4.

22 A rigid pavement is designed with an 11-inch slab thickness, 90% reliability, Ec = 4 million lb/in2, modulus of
rupture of 600 lb/in2, modulus of subgrade reaction of 150 lb/in3, a 2.8 load transfer coefficient, initial PSI of 4.8,
final PSI of 2.5, overall standard deviation of 0.35, and a drainage coefficient of 0.8. The pavement has a 20-year
design life. The pavement has three lanes and is conservatively designed for trucks that have one 20,000-lb single
axle, one 26,000-lb tandem axle, and one 34,000-lb triple axle. What is the daily estimated truck traffic on the
three lanes?
4.23 A rigid pavement is on a highway with two lanes in one direction, and the pavement is conservatively
designed. The pavement has an 11-inch slab with a modulus of elasticity of 5,000,000 lb/in2 and a concrete
modulus of rupture of 700 lb/in2, and it is on a soil with a CBR of 25. The design drainage coefficient is 1.0, the
overall standard deviation is 0.3, and the load transfer coefficient is 3.0. The pavement was designed to last 20
years (initial PSI of 4.7 and a final PSI of 2.5) with 95% reliability carrying trucks with one 18-kip single axle and
one 28-kip tandem axle. However, after the pavement was designed, one more lane was added in the design
direction (conservative design still used), and the weight limits on the trucks were increased to a 20-kip single
and a 34-kip tandem axle (the slab thickness was unchanged from the original two-lane design with lighter
trucks). If El Niño has caused the drainage coefficient to drop to 0.8, how long will the pavement last with the
new loading and the additional lane (same volume of truck traffic)?
4.24 A four-lane northbound section of interstate has rigid pavement and was designed with an 8-inch slab, 90%
reliability, a 700 lb/in2 concrete modulus of rupture, a 5 million lb/in2 modulus of elasticity, a 3.0 load transfer
coefficient, and an overall standard deviation of 0.3. The initial PSI is 4.6 and the TSI is 2.5. The pavement was
conservatively designed (assuming the upper limit of the W18 design lane load) to last 20 years, and the CBR is 25
with a drainage coefficient of 1.0. A design mistake was made that ignored 1000 total northbound (daily) passes of
trucks with 22-kip single and 30-kip tandem axles. What slab thickness should have been used?
Multiple Choice Problems (Multiple Sections)
4.25 A flexible pavement is constructed with 5 inches of sand-mix asphaltic wearing surface, 9 inches of dense-
graded crushed stone base, and 10 inches of crushed stone subbase. The base has a drainage coefficient of 0.90
while the subbase drainage coefficient is 1.0. Determine the structural number of the pavement.
a) 4.47 b) 4.31 c) 4.76

4.26 A flexible pavement is designed to last 10 years to withstand truck traffic that consists only of trucks with
two 18-kip single axles. The pavement is designed for a soil CBR of 10, an initial PSI of 5.0, a TSI of 2.5, an overall
standard deviation of 0.40 and a reliability of 90%, and the structural number was determined to be 6. On one
section of this roadway, beneath an underpass, an engineer uses an 8-inch rigid pavement in an attempt to have
it last longer before resurfacing. How many years will this rigid-pavement section last? (Given the same traffic
conditions, modulus of rupture = 800 lb/in2, modulus of elasticity = 5,000,000 lb/in2, load transfer coefficient of
3.0 and drainage coefficient of 1.0.).
a) 11.33 b) 13.22 c) 18.44d) 25.65

4.27 A flexible pavement at an access road to a sports stadium parking lot is designed with a 4-inch sand-mix
asphaltic concrete surface, 5-inch aggregate bituminous emulsion base, and a 10-inch crushed stone subbase.
There are 95 scheduled baseball and football games at the stadium per year. The access road to the parking lot is
three lanes in each direction (conservatively designed). The pavement was designed for recreational vehicles
with one 20K single axle and one 20K tandem axle. There are 9,000 recreational vehicles estimated at each event.
Given that drainage coefficients are 1.0, the overall standard deviation of traffic is 0.45, reliability is 90%, and the
soil's resilient modulus is 15,000 lb/in2, how many years will the access road last if the initial PSI is 4.0 and the
terminal serviceability index is 2.5?
a) 7 b) 9 c) 12 d) 14
4.28 A rigid pavement on a new interstate (3 lanes each direction) has been conservatively designed with a 12-
inch slab, an Ec of 5.5 􀁵 106 lb/in2, a concrete modulus of rupture of 700 lb/in2, a load transfer coefficient of 3.0,
an initial present serviceability index of 4.5, and a terminal serviceability index of 2.5. The overall standard
deviation is 0.35, the subgrade CBR is 25, and the drainage coefficient is 0.9. The pavement was designed for 600
30-kip tandem axles per day and 1400 20-kip single axle loads per day. If the desired reliability was 90%, how
long was this pavement designed to last?
a) 18 b) 32 c) 42 d) 46

4.29 A flexible pavement was designed to have a 6- inch sand-mix asphaltic surface, 8-inch soil-cement base and
a 21-inch crushed-stone subbase (all drainage coefficients are 1.0). The pavement was designed for 800 12-kip
single axles and 1600 34-kip tandem axlesper day in the design direction. The reliability used was 90%, the
overall standard deviation was 0.35, initial PSI was 4.7, the TSI was 2.5 and the soil resilient modulus was 2582
lb/in2. If the road has three lanes in the design direction (and was conservatively designed), for how many years
was the pavement designed to last?
a) 8 b) 43 c) 53d) 63
4.5 A flexible pavement was designed for the following daily traffic with a 12-year design life: 1300 single axles
at 8,000 lb each, 900 tandem axles at 15,000 lb each, 20single axles at 40,000 lb each, and 200 tandem axles at
40,000 lb each. The highway was designed with 4inches of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) wearing surface, 4 inches of hot-mix
asphaltic base, and 8 inches of crushed stone subbase . The reliability was 70%, overall standard deviation was 0.5, 􀁵PSI was
2.0 (with a TSI of 2.5), and all drainage coefficients were 1.0. What was the soil resilient modulus of the subgrade used in
design?
4.3 A highway has the following pavement design daily traffic: 300 single axles at 10,000 lb each, 120 single axles at 18,000 lb
each, 100 single axles at 23,000 lb each, 100 tandem axles at 32,000 lb each, 30 single axles at 32,000 lb each, and 100 triple
axles at 40,000 lb each. A flexible pavement is designed to have 4 inches of sand-mix asphal t wearing surface, 6 inches of
soil cement base, and 7 inches of crushed stone subbase. The pavement has a 10-yeardesign life, a reliability of85%, an
overall standard deviation of 0.30, drainage coefficients of 1.0, an initial PSI of 4.7, and a TSI of2.5. What is the minimum
acceptable soil resilient modulus?
EXAMPLES: