HIGHWAY ENGINEERING II

HIGHWAY ENGINEERING II
Instructor: Raeed Ali
(raeedali@gmail.com)
1

ICE-BREAKER
1. What do you understand by Pavement

Engineering?
2. What kinds of problems did you notice
on the roads of Ethiopia?
3. List the materials used for the
construction of roads.
4. What do you think it takes to become a
good pavement/material engineer?

Who wants to be a pavement

Contents
1.Introduction
1.1
1.2

General
Overview of pavement structures

1.2.1
1.2.2

1.3

Flexible pavements
Rigid pavements

Basic design requirements

2.Stress in pavements
2.1
2.2

Stress in flexible pavements

Stress in rigid pavements

3.Traffic Loading and Axle load Survey

4.Sub-grade soils
4.1 Overview of soil data and site investigation
4.2 Essential laboratory tests
4.3 Soil classification for highway use

Contents contd
5.Unbound pavement materials
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4

Source and properties of aggregate

Aggregate for surfacing
Base and Sub base courses
Selected capping layers

6.Stabilization pavement materials

6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4

Mechanical Stabilization
Cement Stabilization
Lime Stabilization
Bitumen Stabilization

7.Bituminous materials and mixtures

7.1
7.2

Bituminous binder and properties

Bituminous mixtures

Contents contd
8.Structural design pavements
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4

TRL method of flexible pavement design

AASHTO method of flexible pavement design
ERA and AACRA Pavement design procedures
Design of gravel surfaced roads

9.Highway maintenance and rehabilitation

(optional)

 Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 8

Design
Inputs

Pavement
Design

Pavement
Materials
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7

Introductio
n and
stress
calculation
s
Chapter 1
Chapter 2

For our consumption

Chapter 1
Introductio
n

What is a pavement
structure?
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 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 pavement structures

1. Earth Roads
2. Gravel Surfaced Roads
3. Flexible Pavements
4. Rigid Pavements

Earth Roads
Designed for a very low traffic where the

soil can be trafficable

Used when there is economic limitation
The natural sub grade soil can be made to
carry the traffic load after clearing and
shaping
Such earth roads give seasonal services
and
Require reshaping after seasonal changes.

Gravel Roads
Constructed by spreading gravel over the

subgrade, shaping and compacting to avoid

excessive strain at the sub grade level
Usually provides services in all seasons with
less frequent reshaping as compared to earth
roads.
Designed to carry low to medium traffic &
serve as stage construction.
The surface material should be kept to certain
standard such as grading and plasticity.

Flexible Pavements
A flexible pavement is one,

which has low flexural

strength, and the load is
largely transmitted to the
subgrade soil through the
lateral distribution of stresses
with increasing depth.
The strength of subgrade soil

would have a direct bearing on

the total thickness of the
flexible pavement.

Types of flexible pavements

conventional

flexible
pavement
full-depth
asphalt
pavement

Question: Where do you think is

each applicable?

Rigid Pavements
Are pavement structures constructed of cement

concrete slabs, which derive their capacity to

withstand vehicle loads from flexural strength or
beam strength 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.

Types of rigid pavements

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.

Question: How are they formed?

Comparison between flexible

and rigid pavements
The manner in which vehicle loads are

transmitted to subgrade
Design life and precision
Maintenance requirements
Initial cost
Suitability for stage construction
Surface characteristics
Permeability and
Traffic dislocation during construction.

Airports vs. Highways

gross-weight vs. number of load

repetitions
arrangement and spacing of wheel
loads
typical tyre pressure
Load applications (location)

Designing Pavements

Major Design factors

traffic loading,
environment,
materials and
failure criteria.

Traffic Loading
loading configuration;
number of repetitions

(ESAL);
tyre pressure; and
speed of traffic
loading

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.

Material
Properties of soils,

aggregates, bituminous
binders, cement, and
their mixtures under
traffic loading in a given
environmental conditions
Stiffness, Poison Ratio,
Strength, Durability,
Permeability, ThermalVolumetric Properties

Performance and Failure

criteria

Pavement failure/ distress/ defect is a condition

of the pavement structure that reduces
serviceability or leads to a reduction in
serviceability.
Defects of a road can be classified into two:
Structural defect
Surface defect

Performance and Failure

criteria
Gravel roads defects include:

dustiness, potholes, stoniness,

corrugations, ruts, cracks, ravelling,
erosion, slipperiness, impassibility and
loss of wearing course material function
of properties of materials of construction,
alignment, volume of traffic, and etc.
Flexible pavement fatigue cracking ;
rutting; and thermal cracking
Rigid pavement - fatigue cracking;
pumping ; and joint deterioration

Visual Depiction of failure

modes

Closing Remark
Which of the failure modes do
most of the world design the
pavements for???

FATIGUE!!!