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CONTROL OF MOISTURE DURING CONSTRUCTION OF ROAD PAVEMENTS

(PREVENTS / MINIMISE EARLY PAVEMENT FAILIURES! EXTENDS DESIGN LIFE !)
Eng. Ratnasiri Rupasinghe

2. Effect of Moisture
Eng. Ratnasiri Rupasinghe has worked with State
The stability of unbound pavement materials
Development and Construction Corporation, Road
generally decreases with increasing moisture content
Development Authority, and Road Development
or the Degree of Saturation (DOS). The DOS is a
Department, Northern Region in Sri Lanka on road
measure of the ratio of the volume of water to the
and bridge projects nearly 13 years. He also worked
combined volume of air voids and water within a
with Main Roads Western Australia over 17 years, and
material. A material with a DOS of 100% is fully
was instrumental in design & construction of over
saturated and has a very high pore pressure and high
200kms of National and State major highways
instability under load. As the DOS reduces, the
involving construction of pavements using naturally
reduction in pore water pressure also reduces with a
occurring granular material, and manufactured
corresponding increase in stability.
crushed rock base (aggregate base course).

It has been shown that high pore water pressures will

1. Introduction
develop within pavement materials where the DOS
With the increasing scarcity of locally available
exceeds 80%. The stability of the majority of
quality naturally occurring granular material and
unbound pavement materials, significantly improves
suitable rock sources for manufacturing aggregate
when the pavement is dried back to a DOS of 70% or
base course material extensive research has been
60% in the case of very moisture sensitive materials
undertaken in Australia with most significant aspects
such as crushed rock base.
to increase design life of pavements at reduced
The presence of excess moisture in a pavement can
pavement depths. Another key factor for this is to
cause following failures by the construction loading
avoid huge environmental damages done by clearing
of upper layers, bituminous layer or traffic loads.
natural vegetation during borrowing and harvesting
materials. Shearing or bearing failure resulting in extensive
cracking and shape loss;
The current Engineering Road Note 9 Procedure for
Premature rutting due to the material becoming
the Design of Road Pavements specify that the
unstable when too wet.
permanent deformation of flexible pavements must
"Lifting", blow-outs or delaminating of the road
have a minimum design life of 40 years unless the
surfacing due to positive pore pressure.
Principal specify otherwise. This has been achieved
Embedment of the cover aggregate of the chip
making improvements to design concepts
seal or aggregate primer seal into the soft
(Appropriate longitudinal slope, pavement height and
underlying pavement base resulting in severe loss
drain depths etc), the quality of material (using high
of surface texture.
quality crushed rock base or improved material such
Premature fatigue cracking of any asphalt
as stabilised and hydrated cement treated crushed
surfacing due to inadequate pavement stiffness.
rock base), workmanship of construction works
(maintaining camber from sub grade level,
appropriate compaction and moisture control),
quality control tests during construction (Improved
test methods and use of test frequencies related to
the lots with traceability from the resources to the
finish products, rather to quantities.

3. Preventative Measures
To help prevent build up of excessive moisture in a
pavement during construction, the following
preventative measures should be undertaken:
(a) Allow time for the pavement surface to dry back
Ensure that the contract duration and/or works
program has provision to allow the pavement to dry
back to the specified moisture requirement or a
stable state prior to bituminous surfacing.
(b) Program the works to minimise exposure to rain
During the wet season, fully construct short sections
of pavement up to and including the bituminous
surfacing, rather than the construction of the whole
of the sub-base, then the whole of the base and
surfacing.
(c) Reduce the exposure of pavement
material stockpiles to the entry of water
Construct stockpiles on a drained site with a
minimum grade of 1 in 20, preferably with two-way
cross fall, and shape and "track roll" stockpiles to
assist with shedding of water.
(d) Minimise the period, loose or not fully
compacted pavement material is left in the roadbed
Only sufficient pavement material for each days
operation should be spread out on the pavement.
Windrowed material should not trap water on the
surface of the pavement layer, and boxing drains
should always be provided to remove surface water.
(e) Reduce the moisture content used for compaction
Construct the pavement at the lowest moisture
content necessary to achieve the specified density.
Main Roads specify that Crushed rock base shall be
thoroughly mixed with water using a pug mill to
produce a homogeneous product suitable
placement into final position.
(f) Minimize the amount of water required for surface
preparation
The addition of water to a pavement after placement
should be just sufficient to produce a tight cohesive
surface suitable for bituminous surfacing.
(g) Seal off the pavement surface as soon as possible
Prime or primer seal the prepared surface as soon as
the pavement has dried back.
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(h) Permeability and moisture sensitivity
Materials used for the shoulders and pavement base
should be relatively impermeable to ensure that most
surface water runs off rather than infiltrating into the
pavement. Further, use of very moisture sensitive
materials should be avoided in wet environments.
Moisture sensitivity can be checked by CBR, Repeated
Load Triaxial or wheel track testing at varying DOSs to
produce plots showing the effect of moisture on
strength and/or permanent deformation. The latter
tests are preferred over the CBR test, particularly for
crushed rocks.
(i) Consider in the design providing appropriate
subsurface/soil drains or drainage layers.
4. Drying Back of Pavements Prior to Surfacing
Most construction specifications express the moisture
content of a pavement material in terms of Moisture
Ratio (MR). MR is the moisture content expressed as a
percentage of OMC. An Accelerated Loading Facility
(ALF) trial (APRG Report 16) was undertaken at
Beerburrum, Queensland in 1996. This trial indicated
that by drying back a pavement from a MR of 75% to
70% (a DOS of 85% for the material type used),
resulted in about a 400% increase in pavement life
under accelerated loading. (See Figure below.)
for
Comparison of pavement life with relative moisture content
(150mm crushed rock base on CTSB)
This difference may not be as pronounced at lower
moisture contents but it demonstrates the importance
of allowing pavements to dry back to maximise the
service life.
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Also, observations indicate that a pavement material
that has been allowed to dry back will also tend to
remain drier (thus stronger and stiffer) in the long
term than a pavement material that has never been
allowed to dry back.
Drying back also improves the performance of the
bituminous surfacing by allowing satisfactory
penetration of the primer or primer binder into the
surface.
5. Specification, Measurement and Assessment of
Drying Back
To assess whether or not a pavement base has been
dried back sufficiently prior to bituminous surfacing,
one or more of the following techniques can be used.
5.1 Moisture Content at a Specified Degree of
Saturation
Specification and measurement of the moisture
content of the pavement base is considered the most
reliable way of ensuring that the pavement surface
has been satisfactorily dried back.
Some works specifications include a maximum MR
for the pavement base prior to sealing although this
can be misleading for some materials as the MR does
not always provide a good indication of stability. For
this reason, it is preferable to specify a maximum
DOS prior to surfacing. If the material is relatively
uniform, an equivalent maximum MR (or actual
moisture content) can be calculated from the DOS to
make moisture assessment simpler on site.
For major highways and freeways with a traffic
loading in excess of 5x106 ESAs, a maximum DOS of
60% for the base pavement prior to bituminous
surfacing is recommended. For other roads the
maximum DOS may be increased to 65%.
For any material, the DOS for a given moisture
content or alternatively, the moisture content for a
given DOS can be calculated by:
DOS = [1 / (w / d - 1/APD)] x w, or
w = DOS x (w / d - 1/APD)
where:
APD = Apparent Particle Density (t/m3) as
determined by the AS 1289.3.5.1;
DOS = Degree of Saturation (%);
w = moisture content (%);
w = 1.0 t/m3 (density of water); and
d = Dry Density of the Material (t/m3).
Care should be taken when determining the APD in
situations where the material comprises blends of
different materials or porous aggregates.
The most convenient way to measure the moisture
content is with a nuclear gauge although oven drying
methods can also be used for greater accuracy for
thicker layers. The Characteristic MR is determined
from 6 to 10 randomly selected test sites in a similar
way to the Characteristic Density Ratio.
5.2 Clegg Impact Value (CIV)
In conjunction with checking the dry back moisture
content, or, if weather conditions do not permit the
pavement to be dried back to the specified DOS prior
to bituminous surfacing, the stability of the surface can
be checked with a 4.5 kg Clegg Impact Hammer. This
is a portable device consisting of a drop hammer fitted
with an accelerometer that has been suitably calibrated
to provide an indication of the strength at or near the
surface of the pavement.
If the Characteristic CIV calculated from of 6 to 10
randomly-selected test sites is 50 or greater, then the
pavement base should have sufficient stability to avoid
delaminating of the surfacing or excessive deformation
shortly after opening to traffic. The Clegg Hammer can
also be used to detect isolated areas that may not have
dried back sufficiently. There are other types of impact
hammers in the market place but the Clegg Impact
Hammer is the most common device used in Australia.
(Bouncing of a pickaxe handle on the surface of
finished pavement layers for a good bounce and a
metallic/drumming sound is also an indication of
achieving drying back, and widely used as a quick test
to locate wet patches.)
5.3 Test Rolling
In conjunction with the suggestions in 5.1 and 5.2
above, a specified test rolling procedure can also be
used to provide an indication of the stability of a
pavement prior to surfacing. Assessment is made on
whether or not visible movement of the pavement.
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2. The Particle Size Distribution of the

5.4 THE SPECIFICATION USED BY MAINROADS crushed rock base material when tested in
WESTERN AUSTRALIA IS GIVEN BELOW AND accordance with Test Method WA 115.1 shall
SHOWN IN ITALICS. ONE SHOULD NOTE THAT comply with the requirements shown in Table 5A
SOME OF THE TEST MATHODS ARE AS PER below. The grading of material passing the
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN (WA) TEST METHODS. 37.5mm sieve shall vary from coarse to fine in a
uniform and consistent manner.
The material shall not be gap graded as
"CRUSHED ROCK BASE BASECOURSE FOR PAVMENT
represented by the grading crossing from the
CONSTRUCTION.
maximum limit for one sieve size to the minimum
limit for another sieve size, and shall conform as
GENERAL
closely as possible to the specified target grading.
1. All crushed rock base shall consist of a TABLE 5A
uniformly blended mixture of coarse and fine AS 1152 % Passing by % Passing by Mass
aggregate. Sieve Size Mass Minimum and
2. Coarse aggregate (retained 4.75mm sieve) (mm) Target Maximum Limits
shall consist of clean, hard, durable, angular Grading
fragments of rock produced by crushing sound General CRB
unweathered rock and shall not include materials
26.5 100
which break up when alternately wetted and
dried. 19.0 100 95 100

3. Fine aggregate (passing 4.75mm sieve) 13.2 82 70 90

shall consist of crushed rock fragments or a 9.5 70 60 80
mixture of crushed rock fragments with natural
sand or clayey sand. Crushed rock fine aggregate 4.75 50 40 60
from each source shall, except as to size, comply 2.36 38 30 45
with all the provisions specified for coarse
1.18 25 20 35
aggregate.
0.600 19 13 27

LIMITS OF ACCEPTANCE 0.425 17 11 23

1. The mixture of fine and coarse 0.300 13 8 20
aggregate forming the rock base shall be
0.150 10 5 14
free from vegetable matter, lumps of clay,
overburden, or any other deleterious matter. 0.075 8 5 11

3. The Dust Ratio, defined as the ratio of

the percentage passing by mass the 0.075mm
sieve to the percentage passing by mass the
0.425mm sieve, shall be within the range 0.35
to 0.60.
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THE CRUSHED ROCK BASE BASECOURSE SHALL

ALSO MEET THE OTHER LIMITS AS SHOWN IN MOISTURE CONTENT
TABLE 5B BELOW.
1. Crushed rock base shall be
TABLE 5B thoroughly mixed with water using a pug
mill to produce a homogeneous product
Test Limits Test
suitable for placement into final position.
Method
2. Crushed rock base shall be pre-
Liquid Limit 25.0% Max. WA120.2
wet to greater than 95% of the Optimum
(Cone
Moisture Content as determined by Test
Penetrometer)
Method WA 133.1.
Linear 2.0% Max. WA123.1
Shrinkage CONSTRUCTION DRYBACK REQUIREMENTS
0.4% Min.

Flakiness 30% Max. WA 216.1 SUBGRADE

Index
1. Pavement construction shall not
Los Angeles 35% Max. WA 220.1 commence until the layer 150mm below the
Abrasion Value subgrade surface has dried back such that
the Dryback Characteristic Moisture content
Maximum Dry 1.7MPa Min. WA 140.1
(dmc) is equal to or less than the proportion
Compressive
of the optimum moisture content as shown in
Strength
the Table 5C below as determined by test
California 100% Min. WA141.1 method wa 133.1 or test method wa 133.2 as
Bearing Ratio appropriate.
(Soaked 4
days) at 99% of
MDD and 100% SUB-BASE
of OMC 1. Basecourse construction shall not
Wet/Dry 35% Max. AS1141.22 commence until the sub-base has dried back
Strength such that the Dryback Characteristic Moisture
Variation Content (DMc) is equal to or less than the
proportion of Optimum Moisture Content as
Secondary
shown in the Table 5C below as determined
mineral
by WA 133.1 or 133.2.
content in 25% Max. AS 1141.26
basic igneous
rock

Accelerated
soundness 94% Mini. AS 1141.29
index by reflux
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BASECOURSE TABLE DRYBACK ON SUBGRADE OR SUBBASE

LAYERS
1. No binder shall be applied to a
TABLE 5C
basecourse lot until it has dried back such
that the Dryback Characteristic Moisture Subgrade or Pavement Maximum
Content of both the upper half and lower half Layers Dryback Moisture
of the basecourse layer is less than or equal Content (DMc) as
to the proportion of the Optimum Moisture a % of OMC
Content (OMC) as shown in the Table below Layer 150mm below 85%
as determined by WA 133.1 or 133.2. Where Subgrade surface
no such proportion of OMC is shown in TABLE
5C below, the Dryback Characteristic Sub-Base 85%
Moisture Content of the basecourse shall be Basecourse (final 85%
dried back to 85% of OMC or less. surfacing sprayed
seal)

ACCEPTANCE Basecourse (final 70%

surfacing asphalt)
COMPACTION AND DRY BACK
Crushed Rock Base (all 60%
1. Each pavement layer shall be
surfacing types)
constructed to the dimensions and details
shown on the Drawings and to the TABLE 5D
requirements of the Specification and shall be Pavement Layer Minimum
compacted to the Characteristic Dry Density Characteristic Dry
Density Ratio %
Ratio shown in Table 5D or greater. Each
(Rc)
pavement layer shall be dried back to the
Dryback Characteristic Moisture Content Sub-Base 94%
shown in TABLE 5C or lower. Basecourse (final 96% or 98%
surfacing sprayed (Select appropriately)
seal)
MAINTENANCE Basecourse (final 98% or 99%
SUBGRADE, SUB BASE AND BASECOURSE surfacing asphalt) (Select appropriately)
1. Completed subgrade, Sub-base and
Crushed Rock Base 99%
basecourse construction shall be maintained
Basecourse
to the specified standards of surface shape,
level, and dryback and compaction up to the
time of construction of the overlying sub- 6.0 Conclusion
base, basecourse, and time of application of Application of dry back requirements in
bituminous layer. general specification for road construction in
low level pavements where external water
2. Watering shall be continued as ingress in the pavement may require further
necessary to prevent, dusting or loosening of considerations depending on climatic and
the surface of each layer. geographical conditions prevailing in Sri
Lanka and its cost implications.
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However application of dry back requirements

in road sub grade and pavement construction
of expressways and other highways on high
embankments, which will not be affected by
ingress of external water will remain drier
(thus stronger and stiffer) in the long term,
and have significant benefits in the current
design, construction and maintenance
strategies for the National road network and
lead to more cost-effective pavement designs
and increased pavement life reducing the life
cycle costs, perhaps more than 50%.

6.0 References
Austroads Pavement Research Group
(APRG) Report No 16/June 1996, Performance
of unbound and stabilised pavement
materials under accelerated loading.
(http://www.arrb.com.au/admin/file/content
13/c6/ARR%20286%20Performance%20of%20
unbound.pdf)

Austroads Pavement Research Group

(APRG) Technical Note 13/November 2003,
Control of Moisture in Pavements During
Construction.

Road Construction Technical

Specification, Main Roads Western Australia.

End of the Article

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Dear Sir / Madam / Colleague,

As briefly conversed with some of you some time ago, I was always contemplating myself that I have a duty
and responsibility to contribute for improvements to work procedures and practices in Sri Lanka with the
knowledge and experience I accumulated during working with Main Roads Western Australia more than 17
years. I am pleased I could be instrumental, when I was the Bride/Structural Consultant Engineer of Outer
Circular Highway in Sri Lanka, to introduce need for CONTROL OF HYDRATION HEAT IN MASS
CONCRETE CONSTRUCTIONS to avoid DEF formation in concrete.

Observing and hearing early deformation on newly constructed road sections at early stages of its construction,
CONTROL OF MOISTURE DURING CONSTRUCTION OF ROAD PAVEMENTS was also another
requirement that was in my mind.
I had the opportunity to be instrumental in investigation of failures, involve in study of remedies, and then
implementing in National and State Highway projects in Western Australia. The attached Article, I composed
includes firsthand experience and knowledge I gained, and merits and successes of its applications. The facts
given in the Article have been extracted from the published authenticated sources in Australia. With the
blessings of the executive committee of Highway Engineering Society, Sri Lanka a sort version of this Article
was published in the News Letter August 2014 Volume 4 Issue 2 (http://hesoc.lk/Default.aspx)

As a proof of its effectiveness and success of my contributions, I have attached testimonials I received from
higher authorities of Main Roads Western Australia, as a project manager/contract manager (similar to a team
leader during design and planning period) and Superintendents Representative (similar to a deputy team leader
during construction period). Control of moisture during construction of the pavement was a key factor among
other quality control measures taken that resulted the road section to be one of the best 30km segment of the
National Eyre Highway constructed within Goldfields Esperance Region preventing early pavement failures
incurred in adjoining similar 20km road section constructed using similar design and material.

I disseminate this to you expecting teaming up to collate the details of known early pavement failures and to
investigate the merits of the facts, aiming appropriate application to our road construction works.
You may contribute with your experience and knowledge to improve the work practices and Specification
within your institutions or to a forum of discussions to be organized appropriately.
Data may be collected and collated to verify demerits and merits where moisture may have contributed to
pavement failures or satisfactory performance. If excessive moisture had been in the pavement it remains there
for a longer period and moisture content can be tested even some time after construction. Testing could be done
in failed and satisfactory sections where similar material and work processes had been used for comparison and
elimination. Collection of following parameters also will be useful.
1. Locations of road sections affected by early pavement failure.
2. Design details of the section
a. Thickness of subgrade, sub base and base course
b. Quality of above material
c. Depth of drains and level of water expected in drains in relation to sub grade level.
d. Possibility of water ingress in to the pavement from the surrounding
3. Construction Details
a. Particle size distribution and other properties of pavement materials,
b. Possibilities that pavement construction was subjected to rain or high moisture.
4. Any other appropriate data.
Best Regards
Eng. Ratnasiri Rupasinghe. (Mobile: 071 111 5149, 077 391 6547, email:ratnar77@gmail.com)
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