02/04/2018

CHAPTER 3
PAVEMENT DESIGN:
Flexible Pavement Design
(AASHTO Method)
By:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohamad Yusri Aman

Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

Flexible pavement
The PRINCIPAL FACTORS that affect the
thickness design of a flexible pavement are:

 Traffic loading
 Material characteristics
 Climate or environment

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Traffic loading Construction

Axles Winter
Suspensions Temperature
Tyres Water

Climatic effect Maintenance External effects

Winter Treatments Chemicals
Temperature Materials Pollutants
Water Operations
Condition

Condition curve

Age
Typical factors effecting pavement condition

AASHTO FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT DESIGN

 The design recommended by the American Association of State

Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
 Based on the results of the extensive ASSHO Road Test conducted
in Ottawa, Illinois in late 1950’s.
 General Design variables based on the effective roadbed soil
resilient modulus and the structural number.
 The AASHTO Design based on:
 Time Constraints such as Performance Period and Analysis
Period.
 Traffic.
 Reliability.
 Environmental Effects.
 Serviceability.

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Factors for design of pavements

• Design wheel load
 Static load on wheels
 Contact Pressure
 Load Repetition

• Subgrade soil
 Thickness of pavement required
 Stress- strain behaviour under load
 Moisture variation
• Climatic factors
• Pavement component materials
• Environment factors
• Traffic Characteristics
• Required Cross sectional elements of the alignment

Flexible Pavement Design Using CBR Value Of

Sub-grade Soil
 California State Highways Department Method
 Required data:
 Design Traffic in terms of cumulative number of standard
axles(CSA).
 CBR value of sub-grade.
 Initial data in terms of number of commercial vehicles per day
(CVPD).

 Traffic growth rate during design life in percentage.

 Design life in number of years.

 Distribution of commercial vehicles over the carriage way.

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Distribution of Traffic
Single Lane Roads
 Total No. of Commercial Vehicles in both Directions

Two-lane Single Carriageway Roads

 75% of total No. of Commercial Vehicles in both Directions

Four-lane Single Carriageway Roads

 40% of the total No. of Commercial Vehicles in both Directions

Dual Carriageway Roads

 75% of the No. of Commercial Vehicles in each Direction

Traffic Load Pavement Serviceability

Equivalent Standard Pavement Serviceability Index (PSI)

Axle Load (ESAL)
Subgrade Property
Resilient Modulus (MR )
Subbase, Base and
Surface Properties
Resilient Modulus (MR )
Structural Coefficients (a)
Environmental Effects
Exposure to moisture, quality of
drainage
Drainage coefficient (m)
Initial PSIi = 4.5,
Terminal PSIt = 2.5 – 3.0 (expressways/highways);
2.0 (local roads)
AASHTO FLEXIBLE Reliability
PAVEMENT DESIGN
Based on functional
CONSIDERATIONS
classification and
location (rural/urban)
Traffic/Performance Variation
Standard deviation (So) –
presents the designer’s ability to
predict variations in traffic and
pavement performance
So is usually 0.3 - 0.5

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(5) AASHTO FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

1. TIME CONSTRAINTS
Performance period – the period of time the pavement will last
before it needs rehabilitation.
Analysis period – the period of time for which the analysis is to
be conducted. It is also similar to the term ‘design life’.
Pavement Serviceability

Pavement Serviceability
Rehabilitation
took place

10 Years 5 10 9
Years

2. TRAFFIC
The design procedure is based on the cumulative expected load
applications during the analysis period.
Adopted the 80kN single-axle load as standard, and developed a
series of ‘equivalent factors’ for each axle weight group.

3. RELIABILITY
The reliability design factor accounts for change variations in both
traffic prediction and the performance prediction.
Therefore, it provides a predetermined level of assurance (R) that
pavement sections will survive the period for which they were
designed.

4. ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECT
The long term effects of temperature, moisture and material aging on
pavement performance could not be directly accounted from the road
test data.
The loss of serviceability over the design period should be estimated
and added to that due to traffic loads.
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AASHTO DESIGN METHOD FOR FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT

 Pavement serviceability can be evaluated by means of certain
measurements made on the surface, as was done on the test road.

 The AASHTO design employs a present serviceability index (PSI) that is

measured on a scale of 0 to 5,

 with 0 corresponding to impossible road and 5 representing a perfect

road.

The AASHTO method considers the change in the PSI rating over its
performance period:

PSI  po  pt
Where,
po = original or initial serviceability index
pt = terminal or lowest allowable serviceability index

Present Serviceability Index (PSI) rating

 The original or initial PSI rating for flexible
pavement generally falls between 4.0 and 4.5.

 A value of 4.2 was reported for the flexible

pavements tested at the ASSHO test road
project.

 The value of pt is the lowest allowable PSI

rating that will be tolerated before rehabilitation,
resurfacing, or construction is required.

 The AASHTO recommends:

 p value of 2.5 or higher for the design of
major highways
 and 2.0 for highway with low traffic
volumes.

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Time constraints:
In the 1986, AASTTHO guide four design variables are accounted for;
i) time constraints
ii) traffic
iii) reliability
iv) environmental effects and effective roadbed soil

Traffic

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Reliability
 The reliability design factor accounts for change variations in both traffic
prediction and the performance prediction.

 Its was developed to ensure that the various design alternatives would
allow for inherent design and construction variabilities and perform as
they were intended in the design period.

Environmental Effect:
 The AASHTO design equations were developed form the results of the
road tests in a two-year period.

 The long term effects of temperature, moisture and material aging on

pavement performance could not be directly accounted from the road
test data.

 The effective roadbed soil resilient modulus is an equivalent

modulus that would result in the same damage if seasonal modulus
values were actually used.

 The equations for evaluating the relative damage to flexible pavement

uf and for computing MR are below:

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PAVEMENT ENGINEERING

Traffic Analysis
 The initial daily traffic is in two directions over all traffic lanes
and must be multiplied by directional and lane distribution
factor to obtain the initial traffic on the design lane.

 The traffic to be used for the design is the average traffic

during the design period, so initial traffic must be multiplied by
growth factor.

 The equivalent standard axle load for the design lane is:

PAVEMENT ENGINEERING

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Work Example - 1

Structural Number

R
SN
R1 E1 a1 D1
SN2R
E2 a2 D2
SN3 R
E31 a3 D3
R
r

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Layer Coefficient (ai)

The AASTHO flexible pavement layer coefficient is a measure of the relative
effectiveness of a given material to function as a structural component of the
pavement of the pavement.

The layer coefficients of different materials are asphalt concrete surface

course, untreated and stabilized base course and granular sub-base course.

PAVEMENT ENGINEERING

Drainage Coefficient (mi)

 Table 16.5 (see Appendix) presents the drainage coefficients
recommended in the AASTHO Guide for untreated base and sub-base
materials in flexible pavements.

 The coefficients depend on the quality of drainage and percentage of time

the pavement structure saturated.

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PAVEMENT ENGINEERING

AASHTO FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT DESIGN

PROCEDURE
PSI MR SN a m
Design Resilient Structural Structural Drainage
serviceability Modulus of Number of Coefficients Coefficients
loss subgrade, surface, of surface, of surface,
sub-base and base and base and base and
base sub-base sub-base sub-base

PAVEMENT ENGINEERING

Surface Base Subbase

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PAVEMENT ENGINEERING

Work Example - 3

PAVEMENT ENGINEERING

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PAVEMENT ENGINEERING

Procedure for Selection of Layer Thickness

PAVEMENT ENGINEERING

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PAVEMENT ENGINEERING

THANK YOU
for your attention

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