Module 1

Pavements and materials: Desirable properties and testing of

road aggregates
Introduction to highway pavements, Types and component
parts of pavements,
Factors affecting design and performance of pavements,
Pavement Materials-Road
aggregates, Tests on aggregates and specifications for
flexible and rigid pavements,
Principles and methods of Gradation for soil – Aggregate
mixes. Alternate
Materials for durable pavements -Artificial aggregates

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Highway Pavement

A highway pavement is a structure consisting of

superimposed layers of processed materials
above the natural soil sub-grade, whose
primary function is to distribute the applied
vehicle loads to the sub-grade.

The pavement structure should be able to

provide a surface of acceptable riding quality,
adequate skid resistance, favorable light
reflecting characteristics, and low noise
pollution
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 Objectives of highway pavement
The following are the objectives:
 The surface of roadway should be stable and non-
yielding in order to allow the heavy wheel loads of road
traffic with least rolling resistance
 The road surface should be even along the longitudinal
profile to enable the fast moving traffic to move safely
and comfortably at design speed.
 Unevenness and undulations should be avoided.
Otherwise cause vertical oscillation in fast moving
automobiles, increasing in fuel consumptions, wear and
tear and operational cost of vehicle.

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 Also cause discomfort and fatigue to passenger of
fast moving vehicles.
 Thus pavement consisting of few layers of pavement
materials is constructed over a prepared subgrade to
serve as a carriage way. This will depend on thickness
and characteristics of pavement layer.
 There will be a small amount of temporary
deformations even on good pavement surface due to
heavy loads. Therefore the pavement should be
constructed and designed to keep this elastic
deformations of pavement within permissible limits,
so that pavement can sustain large number of
repeated load application during design life.
 It is desirable to construct the pavement well above
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the maximum level of ground water to keep the

 Desirable Properties of highway pavement
 The pavement of the road should have a sufficient
thickness so that it can properly distribute stresses
into the subgrade soil which are generated due to
heavy loads of moving vehicles.
 The road pavement should be more durable and
required less maintenance.
 It should be structurally strong and stable so that it
can efficiently take the loads without failure that
are imposed on it.
 The road pavement should have an adequate
coefficient of friction to prevent the skidding of the
vehicles.
 The road pavement should be smooth enough to
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provide comfort to the drivers even at the high
 The pavement should have resistance to water
absorption and have very little porosity so that the
subgrade layers of the soil will be protected and
prevent settlement of road pavement.
 The road pavement should be dustproof and ensure
that there will be less generation of noise when
vehicles are moving from the surface of the road
pavement.
 The road pavement should be economical and easy to
construct.
 It should have good visibility at night at riding from
the road surface should be smooth and comfortable.
 The road pavement should be suitable for all types of
traffic and it should not develop any corrugations.
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 Functions of Pavement design
Pavement design mainly consists of two functions:
 Design of pavement structure
 Design of paving mixture

Components of road structure

The various components of road structure (Flexible
Pavement) are as follows:
 Sub-grade or Formation
 Sub-base
 Base Course or Foundation Course
 Base Coat or Intermediate Course
 Wearing Course
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1. Sub-grade:
Definition: The finished and compacted earthwork
on which a road pavement rests is called as sub-
grade or formation.
This is a layer of natural soil prepared to receive
the layer of pavement materials on pavement
structure and shoulders including Kerbs are
constructed 8
Generally top 0.5 m portion of embankment or cut
section is denoted as subgrade.
It is essential that at no time, soil subgrade is over
stressed ie the pressure transmitted on the top of
subgrade is within the allowable limit not to cause
excessive deformation
Functions of Sub-grade:
 To provide support to the pavements.

 Sub-grade carries entire load of pavement

including the traffic.

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2. Sub-base:
Definition : A layer of granular material provided in
between the sub-grade and the base course in a road
pavement is called sub-base.
This is required only when total thickness of pavement
below the surfacing is such as may not be practicable
from construction point of view.
Functions of Sub-base:
 It improves the bearing capacity of sub-grade.

 It improves drainage and keep check on capillary rise

of subsoil water.

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3. Base Course:
Definition : A layer of boulders or bricks provided in
double layer over the sub-base or immediately over
the sub-grade in the absence of sub-base in a
pavement is called base course.
Functions of Base Course:
 To withstand high shearing stresses develop due to
the impact of traffic on the wearing course.

 To act as foundation to the pavement, this transfers

load over the pavement surface to the sub-base and
sub-grade lying underneath

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4. Base Coat:
Definition : The layer of hard stones provided in
between the base course and the wearing course in a
road pavement is called base coat or bearing course
or intermediate coat.
Functions of Base Coat :
 Generally to transmit the load over the large area of
the base course.
 To act as layer of transmission material.
5. Wearing Course:
Definition: The top most layer of pavement directly
exposed to traffic is called as wearing course or
surfacing.
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Functions of Wearing Course:
 The main function of wearing course is to
provide impervious layers so that entry of water
to the base course can be prevented.
 Moreover the entire traffic load is safely
distributed over the base course.
 It acts as impervious layer, thus avoids the entry
of water to the base course.
 Smooth riding surface

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 Types of Pavement
The road pavements are as follows:
 Flexible pavement
 Rigid Pavement
 Semi-flexible or low Modulus pavement
 Composite
 Semi-rigid pavement

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Flexible Pavement
Flexible pavements are the type of road pavement that
can change their shape to some extent without rupture.
In the case of the flexible pavement, the loads that are
generated by the movement of vehicles are transferred
to the subgrade soil. The load is transferred to the
subgrade by grain to grain through the point of contact
between the granular structures.
The common examples of flexible pavements are
bituminous roads, water-bound macadam pavements,
and gravel pavement. Flexible pavements have less
flexural strength.

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 Types of flexible pavement
Conventional Full depth asphalt Contained rock
Layered asphalt mat
layered system that the bituminous layer is placing the dense
consists of subgrade directly constructed on and open-graded
which is the bottom- the subgrade layer. This aggregates layers
most layer of the type of layer is suitable between the two
pavement, sub base, when there is no layers of the asphalt
base course, and base availability of the material
coat, etc and the construction cost
of the project is low

high-quality materials reduce the

are placed at the compressive strain
topmost part of the on the subgrade
pavement and the low- layers and also
quality materials are protects water.
placed at the bottom
layers 16
Rigid Pavement
The road pavement that cannot change its shape
without rupture is known as the Rigid pavement. The
rigid pavements are more capable to transfer the
heavy loads of vehicular traffic to the wider area.
The cement concrete pavement is an example of rigid
pavement. The cement concrete road pavement has
good flexural strength. The rigid pavements can be
directly constructed over the compacted subgrade or
granular layer.
The rigid pavements have high compressive strength
due to which they are more suitable for the movement
of heavy load traffic. The rigid pavements also
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required less maintenance.
 Types of Rigid Pavement

Jointed plain Jointed Continuous Pre-stressed

concrete reinforced reinforced concrete
pavement concrete concrete pavement
(JPCP) pavement pavement (PCP)
(JRCP) (CRCP)
constructed contain steel no joints are the stresses are
using plain mesh provided. induced to
cement reinforcement increase its
concrete with (sometimes properties so
closely spaced called that it can
contraction distributed sustain heavy
joints. The steel steel). loads which are
bars are used Dowel bars are caused by the
for transferring provided movement of
loads across the the vehicular
joints. traffic.

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Semi-flexible or low Modulus pavement
Utilize Portland cement; lime etc to stabilize flexible
base course . Here synthetic aggregates with low
stiffness may be used to reduce thickness.
Composite Pavement
These pavements make use of stabilized layer with
asphaltic surfacing.
Semi-rigid pavement
Bonded materials like pozzolanic cement, lean cement
concrete are used in base or sub base course layer of
pavement, the pavement layer has high flexural
strength than common flexible pavement layers, they
are called semi –rigid pavement.
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Advantages:
The advantages of the flexible road pavements are as
follows:
 The cost of construction required for the flexible
pavement is low.
 The repairs required for the flexible pavements are
easy and fast.
 The materials required for the construction of the
flexible road pavements are easy.
 Flexible road pavements resist the formation of the
ice glaze.

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There are also some disadvantages of the flexible
road pavements that are as follows:
 The flexible road pavements required regular
maintenance.
 The flexible road pavements have less lifespan.
 It has weak edges due to which it requires curb
structures.
 The flexible road pavements required regular
maintenance.
Advantages of Rigid Road Pavements
There are numerous advantages of the rigid pavement
which are as follows:
 Rigid Road pavement provides a strong leveled
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 There will not any corrugations are developed in the
rigid road pavements.
 Rigid road pavements are more durable and can be
directly constructed over the subgrade.
 They have a high load-bearing capacity and require
less maintenance.
 Rigid road pavement provides a strong, durable, and
impermeable surface for the movement of traffic.

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 Disadvantages of Rigid Road Pavements
There are also some disadvantages of the rigid road
pavements which are as follows:
 The initial cost required for the construction of rigid
road pavement is high.
 The rigid road pavements are little bit noise under
iron-tired traffic.
 They require high skilled supervision and labor.
 The rigid pavement cannot be quickly opened for
the movement of the traffic.
 The rigid road pavements may undergo cracks due
to the variation in the temperature.

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24
 Difference between Flexible and Rigid Pavement

Points Flexible pavement Rigid Pavement

1) It consists of a 1) It consists of one
series of layers with course PCC slab of
the highest quality relatively high
materials at or near bending resistance
the surface
2) It has low or 2) It has note-worthy
negligible flexural flexural strength
strength
3) It is flexible in their 3) It is stiffer than
structural action of flexible pavement
Design of construction loads
4) It reflects the 4) It is able to bridge
deformation of over localized failures
subgrade & and areas of
subsequent layers on inadequate
the surface(ie it has support(due to slab
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self-healing power) action)
5) Its stability depends upon 5) Its structural capacity is
aggregate interlock particle supplied by the pavement
friction and cohesion slab itself by beam action

6) Pavement design is greatly 6) Flexural strength of

influenced by subgrade concrete is major factor for
strength design and not for subgrade
strength
7) It functions by way of load 7) It distributes load over a
distributed through wide area of subgrade
component layers because of its rigidity and
high modulus of elasticity.

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2) Effect of loading
a)Normal Undergoes Resists deformation
deformation under and acts as a
load cantilever beam
a)Excessive loading Local depression A crack on the
takes place surface due to
rupture
3) Temperature No stress produced Stresses produced
effect depend on variation
of temperature
4) Design precision Mostly by using Mainly by structural
empirical design analysis(ie using
charts .Also semi elastic theory
empirical and assuming pavement
theoretical used. as an elastic plate
resting over an
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elastic foundation)
5)Life of pavement 10 to 20 yrs(generally 40 yrs ( for well-
taken 20 yrs) designed concrete
slabs)
6) Maintenance cost More (30,000- 5000-10,000/km/yr
100,000/km/yr)
Need annual Need very little
maintenance maintenance
7) Initial cost Less than rigid more
pavement
8)Stage construction Adopted especially for Do not fit into stage
low volume roads construction
9) Surface character Riding quality always Riding quality assured
not assured
10)Penetration of water Not impervious Practically pervious
except at joints
11)Glare & night Free from glare but Glare under sunlight
visibility need more street lights (coloured cement can
reduce the glare)
12) Overall economy on less More in longer
life cycle basis 28
 Difference between highway pavement and Airport Pavement
Sl Description Highway Pavement Airport Pavement
No
1 Design Wheel load 4100 kg 100 tonnes

2 Tyre Pressure 5 to 7 kg/cm2 17 to 24 kg/cm2

3 Load repetition 100 to 2000 CV/day 20,000 to 40,000

coverages for the life
of pavement

4 Lateral placement Wheel load is applied Concentrated in

of traffic within 1m of edge of central 10 m portion
pavement
5 Pavement section Uniform Critical areas like
thickness apron , taxiway and
runway ends of
thicker section 29
 Factors affecting pavement design

Traffic Factors
1 Wheel load Pavement wheel load causes and strains in
pavement layers & subgrade. The tyre
pressure determines the area of
application.
2 Impact Imperfections in surface and at joints cause
additional loads due to impact
3 Repetition of wheel Apart from single wheel load design
load criteria, the repetition of load causes
plastic and elastic deformation
4 Position of wheel The concentration of wheel load at a
load across localized width of pavement can cause
pavement extra distress
5 Iron tyred vehicles Bullet carts with iron tyres can cause
severe stresses in pavement
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 Climatic
factors
1 Rainfall Rainfall effects pavement drainage and can
thus a significant factor
2 Frost Frost heave can disrupt pavement shoulder

3 Temperature Variations of temperature can cause stresses

in pavements
Road geometry

Curvature Pavement on curves are subjected to extra

stresses due to cornering . Pavements at
joints are typical examples

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 Vertical profile Pavement on grades are subjected
to extra forces due to acceleration ,
deceleration, braking etc

Soil and Drainage

1 Soil strength Soil type, grain size distribution and

density determine pavement design

2 Drainage The drainage of pavement ,sub surface

and from adjoining l

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 Choice of Pavement Type

Factors considered are:

 Amount and type of traffic
 Subgrade soil conditions
 Cost of materials, construction and subsequent
maintenance charges
 Anticipated life of pavement
 Available finance

 Earthen roads – carry traffic up to 30 t/day.

 Regrading require at the end of monsoon season.
(Regrading is the process of grading for raising
and/or lowering the levels of land.)

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W B M – carry traffic up to 500 t/day. Average life-3
yrs

Bituminous pavement – carry traffic between 500

t/day to 1500 t/day
Average life- 12 yrs

Concrete road- carry traffic 1000 to 1500/day

Average life – 30 yrs

To choose a pavement type at planning stage, a life

cycle analysis and economic analysis is carried out.

This not only consider initial cost but also

maintenance cost and renewal over design life.
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 Factors Affecting Pavement Design
i) Factors to be considered in flexible pavement design
and rigid pavement design
i. Pavement Design consists of two parts
• Mix design of materials to be used in each pavement
component layer
• Thickness design of pavement and component layers
ii. Factors to be considered in the design of a road or
highway pavement
• Anticipated traffic conditions
• Design wheel load
• Subgrade soil
• Climatic factors
• Pavement component materials
• Environmental factors
• Special factors in design of different types of
pavements. 35
Anticipated Traffic Conditions

- Includes volume & character of traffic which use the

proposed road facility
- Various factors considered are : maxi. Wheel load, contact
area, tyre pressure , wheel configuration, repetition of
loads and impact
Design wheel load in pavement

- Thickness of pavement primarily depends upon the design

wheel load. Higher the wheel load, higher will be the
- thickness, provided other design factors are the same.
- As speed increases, the rate of application of stress
increase.

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Elements of design wheel load
• Static load on each wheel/dual/dual tandem wheel
• Contact pressure
• Load repetition and dynamic effect of transient
loads.
• Repetition of loads

Subgrade soil
• Decides thickness requirement of the pavement.
• Variations in moisture content affect the stability.
• Stress-strain behavior under varying loads is of
great significance.
• lower stability subgrade requires thicker
pavement to withstand loads
• Factors considered are density, moisture content ,
soil texture, internal soil structure , rate of load
application 37
Climatic factor
• Rainfall affects moisture content and in turn the
stability of subgrade and pavement layer

• Variation in temperature has significance in choice of

bituminous binder, design and performance of rigid and
bituminous pavements.

• Freezing temperature results in frost action in subgrade.

(frost action is the process of alternate freezing and
thawing of moisture in soil, rock and other materials, and
the resulting effects on materials and on structures
placed on, or in, the ground. )

The engineering behavior of subgrade is influenced by

changes in moisture content due to :
• - Ingress of rain water through cracks in the pavement 38
 Entry of water through pavement edges

Seepage of water from higher ground especially hilly

terrain

Fluctuation of ground water table during rainy season

Moisture variation are difficult to measure than

temperature. The differential rise or fall of pavement
edges w. r. t centre is due to swelling and shrinkage of
sub grade soil due to moisture content between centre
ad edges of pavement.

In C C – temperature changes produce warping and

frictional stresses

Bituminous pavement- causes softening of bitumen in 39

Pavement materials
• Fatigue behavior, durability and stress distribution
characteristics of pavements depend upon the
materials.

Environmental factors
• Height of embankment
• Depth of cutting
• Foundation details
• Depth of sub-surface water table
• Land use
Special factors
Cross Sectional Elements
• The cross sectional elements such as 'right of way',
'carriage way' and status of the road definitely has
an impact on thickness of the pavement.
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Traffic Characteristics
Physical, static and dynamic characters of traffic have
greater bearing on pavement design.

The traffic characteristics such as composition of

vehicles, volume, speed, acceleration, have direct
influence on the thickness of the pavement.

Special factors in the design of different types of

pavements

Formation of shrinkage cracks, the crack pattern and

the mode of propagation, and fatigue behavior under
such
adverse conditions of hair cracks are to be studied
before arriving at a rational method of design. 41
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