BULE HORA UNIVERSITY
Department of Civil Engineering, 2023/2024
Pavement Material
1
Design and Analysis
Chapter 1.
Introduction
Instructor:
Abdisa Chala( MSc)
Introduction
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Highway engineering is a specialization of
civil engineering profession which normally
engaged in the design and construction of
roadways, streets, railways and highway
architectures.
It is the process of design and construction of
efficient and safe highways and roads.
Standards use in states includes ERA and
AASHTO as the standard for policy in
geometric and pavement design.
Pavement Engineering
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A specialization of civil engineering
that uses engineering techniques to
design and maintain flexible and rigid
pavements.
This includes streets and highways and
involves knowledge of soils, hydraulics
and material properties.
Introduction
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1.1. Overview of Pavement Structures
A pavement is a layered structure that:
has sufficient total thickness and internal strength to carry
expected traffic loads, and distribute them over the subgrade
soil without overstressing;
have adequate material properties to prevent or minimize the
penetration or internal accumulation of moisture; and
have a surface that is reasonably smooth and skid resistant at
the same time, as well as, reasonably resistant to wear,
distortion and deterioration by vehicle loads and weather.
Types of pavements:
Flexible Pavements
Rigid Pavements
Composite pavements
Introduction
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1.1.1. Flexible Pavement
A flexible pavement is one, which has low flexural strength, and
the load is basically transmitted to the subgrade soil through the
lateral distribution of stresses with increasing depth.
Flexible Pavement
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It range from a sub grade roadway to a
well constructed asphalt concrete.
Flexible pavement
Base course
Sub base course
Subgrade
Introduction
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1.1.1. Flexible Pavement
Types of Flexible pavement
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Types of flexible pavement based on
surfacing
Sub grade Roads
Gravel Roads
Surface Treatment
Concrete Asphalt
Types of flexible pavement based on constructions
Conventional flexible pavement,
Full-depth asphalt pavement
Introduction
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1.1.1. Flexible Pavement (Cont’d)
Conventional flexible pavements are multilayered
structures with better materials on top where the
intensity of stress is high and inferior materials at the
bottom where the intensity is low.
This design principle makes possible to use local
materials and usually results in a most economical
design.
This is particularly true in regions where high-quality
materials are expensive but local materials of inferior
quality are readily available.
Introduction
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1.1.1. Flexible Pavement (Cont’d)
A conventional pavement
normally consists of Surface
Course (wearing + Binder
courses separated by tack
coat), base course, subbase
course, Improved subgrade
(capping layer), and natural
subgrade.
The use of various courses is
based on either necessity or
economy and some may be
optional
Introduction
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1.1.1. Flexible Pavement (Cont’d)
Typical Cross
Section and
Load
Distribution of a
CONVENTIONAL
Flexible
Pavement
Introduction
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1.1.1. Flexible Pavement (Cont’d)
Full-depth asphalt pavements are constructed by
placing one or more layers of hot-mix asphalt directly on
the subgrade or improved subgrade.
This concept was conceived by the Asphalt Institute and is
generally considered the most cost-effective and
dependable type of asphalt pavement for heavy traffic and
quite popular in areas where local materials are not
readily available.
Figure showing
Typical Cross-section of Full -
Depth Asphalt Pavement
Introduction
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1.1.2. Rigid Pavements
Are pavement structures constructed of cement
concrete slabs, which derive their capacity to withstand
vehicle loads from flexural strength or beam strength
of the concrete slab due to high modulus of elasticity.
High flexural strength permits the vehicle load on
cement concrete slab to be distributed over a
relatively wider area and to bridge over minor
irregularities of the soil than flexible pavements and
thus, variation in the subgrade soil strength has little
influence.
Introduction
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1.1.2. Rigid Pavements
It is an all-weathered pavement which is
normally constructed using Portland
concrete.
Rigid Pavement
Base course
Sub grade
Introduction
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1.1.2. Rigid Pavements
Introduction
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1.1.2. Rigid Pavements (Cont’d)
Typical Cross
Section and Load
Distribution
Of a
RIGID PAVEMENT
Introduction
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1.1.2. Rigid Pavements (Cont’d)
There is always a necessity to build a base course
under cement concrete slab where the subgrade soil
cannot provide a uniform support, or for one or more
of the following reasons:
Control of pumping
Control of frost action
Improvement of drainage
Control of shrinkage and swell
Expedition of Construction.
Introduction
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1.1.2. Types of Rigid Pavements
Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement
(JPCP)
Jointed Reinforced Concrete
Pavement (JRCP)
Continuous Reinforced Concrete
Pavement (CRCP)
Pre-stressed Concrete Pavement
(PCP):
Introduction
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1.1.2. Types of Rigid Pavements
Typical Schematics of Rigid Pavements
Introduction
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1.1.2. Types of Rigid Pavements
Jointed Unreinforced Concrete Pavement (JUCP),
Joints accommodate shrinkage during drying.
Introduction
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[Link] Types of Rigid Pavements (Cont’d)
Jointed Un-reinforced Concrete Pavement (JPCP): plain
concrete pavements constructed with closely spaced
contraction joints.
Dowels or aggregate interlocks may be used for load
transfer across the joints.
Introduction
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[Link]. Types of Rigid Pavements(Cont’d)
Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement
(JRCP): are concrete pavements with steel
reinforcements in the form of wire mesh or
deformed bars mainly to allow the use of
longer joint spacing but do not increase the
structural capacity of pavements.
Because of the longer panel length,
dowels are required for load transfer
across the joints.
The amount of distributed steel increases
with the increase in joint spacing and is
designed to hold the slab together after
cracking
Introduction
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[Link]. Types of Rigid Pavements (Cont’d)
Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP)
Introduction
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[Link]. Types of Rigid Pavements
(Cont’d)
Continuously Reinforced
Concrete Pavement (CRCP): are
reinforced concrete pavements
designed joint-free for the
purpose of eliminating joints,
which are the weak spots in
rigid pavements.
The elimination of joints would
decrease the thickness of
pavement required.
Introduction
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[Link]. Types of Rigid Pavements
(Cont’d)
Pre-Stressed Concrete Pavement
(PCP): the pre-application of a
compressive stress to the concrete to
greatly reduce the tensile stress
caused by the traffic loads and thus
decreases the thickness of concrete
required.
The pre-stressed concrete pavements
have less probability of cracking and
fewer transverse joints and therefore
result in less maintenance and longer
pavement life.
Introduction
Types of Rigid Pavements
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Flexible pavement
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1. Deformation in the sub-grade is transferred to the
upper layers
2. Design is based on load distributing characteristics
of the component layers
3. Have low flexural strength
4. Load is transferred by grain to grain contact
5. Have low completion cost but repairing cost is
high
6. Have low life span
7. Surfacing cannot be laid directly on the sub grade
but a sub base is needed
Cont’
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8. No thermal stresses are induced as the
pavement have the ability to contract and
expand freely, i.e. that's why expansion
joints are not needed
9. Strength of the road is highly dependent
on the strength of the sub grade
10. Rolling of the surfacing is needed
11. Road can be used for traffic within 24
hours
Rigid pavement
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[Link] in the subgrade is not transferred to
subsequent layers
[Link] is based on flexural strength or slab action
[Link] high flexural strength
[Link] such phenomenon of grain to grain load
transfer exists
[Link] low repairing cost but completion cost is
high
[Link] span is more as compare to flexible
[Link] can be directly laid on the sub grade
Cont’
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8. Thermal stresses are more vulnerable to be
induced as the ability to contract and expand
is very less in concrete, i.e. that’s why
expansion joints are needed
9. Strength of the road is less dependent on
the strength of the sub grade
10. Rolling of the surfacing in not needed
11. Road cannot be used until 14 days of
curing
12. Force of friction is high
Introduction
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Flexible Pavement Rigid Pavement
Advantages Advantages
Adjust to limited differential Good durability
settlement Long service life
Local defects easily repaired Allow load distribution over
Additional thickness added any wider area
time Best suited for heavy traffic
Non-skid properties loading
Quieter and smoother Withstand repeated flooding
Tolerates a greater range of and subsurface water without
temperature variations deterioration
Introduction
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Flexible Pavement Rigid Pavement
Disadvantages Disadvantages
Loses some flexibility May lose non-skid
and cohesion with time surface with time
Needs routine and Needs even subgrade
periodic maintenance support with uniform
eg. Overlaying sooner settlement
than PC concrete May fault at
Deteriorate faster under transverse joints
poor (sub) surface High Initial Cost
drainage condition
Introduction
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1.2.3 Composite Pavements
Composite pavements are pavements composed of
cement concrete as a bottom layer and hot-mix asphalt as
a top layer to obtain an ideal pavement with the most
desirable characteristics.
The cement concrete slab provides a strong base and the
hot-mix asphalt provides a smooth and non-reflective
surface.
However, this type of pavement is very expensive and is
rarely used as a new construction.
Composite pavements include rehabilitated concrete
pavements using asphalt overlays and asphalt pavements
with stabilized bases.
Introduction
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1.2.3 Composite Pavements (cont’d)
For flexible pavements with untreated bases, the
most critical tensile stress or strain occurs at the bottom of
asphalt layer,
while for composite pavements the most critical stress
is at the bottom of the cement concrete slab or
stabilized bases.
A disadvantage of this construction is high cost and
occurrence of reflection cracks on the asphalt
surface due to the joints and cracks in the rigid
base layer.
Introduction
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1.2.4. Highway and Airport Pavements
The gross-weight of an airplane is usually greater
than that of a heavy truck, but the number of load
repetitions on airport pavements is usually smaller
than that on highway pavements.
The arrangement and spacing of wheel loads on
airport and highway pavements are different.
A typical tyre pressure on highway pavements is in
the vicinity of 0.5 MPa while aircrafts use a tyre
pressure up to 3 MPa which is an important factor
in the design of the materials in the upper layer of
the pavements.
Introduction
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1.2.4. Highway and Airport Pavements
Vehicle loads are applied near to the edge of highway
pavements but far away from the outside edge of
airport pavements.
Unlike highway pavements, airfield pavements are
subjected to an impact loading.
The design load of airport pavements is the wheel load
of the largest aircraft during takeoff time due to heavy
fuel weight.
Although wheel loads can be used as design loads,
number of repetitions of standard axles is the commonly
used design parameter for highway pavements.
Introduction
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Heavy Loads on Airport Pavements
Introduction
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1.3 Basic Design Factors
Traffic Loading:
loading configuration;
number of repetitions;
tyre pressure; and
speed of traffic loading
Introduction
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Basic Design Factor - Traffic Loading
Load
distribution
Axle
Configuration
Introduction
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1.3. Basic Design Factors (Cont’d)
Environment:
Temperature,
Flexible pavement – elastic/viscoelastic properties of
bituminous materials
Rigid pavement – warping/curling stresses
Frost in the subgrade - heave and stronger subgrade in the
winter but a much weaker subgrade in the spring
Precipitation
Water requirement during construction;
Strength of pavement structure; and
Surface water drainage.
Introduction
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1.3. Basic Design Factors (cont’d)
Materials:
Properties of soils, aggregates, bituminous binders, cement, and
their mixtures under traffic loading in a given environmental
conditions is fundamental for designing a sound pavement
structure
Performance and Failure Criteria:
Gravel roads – defects include: dust nuisance, potholling,
ravelling, corrugations, rutting, deformation, erosion, slipperiness,
impassibility and loss of wearing course material – function of
properties of materials of construction, alignment, volume of
traffic, etc.
Flexible pavement – fatigue cracking ; rutting; potholing, and
thermal cracking
Rigid pavement - fatigue cracking; pumping ; and joint
deterioration
Introduction
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1.3.1 Pavement Distresses in Flexible Pavements
Fatigue Cracking is based on the horizontal tensile strain at
the bottom of HMA (relates to the allowable number of load
repetitions).
Rutting in surface layer is the permanent deformation or rut
depth along the wheel paths.
Rutting due to sub-surface layers is mainly due to decrease in
thickness of the component layers above the subgrade.
Thermal cracking occurs in locations where winter
temperature falls below –10 F. Pavement will crack when
thermal stress is greater than the fracture strength.
Thermal fatigue cracking is caused by tensile strain in the
asphalt layer due to daily temperature cycle.
Introduction
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1.3.1 Pavement Distresses in Flexible Pavements
(Cont’d)
"Fatigue Cracking" is the progressive cracking of the asphalt
surfacing or stabilized base layers due to cumulative
repeated traffic loading.
This occurs as a result of tensile stresses and strains in the
bottom zone and propagates upward to the surface.
On the pavement surface, it finally manifests as alligator
cracks along the wheel tracks. This will later develop to
potholes
Fatigue cracking is considered a major structural distress
and is predominantly caused by traffic loading.
Ingress of rainwater through the cracks / potholes can lead
to structural failure of the underlying layers.
Introduction
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1.3.1 Pavement Distresses in Flexible Pavements
(Cont’d)
"Rutting" is defined as the permanent deformation of a
pavement due to the progressive accumulation of visco-
plastic vertical compressive strains under traffic loading.
On the pavement surface, it manifests as longitudinal
depressions along the wheel tracks. Significant rutting
can lead to major structural failures
Surface ruts may occur in the asphalt-surfacing layer
under the action of heavy vehicle loading, particularly
in areas of extreme high temperatures.
Introduction
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1.3.2 Pavement Distresses in Rigid Pavements
Fatigue cracking is most likely caused by the edge
stress at the mid-slab. Allowable load repetitions
depend on the stress ratio between flexural
tensile stress and the concrete modulus of rupture.
Pumping or erosion is caused by the resilient
deformation under repeated wheel loads.
Faulting, Spalling, and Joint deterioration are
major types of distress in rigid pavement.
Introduction
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Pavement Failures - Illustrations
Wide cracks along wheel tracks
Introduction
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Pavement Failures - Illustrations
Longitudinal and alligator cracking along Wheel path.
Introduction
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Pavement Failures - Illustrations
Edge cracking developed to potholes on a narrow
road
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