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TRAN3001

Highway Engineering
Lecture
8
Structural Design
Flexible Pavement Design
The Design Process: Cumulative
Equivalent Standard Axle Loading
Road Note 31
CBR
Bituminous Surfacings

Structural Design
Flexible Pavement
The Design Process
The (forecast) cumulative equivalent standard
axle (ESAL) loading on a pavement for a given
growth rate (g) percent over a design life of n
years can be computed from the formula:
ESALf = ESALp (1+ g/100)n
This loading and forecast applies to flexible as
well as rigid pavements. This completes the
first step in the design process.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
One (empirical) method of design that is often
used is that outlined in Overseas Road Note 31
(Fourth Edition, 1993) A guide to the structural
design of bitumen-surfaced roads in tropical and
sub-tropical countries published by the Transport
Research Laboratory of Britain.
The procedure described in the Note includes the
determination of the ESAL as described above and
the traffic is grouped into one of eight classes (T1
T8), ranging from under 0.3 million to 30 million
ESALs.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
The next step is assessing the subgrade
strength and this is done by means of a soil
test, the California Bearing Ratio (CBR).
The CBR test is entirely empirical and does
not measure any basic property of the soil.
The results are only applicable to the
design procedure.
For purposes of pavement design, the
subgrade moisture content is estimated.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
For designing the thickness of a road
pavement, the strength of the subgrade
should be taken as that of the soil at a
moisture content equal to the wettest
moisture condition likely to occur in
the subgrade after the road is opened to
traffic. Subgrade moisture conditions under
impermeable road pavements can be
classified into three main categories:

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
Category (1): Subgrades where the water
table is sufficiently close to the ground
surface to control the subgrade moisture
content.
This includes areas where the water table is
maintained by rainfall, i.e. when rainfall
exceeds evapotranspiration.
The water table can also be maintained by
a river or the sea, such as coastal strips
and flood plains.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
Category (2): Subgrades with deep water
tables
with rainfall sufficient to produce significant
changes in moisture conditions under the road.
These conditions occur when rainfall exceeds
evapotranspiration for at least two months of
the year and average annual rainfall is in
excess of 250 mm.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
Category (3): Subgrades in areas with no
permanent water table near the ground
surface.
In these areas the climate is dry throughout
most of the year, with an annual rainfall of
250 mm or less.
Locally, average annual rainfall is about
2,200 mm and the 4-day soaked CBR value,
which represents saturated subgrade
conditions, is commonly specified.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
The relationship between moisture content,
density and strength of the subgrade soil
(CBR) is determined by laboratory testing.
At any given moisture content the soil
strength can be increased if the density of the
soil is increased by decreasing its air content.
In the laboratory the CBR of the soil is
observed to increase as the unit weight of the
sample is increased with the moisture content
kept constant.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
Therefore, a design unit weight must be selected
that corresponds to the (minimum) state of
compaction expected to be achieved in the field.
A load versus penetration test is carried out in
the laboratory on a specimen of the subgrade
soil which is at the moisture content and density
appropriate for the subgrade in service.
A load versus penetration curve is plotted and
compared with the curve for the standard
material.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
The values for the standard material
(crushed limestone) establish the scale for
assessing soil strength.
The CBR value obtained is multiplied by
100 so that it is expressed as a percentage.
CBR values can also be measured in situ for
fine-grained soils where, unlike granular
soils, the results are equivalent to the
laboratory test results on which the CBR
values are based.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
Fine-grained soils typically have low CBR
values of 2 5%, whereas well-graded,
coarse-grained soils can have values in
excess of 80%. Where drainage is poor
these values can be less than half of the
above.
To reduce costs, selected fill, with a
minimum 15% CBR, can be used to
provide sufficient cover on weak subgrades
instead of a thicker subbase.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
A minimum CBR of 30 per cent is required
for the subbase layer and well-graded
sandy gravels and similar coarse-grained
materials are suitable.
When properly constructed, crushed stone
roadbases will have CBR values well in
excess of 100 per cent and do not require
CBR tests.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd
While the moisture content of the subgrade soil is
largely governed by the local climate and the
depth of the water table below the road surface,
the density of the subgrade soil can be controlled
within limits by compaction at a suitable moisture
content at the time of construction.
Compaction will not only improve the subgrade
bearing strength but will reduce permeability and
subsequent compaction by traffic.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
With step two of the process completed the
design charts in the Road Note are then used to
determine the layer thicknesses.
The design charts are based primarily on the
results of full-scale experiments as well as
studies of the performance of as-built existing
road networks.
Where direct empirical evidence is lacking,
designs have been interpolated/extrapolated
from empirical studies using road performance
models as well as analytical methods.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
The eight (8) traffic classes and six (6) subgrade
strength classes as shown in the Road Note are listed
hereunder:
Traffic Classes (106 ESALs)
T1 < 0.3 T5 3.0 6.0
T2 0.3 0.7 T6 6.0 10
T3 0.7 1.5
T7 10 17
T4 1.5 3.0 T8 17 30

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
Subgrade Strength Classes (CBR
%)
S1 2
S2 3 4
S3 5 7
S4 8 14
S5 15 29
S6 30+

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
The Design Process (Contd)
Symbols used on the Chart
Surface
Flexible Bituminous Surface
Selected Fill

Granular Roadbase

Bituminous Surface
(Wearing and Base Course)

Granular Subbase

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing
While roadbases may be bound with
bitumen, the design, manufacture and
construction of hot premixed bituminous
pavement materials, or hot mix asphalt
(HMA) is primarily concerned with the
surfacing which is the top layer of the
flexible pavement.
HMA surfacing for roads may be a single
layer or a two layer base/binder course
topped with a wearing course.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Traffic is in direct contact with the HMA
wearing course which must be of high
quality and have predictable performance.
Typically HMA wearing courses need to
have the following characteristics:
high resistance to deformation
high fatigue and strain resistance
(flexibility)

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
sufficient stiffness to reduce stresses in
the underlying layers to acceptable levels
high resistance to environmental
degradation i.e. good durability which
maintains the smooth running surface
while protecting the underlying layers
low permeability to prevent the ingress
of water which can damage the
underlying layers

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
good workability to allow adequate
compaction during construction
sufficient surface texture to provide good
skid resistance, particularly in wet weather
predictable performance
The materials and the relative proportions
of each are key considerations in HMA mix
design. .

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Mix Components
The types of HMA most frequently used
locally and in tropical countries are
manufactured in an asphalt plant by hotmixing appropriate proportions of the
following materials:
coarse aggregate, defined as material
having particles larger than 2.36mm (4.75
mm in accordance with AASHTO)

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Mix Components (Contd)
fine aggregate, defined as material having
particles less than 2.36mm and larger than
0.075 mm
filler, defined as material having particle
sizes less than 0.075mm, which may
originate from fines in the aggregate or be
added in the form of cement, lime or
ground rock, the latter being more
commonly used locally.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Mix Components (Contd)
a penetration- grade bitumen with
viscosity characteristics appropriate for the
type of HMA, the climate and the loading
conditions where it will be used.
HMA Types
Two generic types of HMA are commonly
used in countries like Trinidad and Tobago
with tropical climates:

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
HMA Types (Contd)
Asphaltic Concrete (AC) which is by
far the more commonly used mix. Traffic
stresses are transmitted mainly through
an aggregate structure that has a
continuous particle size distribution.
This gives the maximum density after
compaction, however, such a dense
structure makes AC sensitive to errors in
the composition of the mix.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
HMA Types (Contd)
Hot Rolled Asphalt Mixes in which traffic
stresses are passed through the fines/filler/
bitumen matrix. In these mixes the
aggregate particle size distribution is
discontinuous or gap-graded.
It is less used on heavily trafficked roads
and still recommended on residential roads
as it is less sensitive to proportioning,
making it easier to manufacture, lay and
compact than AC.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
AC Design Considerations
Asphaltic Concrete (AC) has to be designed
to resist deterioration caused by three main
failure modes: fatigue cracking, plastic
deformation and loss of skid resistance in
the surfacing .
Cracking is as a result of thermal or trafficinduced strains or a combination of both.
One way of improving the durability of the
AC is to increase the bitumen content.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
AC Design Considerations (Contd)
This reduces the air voids content and
brittleness. Any surface cracking in the
bitumen-rich mix is likely to remain shallow for a
considerable time.
However, using a mix too rich in bitumen
introduces a risk of failure through plastic
deformation. Under heavy traffic the air voids
content can be reduced to a critical level at
which plastic deformation occurs relatively
rapidly.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
AC Design Considerations (Contd)
The relationship between the in situ air
voids content and asphalt deformation
observed on high trafficked roads in
countries with high road temperatures
shows that the air voids content must be
greater than 3 per cent to avoid the plastic
deformation that causes rutting and similar
effects of instability.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
AC Design Considerations (Contd)
When the air voids content in an AC layer
decreases to less than approximately 3
percent, stress transfer, which was
occurring through intergranular contact
pressure in the coarse aggregate, switches
to the bitumen-fines component because of
too much binder in the mix, until plastic
deformation occurs.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
AC Design Considerations (Contd)
Loss of skid resistance or surface texture due
to the polishing action of vehicle tyres can
develop because of the use of the wrong type
of aggregate (low resistance to polishing),
incorrect aggregate particle size as well as
wrong binder content and viscosity which
results in progressive embedment of the
aggregate in the surfacing.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design
There are many methods available for AC
(asphaltic concrete) mix design which
vary in the size of the test specimen,
compaction, and other test specifications.
The Marshall method of mix design is the
one most commonly used .

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
The Marshall method is suitable for the design
and field control of AC mixes containing
aggregates with a maximum size of up to
25mm. Aggregates are prepared and blended to
give samples which conform to a selected
particle size distribution. Initial mix design
samples are prepared that cover a range of
bitumen contents.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
The samples are subjected to a level of
compaction which is related to the
expected traffic, in terms of ESALs, to be
carried in the design life of the AC layer(s).
The properties of the compacted samples,
including bulk density, air voids, stability
and deformation characteristics under
load, are then determined.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
If the mix properties do not meet the
specified design criteria, the mix must
be reformulated and the tests repeated
until an acceptable design is established.
Sufficient quantities of coarse aggregate,
fine aggregate, filler and bitumen,
representative of those to be used on the
project, need to be obtained.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
This will allow tests to be repeated if
necessary or testing of different aggregate
gradings.
Sieve analysis is carried out on representative
samples of each aggregate source and filler.
Using the results of the sieve analysis
obtained for each source of aggregate, a
blend is computed which conforms to the
specified aggregate particle size distribution.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
Samples of bitumen should be taken from
either the storage tank or the delivery
tanker. The following properties of the
bitumen are measured:
Penetration at 25C.
Softening point (the temperature at which
the
penetration is assumed to be 800).

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
Viscosity at approximately 105C to 115C,
135C and 160C.
The results of the tests are plotted on a
bitumen
test data chart which indicates the
temperature-viscosity characteristics of the
bitumen and enable selection of the ranges of
ideal mixing and compaction temperatures.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
A series of test specimens are prepared for a
range of different bitumen contents (typically
5 blends with 3 samples each for a total of 15
specimens), which span the expected design
value.
The expected design value is estimated from
experience or a formula based on aggregate
gradation and absorption of bitumen.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
The test specimens are transferred to the Marshall
compaction apparatus and compacted by the
specified number of blows of the Marshall hammer
depending on the ESAL of the expected traffic.
The mix properties to be determined from the test
specimens are the bulk specific gravity (G),
percent air voids (Vv), percent volume of bitumen
(Vb), percent voids in the mineral aggregate (VMA)
and percent voids filled with bitumen (VFB).

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
VMA Vv

VbAir Voids
Vb
A
Bitumen

Filler
Fine Aggregate
Coarse Aggregate

Specimen Phase Diagram

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
Vv is the ratio of the volume of air voids to
the total specimen volume, expressed as a
percentage.
Similarly, Vb is the percent of the volume of
bitumen to the total volume.
VMA is the volume of voids in the
aggregates, which is the sum of the air voids
and the bitumen volume: VMA = Vv + Vb

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
VFB is the ratio of the percent bitumen
content in the mix (Vb) to the VMA (voids in
the mineral aggregate framework) expressed
as a percentage.
The mix properties are used to determine
Marshall stability and flow.
The Marshall stability of a test specimen is the
maximum load required to produce failure
under standard test conditions.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
If there is a slight variation ( + 6.4 mm)
between the thickness of the test specimen
and the standard specimen thickness
measured stability values are corrected to
those which would have been obtained if the
specimens had been exactly 63.5 mm.
The load is applied at a constant strain (50
mm per minute) and the vertical
deformation of the specimen is measured.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
The deformation at the failure point expressed in
units of 0.25 mm is called the Marshall flow value
of the specimen.
The stability value, flow value, and VFB are
checked with the Marshall mix design
specifications.
The average value of the properties (G, Vv, Vb,
VMA and VFB) are then determined for each mix
and the following 5 graphs plotted:

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
Bitumen content versus (corrected) Marshall
stability
Bitumen content versus Marshall Flow
Bitumen content versus percentage of voids
(Vv) in the total mix
Bitumen content versus percentage of voids
in the mineral aggregate filled with bitumen
(VFB)

Structural Design (Contd)


S
t
a
i
l
i
t
y

F
l
0

V
F
B

U
n
I
t
W
t.

V
T
M

Bitumen Content (% by weight of total mix)


Typical Marshall Test Data

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
Bitumen content versus unit weight or
bulk specific gravity
The optimum bitumen content for the
mix design is determined by taking the
average value of the following three
bitumen contents found from the graphs:

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
Bitumen content corresponding to
maximum stability
Bitumen content corresponding to
maximum bulk specific gravity
Bitumen content corresponding to the
median of designed limits of percent air
voids (Vv) in the total mix (usually 4%)

Structural Design (Contd)


Typical Marshall Design Criteria
Mix
Criteria

Light Traffic
(< 104 ESALs)
Min.

Compacti
on
(number
of blows
on each
end of
the
sample)
Stability
(minimu
m)
Flow
(0.25 mm
)
Percent

Max.

Medium Traffic
(10 10 ESALs)

One standard Marshall mix design procedure is:


4
6

Min.

Max.

Heavy Traffic
(> 106 ESALs)
Min.

Max.

35

50

75

2224 N

3336 N

6672 N

20

18

16

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
The Marshall test results reflect trends which
are common to most laboratory tests for
optimum bitumen content as well as actual
road surfacing behaviour as follows:
The unit weight of the mix increases with
increasing bitumen content until a maximum
value is reached, after which the unit weight
decreases.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
The stability of the mix increases with
increasing bitumen content until a
maximum value is reached, after
which the stability decreases.
Generally the optimum bitumen
content for stability is close to the
optimum bitumen content for unit
weight.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
The flow value increases as the bitumen
content increases.
The rate of deformation is slow at low
bitumen contents but increases rapidly at
high bitumen contents.
This result is indicative of actual
roadway performance as surfacings with
high flows deform easily under traffic loads.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
The percentage of voids in the total mix
decreases with increasing bitumen content
until a value is reached at which it
begins to level off.
The VTM percentage is critical with
respect to durability as too high a value
makes the bitumen and bitumenaggregate bond more susceptible to
attack by air and water.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
Too low an air voids content
makes the surfacing more likely to
bleed under traffic.
The percentage of voids filled with
bitumen increases with increasing
bitumen content until a maximum is
reached after which it levels off.

Structural Design (Contd)


Flexible Pavement (Contd)
Bituminous Surfacing (Contd)
Marshall Mix Design (Contd)
The rate of increase is fastest at low
bitumen contents after which the rate
decreases until it levels off at a high
bitumen content.
When the mix is deficient in bitumen,
the surfacing becomes brittle, resulting in
cracking and ravelling under traffic. Too
high a bitumen content results in bleeding.

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