PRINCIPLES OF PAVEMENT DESIGN

1. INTRODUCTION

A pavement is a structure used to carry vehicular loading.

It is built over a prepared foundation (the subgrade) and are used to serve two purposes;

To support the vehicle loads - The main focus of this course

To provide a guide to drivers and boarders of the roadway by showing the visual
perspective of the horizontal and vertical alignment of the travelled way

It is a structure that is needed (and hence provided) for;

Airports,
Haul roads,
Loading yards,
Bus terminals, and
Highways
Low volume roads,
Main carriageways of major highways,
Shoulders of major highways
Service roads, and
Intersection areas

1.1 Pavement Types

Pavements are categorised according to the way they are constructed, which reflects
their importance and the loading to be carried. These categories include;

Unsurfaced roads pavements - earth, gravel

Surfaced roads pavements - bituminous, concrete surfaces

Unconventional pavements - block pavements (pavers), cell filled

concrete pavements

Another way of categorisation of pavements is the mode the pavements carry/transfer

the loads. This way of categorisation include;

Flexible pavements

Earth road pavements

Gravel road pavements
Bituminous road pavements

Rigid pavements made of concrete, which can be;

Plain concrete pavements

Eeinforced concrete pavements

1.2 Pavement Design Parameters

 Unlike other structures, failure of pavements is neither spectacular nor catastrophic,
but existence of bad roads (which is due to pavement problems) is a cause of;

Serious econimic loss, and

Loss of lives.

A highway engineer dealing with design of a pavement has to deal with three main
challenges;

Complex loading conditions,

Complex material behaviour, and

Challenges in collecting information on/and modellingthe performance (i.e.

performance of the materials or the structure)

Pavement design parameters include;

The pavement type,

The number of layers,

Layer material,

Layer thickness, and

Joint spacing and reinforcement details in the case of concrete pavement.

In order to select the design inputs, there are three main external parmenters, which
have to be considered. These include;

Subgrade strength
Embankment or cutting,
Soil type,
Strength, and
Drainage characteristics.

Traffic loading
Vehicle numbers/volumes,
Vehicle type,
Loads carried, and
Vehicular speeds (stationary, slow moving, fast moving)

Climatic conditions
Rainfall,
Total rainfall
Seasonal distribution

Temperature
Maximum temperatures
Minimum temperatures
Daily variations
Seasonal variations

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 Design process of any facility is a selection of appropriate values of the design
parameters in such a way that the facility performs in a satisfactory or acceptable way.
This process involves two main /key concepts;

The design variables, and

The performance.

While the concept of design variables/parameters of the pavement have been discussed
above, the concept of performance involves;

The facility must be able to perform over a specified period of time (design life or
service life).

How to define performance?

How to quantify or measure performance?

1.3 Pavement Performance

Pavement performance can be defined in two ways;

1. Functional performance: This is the type of performance that the road user is
concerned with

The pavement is designed to provide;

Comfortable ride,
Safe ride, and
Economical ride

The functional performance of a pavement depends mainly on the surface

characteristics, which include;
Variation in the longitudinal profile;
Variation in the transverse profile
Surface condition (e.g. potholes, cracks, patching, rutting, loss of
aggregates etc)

It is desirable to ensure that the surface characteristics are maintained

within acceptable limits during the service life of the road pavement.

2. Structural Performance: This is the main concern of the pavement designer

Most distress (or defects on the road pavement surfaces are caused by
repeated application of the traffic loads.

However, some are caused by non-load factors such as,

Temperature,

Moisture,

Poor quality materials,

Improper construction practices (e.g. poor compaction), and

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 Inadequate maintenance.

When a pavement shows load associated distress, it is considered to have

failed stracturally.

Therefore, structural performance can be defined as performance of the

structural adequacy.

Common forms of structural failures include;

Cracking,
Permanent deformation (e.g. rutting),
Bleeding (bitumen coming on the pavement surface)
Mud pumping (in concrete pavements)
Blow up (in concrete pavements)

In general, a road that is designed to give adequate structural performance can be

expected to give satisfactiry functional performance as well.

2. PAVEMENT DESIGN APPROACHES

There are various approaches used in the design of pavements.

These approaches are (normally) developed on the basis of observed performance of the
pavements.

The observed performance is correlated to one or more design parameters resulting into a
relationship (between the design parameter and the performance of pavements), which is
referred to as Performance criterion.

With performance criteria;

The relationship between performance and design parameters is explained.

Usually one or more criteria are used in the design.

Depending on the design parameters selected and the manner in which the relationship
is dscribed, the performance criteria are classified as;

Empirical criteria: Result in emperical design approach

Mechanistic - Empirical criteria: Result in mechanistic - emperical design

approach

Empirical criteria/Empirical design approach:

Performance of the pavement is correlated to some simple parameterlike the subgared

index, CBR values etc.

Experience performance (i.e. observed service life) is correleted to the pavement

design parameters (typically subgrade strength, thickness etc) by statistical means.

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 The relationship does not explain the fundamental mechanistic behaviour of different
materials used in the pavement.

Empirical methods therefore cannot be extrapolated with confidence beyond the range
of experience and therefore, these methods may not work for new materials, new
climatic conditions or new traffic conditions.

Mechanistic - empirical criteria/ Mechanistic - empirical design approach:

These approaches are also called analytical or rational methods.

This approach explains the different phenomena (stresses, strains and deflections)
occuring in the pavement with reference to the physical causes (loads and material
properties).

The relationship between the phenomena and the physical causes is explained using
mathematical model.

Normally the mechanistic approach is integrated with empirical approach in the

selection of the limiting values of stresses, strains and deflections that cause failure of
pavements.

The relationship between the phenomena (stresses, strains and deflections) and the
failure is explained by emperically obtained relationships, which estimates the number
of load repetions to failure.

Advantages of this approach therefore include;

Ability to handle various loading types or new materials.

Ability to understand the contribution of different material components and

hence their optimum utilisation whenever possible.

It is more reliable

Performance criterion has to be developed from sufficient data on the performance of in-
service pavements.

Performance data is obtained by;

Long term monitoring of in-service pavements

Accelerated testing of pavements

Laboratory testing of model pavements or pavement materials.

Pavement design done on the basis of any performance criterion is only reliable as the
criterion is.

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