TITLE

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF COMPOSITE PAVEMENT SYSTEMD

INTRODUCTION
Development of a country depends on the connectivity of various places with adequate road
network. Roads are the major channel of transportation for carrying goods and passengers. They
play a significant role in improving the socio-economic standards of a region. Roads constitute the
most important mode of communication in areas where railways have not developed much and
form the basic infrastructure for the development and economic growth of the country. The
benefits from the investment in road sector are indirect, long-term and not immediately visible.
Roads are important assets for any nation. However, merely creating these assets is not enough, it
has to be planned carefully and a pavement which is not designed properly deteriorates fast. Sri
Lanka is a developing country, having a huge resource of materials. If these local materials are
used properly, the cost of construction can be reduced. There are various types of pavements which
differ in their suitability in different environments, availability of materials and cost for the
construction. Also, there are various types of pavements depending upon the materials were used.
In our country mostly using flexible pavement (asphalt pavement) and rigid pavement (concrete
pavement).
In many countries, the traditional heavy-duty pavement type is thick asphaltic concrete on unbound
aggregate and granular subbase courses. This type of flexible pavement structure relies principa lly
on the asphalt concrete for stiffness, and traffic loading tends to generate higher tensile strains in
the asphalt concrete. Consequently, this type of pavement carries a relatively high risk of flexura l
fatigue in the asphalt concrete, especially if vehicle overloading is prevalent. The design methods
generally used for this type of pavement do not involve the modeling of flexural fatigue. When a
mechanistic model is used in design, with horizontal tensile strain criteria for flexural fatigue, the
benefits of a stiffer subbase become apparent.
Therefore, a newer pavement system technology introduced in the transportation, constructio n
industry, called Composite Pavement. A composite pavement structure is defined as a structure
comprising two or more layers that combine different characteristics and that act as one composite
material. This approach favors the use of a cement stabilized or lean-mix concrete subbase to
support the asphalt concrete. This composite type of pavement, also called semi-rigid, may be
constructed like a flexible pavement without joints, and with compaction by rollers. A composite
pavement structure tends to have more reliable performance than a pavement of asphalt concrete
on unbound layers. The high degree of support provided to the asphalt concrete by the stiffer
subbase means that the subbase becomes the main structural layer in the pavement. Flexural fatigue
of the subbase then governs the design, rather than fatigue of the asphalt concrete.
However, the thickness of asphalt concrete must be sufficient to prevent "reflection" to the surface
of shrinkage cracks in the stabilized subbase. For this purpose, the asphalt concrete needs to be
150-180mm thick, depending on the climate and the degree of shrinkage. While this is still a thick
layer of asphalt concrete, it is thinner than would be required over an unbound subbase. Preferably,
a composite pavement structure should also be found on a working platform of stabilized material,

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which being insensitive to moisture would protect the subgrade to a high degree. But there are
some issues of moisture control, pavement drainage and stripping in asphalt on this composite
pavement. The Composite pavement systems have shown the potential for becoming a cost-
effective pavement, alternative for highways with high and heavy traffic volumes, especially in
Europe.
There is no single definition applicable to composite pavements because a hot-asphalt mix(HM A)
overlay on a cement treated base(CTB) can be considered a composite pavement; likewise, a thin
Portland cement concrete(PCC) overlay on a hot-asphalt mix layer, known as white topping, has
also been considered a composite pavement. Furthermore, a Portland cement concrete surface
layer applied on top of another Portland cement concrete layer before the bottom layer has set may
be considered a composite “wet on wet” pavement.

Therefore, During the lifetime of the Composite pavements, when compared to traditional flexib le
or rigid pavements, have the potential to become a cost-effective alternative because they may
provide better levels of performance, both structurally and functionally, than the traditiona l
flexible and rigid pavement designs. Therefor Composite pavement structures can provide long-
life pavements that offer good serviceability levels and rapid, cost-effective maintena nce
operations, which are highly desired, especially for high-volume, high-priority corridors.

BACKGROUND OF THE COMPOSITE PAVEMENT

Composite pavements have been studied for many years. They are known as semi-rigid pavement
structures (NCHRP, 2004), premium composite pavements (Von Quintus, 1979; Hudson and
Roberts, 1981), long-life pavements (Nunn et al., 1997), and flexible composite pavements (Nunn,
2004). A composite pavement structure is defined as a structure comprising two or more layers
that combine different characteristics and that act as one composite material (Smith, 1963).
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF COMPOSITE PAVEMENT
One of the advantages of composite pavements is that a safe, smooth, quiet, strong and durable
road can be constructed using this method that will require less maintenance than a traditiona l
pavement system. This is because the underlying strength of the Portland cement concrete slab

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bears most of the structural load, and can last much longer than an asphalt concrete base, while the
high quality hot-asphalt mix surface ensures good friction, drainage, sound control, and surface
smoothness. Another advantage is that high quality aggregate does not necessarily need to be used
in the Portland cement concrete, and can even be composed of recycled aggregate. There is also
an ease of maintenance with this system, as usually the layer of hot-asphalt mix need only be
replaced, and the Portland cement concrete base can be left in place much longer. Some of the
most common disadvantages cited by various agencies concerning hot-asphalt mix/Portla nd
cement concrete composite pavement systems are the cost and occurrences of reflection cracking.
Reflection cracking occurs when a crack occurs in the surface hot-asphalt mix, which has been
transferred from movement at a joint or crack in the underlying Portland cement concrete. Other
disadvantages include industry acceptance issues, lack of experience with this type of constructio n,
lack of long-term data, rehabilitation and characterization of underlying Portland cement concrete,
construction time, and surface durability.

COMPOSITE PAVEMENT DESIGN

The typical design process is as follows. The design life, reliability, and distress restrictions must
be determined. The materials are chosen for the base, PCC slab, and HMA. The base is usually
comprised of a course aggregate. PCC is comprised of coarse and fine aggregates, water and
Portland cement. Often times lower quality aggregates, even recycled materials, are all that is
required for the slab. The slab is what bears most of the loading, so compressive strength is highly
important to the design; the modulus of elasticity must also meet the design criteria. The HMA
surface is comprised of varied grade of aggregate and asphalt binder. The grain size distributio n
of the aggregates is designed to fulfill requirements for friction and drainage. The resilie nt
modulus is also taken into account for the HMA. Site conditions must be recorded before design
can begin as well. This includes current traffic volume and loading and future growth.
Moreover, the 1993 AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement Structures can be used to design two
different composite pavements, one is a new flexible pavement with a cement-treated (or soil
cement) base and another one is a rehabilitated PCC pavement using the section in the guide for
the design of asphalt concrete overlays of PCC (both jointed plain concrete pavement and
continuously reinforced concrete pavement).
In the first alternative, it is critical to select a proper layer coefficient, a2, for the stabilized base to
use the flexible SN design equation. A study performed by Richardson (1996) provides a general
equation that could be used to determine the modulus of Ec, of various cemented materials (e.g.,
soil cement, cement-treated bases, cement-stabilized soils) and with that, compute the layer
coefficient a2 . Once the cemented material coefficient and all other needed parameters are
obtained, the composite structure can be designed.
 Ec =−34.367 + 2006.8(qu)0.7784
 a2 =−2.7170+0.49711×Log(Ec)
Where,
Ec = chord modulus (MPa) qu = unconfined compressive strength (MPa).

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The second alternative for using the AASHTO 1993 guide is based on the procedure for designing
the rehabilitation of PCC pavements with an Asphalt concrete overlay. In this case, the first step
is to design a conventional PCC pavement, in other words, compute the thickness to satisfy the
future traffic demand, Df. Once the slab thickness has been obtained, it could be assumed that
placing an Asphalt concrete layer with a thickness of approximately 50 mm (2 in) would allow
for the decrease of 25 mm (1 in) of PCC layer. This is because the guide’s “Asphalt concrete
Overlay of PCC Pavement” procedure indicates that the required thickness, D OL, of an Asphalt
concrete overlay of PCC is calculated using the following equation:
DOL = A (Df −Deff)
Where,
A = factor to convert PCC thickness deficiency to Asphalt concrete overlay thickness
Df = slab thickness to carry future traffic (in)
Deff = effective thickness of existing slab (in).
Therefore, two assumptions are made. First, in a new composite pavement design, D eff is equal
to Df because it is appropriate to assume that a newly constructed PCCP would not have any
distress, thus none of the adjustment factors shown in below Equation would be applicable.
Deff = Fjc ×Fdur ×Ffat ×D
Where,
D = original slab thickness (this would be equal to the thickness of the rigid base)
Fjc, Fdur, Ffat = adjustment factors for joints and cracks, durability, and fatigue = 1.

The second assumption involves the A factor. According to the guide, the A factor is computed
using the following equation:
A = 2.2233+ 0.0099(Df − Deff )2 −0.1534(Df − Deff )
Assuming that Df = Deff, a conservative value of A = 2.2233 would be obtained. Lower A values,
and consequently HMA thicknesses, may be obtained if using the actual Df and Deff values. Using
these two ways we can design composite pavements.

CONCLUSION

This new technology is still spreading and adapting to industry standards. There are limitations
to this technology, and it should only be used in appropriate situations. The benefits, however, are
clear. This technology allows for strong performance, and still provides the benefits of smoothness
and sound control that a full HMA pavement has. It is also easier to maintain and allows for more
recycled products to be used in the PCC base. It will likely be a technology that society will see
implemented more and more in the future.

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References
GERARDO W. FLINTSCH, BRIAN K. DIEFENDERFER,. 2008. COMPOSITE PAVEMENT SYSTEMS. FINAL
CONTRACT REPORT, ORLANDO NUNEZ Graduate Research Assistant Center for Safe and
Sustainable Infrastructure Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

Tompkins, Michael I. Darter & Derek. 2008/02/14. "Composite Pavements: Design, Construction, and
Benefits." Pavement Research. minnesora: Institute University of Minnesota. 33.