of load P)
K=base course constant
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● K depends upon the loaded area.
● S is calculated from the subgrade support or calculated for 30cm dia plate at 0.5
cm deflection for the design of pavement
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Illustration
● Design a highway pavement for a wheel load of 4100kg with a tyre
pressure of 5kg/cm2 by Mc Leod method. The plate load test carrying out
on subgrade soil using 30cm dia plate yielded a pressure of 2.5kg/cm2
after 10 repetitions of load at 0.5cm deflection.
Radius of contact area a= =16.1 cm
Perimeter over area ratio P/A =2/a =0.124
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Using the fig. the ratio of unit subgrade support on 32.2cm dia plate at 0.5 cm
deflection is 0.95
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Theoretical or Analytical or Pure Mechanistic
Layered analysis
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Mechanistic-Empirical (ME) or Analytical-Empirical
or Rational design
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Mechanistic-Empirical (ME) or Analytical-Empirical or
Rational design
Empirical methods supported by Mechanistic Principles
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Failure criteria
Distress or damage caused by critical values of stresses and strains are computed
(rutting, cracking etc. or other failures)
Failure modes:
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310
mm
Pavement layers: Dual tyre
GSB
Layer n-1, hn-1, En-1, μn-1
v
Layer n, hn, En, μn (subgrade)
Subgrade
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Stress and strains
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Responses computed
t
Tensile strain at bottom of bituminous bound layer
Compressive strain at top of subgrade v
Stress and strain at various layers and interfaces
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Performance Criteria
Relationship between limiting values of mechanistic parameters and
service life
Various ME methods
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Performance indicators
Pavement roughness for all pavements, quantified according to the
International Roughness Index (IRI),
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MEPD in essence….
Theory for Selection of
analysis Inputs
Performance Criteria
(Design and Evaluation)
Failure Criteria
(Modes, Terminal conditions)
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Input Hierarchy
In order to produce satisfactory results, the MEPDG relies on a high level of detail
being supplied as input parameters for materials and traffic
Determining all of the parameters involved requires extensive testing and data
collection, needs an already existing data set
As an alternative, the MEPDG software can be set up so these inputs are entered
in a hierarchical fashion, meaning that the user has the option to provide different
levels of detail and the program adjusts accordingly
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Input Hierarchy
For example, traffic data in its simplest form could simply be an estimate of vehicle
traffic volumes
So software would need to convert this into a load factor by assuming a typical
distribution of vehicle types
If actual traffic counts for a project site is available, including vehicle class
information, this would allow an additional level of input in the hierarchy
Assumptions would still need to be made about the spectrum of actual loads
based on equivalency factors (ESALs or Equivalent Single Axle Loads)
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IRC Method based on MEPDG
With every load repetition, the tensile strain developed at the bottom of the
bituminous layer develops micro cracks, which go on widening and expanding till
the load repetitions are large enough for the cracks to propagate to the surface
over an area of the surface that is unacceptable from the point of view of long term
serviceability of the pavement
The phenomenon is called fatigue of the bituminous layer and the number of load
repetitions in terms of standard axles that cause fatigue denotes the fatigue life of
the pavement.
In IRC 37:2012 guidelines, cracking in 20 per cent area has been considered for
traffic up to 30 msa
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Fatigue model
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Fatigue: The factor “C”
As per the then prevailing practice, the mixes used in the pavements under study
sections were generally designed for 4.5 per cent air voids and bitumen content of
4.5 per cent by weight of the mix (which in terms of volume would come to 11.5
per cent)
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Rutting
Rutting is the permanent deformation in pavement usually occurring longitudinally along the
wheel path. The rutting may partly be caused by deformation in the subgrade and other non-
bituminous layers which would reflect to the overlying layers to take a deformed shape
The bituminous mixes also may undergo rutting due to secondary compaction and shear
deformation under heavy traffic load and higher temperature
Excessive rutting greatly reduces the serviceability of the pavement and therefore, it has to
be limited to a certain reasonable value
In the IRC 37:2012 guidelines the limiting rutting is recommended as 20 mm in 20 per cent
of the length for design traffic up to 30 MSA and 10 per cent of the length for the design
traffic beyond
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Rutting Model
Like the fatigue model, rutting model also has been calibrated in studies
using the pavement performance data at 80 per cent and 90 per cent
reliability levels
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Design Catalogues (for various CBR and msa, based on IIT
Pave, IIT Kharagpur)
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Pavement layers in MEPD
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SAMI
SAMI
Software interface: General
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Diversity …in
Terms of failure modes
Analysis theories
Reliability
Cost-effective design/rehabilitation
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