Design of Flexible Pavements

IRC 37 : 2018
Pavement
• A set of layers of different materials which are expected to carry axle
loads during its design life without crossing designated level of failure.
• Pavement is modelled as linear elastic multilayer structure.
Principle of Pavement Design

10/10/2019 6:08 PM 3
Fatigue Analysis
• Fatigue Life: 20% area cracking for upto 30 msa, 10% beyond that
• Nf= 2.21 * 10-04x [1/εt]3.89* [1/MR]0.854 (80 % reliability, traffic upto 30
msa)
• Nf= 0.711 * 10-04x [1/εt]3.89* [1/MR]0.854 (90 % reliability, traffic > 30
msa)
• Where,
• Nf= Fatigue life in number of standard axles,
• εt= Maximum Tensile strain at the bottom of the bituminous layer, and
• MR= Resilient modulus of the bituminous layer

10/10/2019 6:08 PM 4
Fatigue Analysis
• To consider the effect of volume of the bitumen and air voids, the equation
is modified as follows
• Nf =0.5161 * C * 10-04 x [1/ εt]3.89 * [1/MR]0.854
• Va = Per cent volume of air void in mix used in bottom bituminous layer (new
approach is to design mix for less than 4.0% in-place air voids)
• Vb = Per cent volume of effective bitumen in a given volume of bottom bituminous
mix (generally 11.5%)
• Nf= Fatigue life
• єt= Maximum horizontal tensile strain at the bottom of bottom bituminous layer
• MR = Resilient modulus of bituminous mix used in bottom bituminous layer
• For traffic < 30 msa first equation can be considered with VG30 bitumen
• For traffic > 30 msa above equation is recommended
10/10/2019 6:08 PM 5
Rutting Analysis
• Rutting affects serviceability
• Limiting value
• 20 mm in 20% length for upto 30 msa
• 20 mm in 10% length for > 30 msa
• N = 4.1656 x 10-08[1/εv]4.5337 (80 percent reliability)
• N = 1.41x 10-8x [1/εv]4.5337 (90 percent reliability)
• Where,
• N = Number of cumulative standard axles, and
• εv= Vertical strain in the sub-grade

10/10/2019 6:08 PM 6
Principle of Pavement Design
• To avoid failures, the strains at critical locations should always be less
than allowable strains
i.e. Computed strains < Allowable strains
• Allowable Strains are calculated from Failure Models for Design Life.
• Use IITPAVE for strain calculations choosing trial Thickness
• For Expressways, NH, SH, Urban Roads - 90 % reliability
• For other categories
Design Traffic ≥ 20 msa - 90 % reliability
Design Traffic < 20 msa - 80 % reliability
Design Traffic
• Growth Rate – For CV, if not available use Min 5%
• Design Life – NH/SH Minimum, Expressway/Urban roads 20 years;
Other category of roads 15 years
• Distribution of CV over the Carriageway
S.No. Road Category LDF
1. Single lane roads 1.0
2. Intermediate lane roads (5.5 m) 0.75
3. Two-lane two-way roads 0.50
4. Four-lane single carriageway roads 0.40
2-lane 0.75
5. Dual Carriageway roads 3-lane 0.60
10/10/2019 6:08 PM 8
4-lane 0.45
Design Traffic
• Vehicle Damage Factor (VDF)
• Converts CV of different axle load to number of repetition of standard
axle load
• Standard axle load:
• 65 kN for single axle with single wheel on either side
• 80 kN for single axle with dual wheel on either side
• 148 kN for tandem axle with dual wheel on either side
• 224 kN for tridem axle with dual wheel on either side
• Formula: 𝑇𝑦𝑝𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑥𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 =
𝑎𝑥𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝑁
4

𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑥𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑒

10/10/2019 6:08 PM 9
Design Traffic
• VDF:
• Sample size for axle load spectrum
• Total CVD < 3000 – 20%; 3000 – 6000 – 15%; > 6000 – 10%
• Tentative values:
Terrain
Initial CVPD
Plain / Rolling Hilly
0 – 150 1.7 0.6
150 – 1500 3.9 1.7
More than 1500 5.0 2.8

10/10/2019 6:08 PM 10
Design Traffic
• Cumulative Numbers of standard axles during design life
1+𝑟 𝑛 −1
• 𝑁 = 365 × 𝐴 × 𝐷 × 𝐹
𝑟
• A = Initial CVPD on completion of construction
• D = Lane distribution factor
• F = Vehicle Damage factor
• n = Design life in years
• r = Annual growth rate of CV

10/10/2019 6:08 PM 11
IITPAVE Analysis Software
Design Inputs
1. Resilient Modulus
• Resilient Modulus is an estimate of its Elastic Modulus under rapidly applied
loads (As experienced by Pavements).
2. Poisson’s Ratio
• Generally considered in the range of 0.2 to 0.4 for pavement materials.
3. Thickness
• Thickness are checked until reaches safe design.
Design Inputs
4. Wheel Load (Dual wheel assembly)
• For standard axle loading, wheel load = 20 kN on each single wheel (2 wheels)
5. Contact stress (Tire Pressure)
• 0.56 MPa for tensile strain in bituminous layer and vertical compressive stain
on subgrade; 0.80 Mpa for cement treated base
6. Analysis Points
• Depth and radius of critical locations
Subgrade
• 500 mm below the pavement crust or layers
• Compaction – Minimum 97% of MDD with OMC
• Worst filed moisture condition is simulated by soaking the specimen for 4
days
• Water Table Min 1.0 or 0.60 m
• Minimum CBR 5% for road with traffic 450 CVD or higher (two way)
• Relation with Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (60o cone)
• Log10 CBR = 2.465-1.12log10 N; N = mm/blow
• 3 CBR specimens per soil along the length. Design CBR is 90th percentile of
CBRs for high category roads and 80th percentile for other roads

10/10/2019 6:08 PM 15
Subgrade
• Design CBR = 90th percentile of collected data.

• MR = 10 * CBR (For CBR ≤ 5%)

17.6 * CBR0.64 (For CBR > 5%)

• MRS shall be limited to 100 MPa for design purpose

• If significant difference between CBR of existing soil and borrowed soil, effective modulus
needs to be computed.
• MRS for equivalent system
µ = Poisson’s ration (0.35)
MRS = [2(1-µ2)pa]/D p = Tire pressure (0.56MPa)
a = Radius of contact area
(150.8 mm)
D = Deflection (mm)
Effective Modulus for Subgrade
• For example, if CBR of prepared subgrade = 8%; CBR of borrowed soil
= 15%; then
• Modulus of prepared existing soil = 17.6* (8)0.64 = 66.6 Mpa
• Modulus of borrowed material = 17.6* (15)0.64 = 99.6 Mpa
• Estimate the maximum surface deflection using single wheel load 40000 N and
contact pressure of 0.56 MPa, and Poisson’s ratio 0.35 using IITPAVE
Effective Modulus for Subgrade
Effective Modulus for Subgrade

Max Deflection = 1.619 mm

MRS = [2*(1-(0.35)2)*0.56*150.8]/1.619]= 91.54 Mpa
Granular Layers
• Sub-base materials may consist of natural sand, moorum, gravel, laterite, kankar,
brick metal, crushed stone, crushed slag.
• If possible, provided as two layers : Drainage layer and Filter layer
• Drainage layer is upper layer (Grading III or IV of MoRTH Spec) and Filter layer is
lower layer (Grading I, II, V, VI of MoRTH Spec)
• If GSB thickness is less than 200 mm then a single drainage-cum-filter layer is
provided (Grading V or VI of MoRTH Spec)
• Minimum thickness of drainage and filter layer – 100 mm each
• Minimum thickness of drainage-cum-filter layer – 150 mm
• Min compacted thickness ~ 2.5 (Nominal Max size of Aggregate)
Granular Layers
• GSB Resilient Modulus
MRGRAN = 0.2(ℎ)0.45 * MRSUPPORT
• Poisson’s ratio of granular bases and sub-bases may be taken as 0.35.
Base Layer
• Unbound Layer
• Wet Mix Macadam(WMM), Water Bound Macadam (WBM), Crusher run
macadam, reclaimed concrete etc.
• Minimum thickness is 150 mm; in case of crack relief layer (for cement
treated base) it is 100 mm
• Minimum thickness of cement treated base (CTB) 100 mm
• Poisson’s Ratio 0.35; for CTB material 0.25
• Resilient Modulus for GB layer on CTSB ~ 300 MPa; 350 MPa for
natural gravel or crushed rock
• Pavement with CTB layer – Elastic modulus 5000 MPa
Bituminous Layers
Flexible Pavements generally consists of two bituminous layers i.e. Surface Course
and Binder Course having min. thickness as 30 mm and 50 mm respectively.
Surface Course Base/Binder Course
S No Traffic Level Bitumen
Mix Type Bitumen Type Mix Type
Type
SMA Modified bitumen or VG 40
1. > 50 msa GGRB Crumb rubber modified bitumen DBM VG 40
BC With modified bitumen
SMA Modified Bitumen or VG 40
2. 20 – 50 msa GGRB Crumb rubber modified bitumen DBM VG 40
BC With modified bitumen or VG 40
BC/SDBC/PMC/ VG 40 or VG
3. < 20 msa MSS/SD
VG 40 or VG 30 DBM/BM
30
Resilient Modulus for Bituminous Mixes
Annual Avg Pavement Temperature (0 C)
Mix Type
20 25 30 35 40
BC and DBM for VG 10 bitumen 2300 2000 1450 1000 800
BC and DBM for VG 30 bitumen 3500 3000 2500 2000 1250
BC and DBM for VG 40 bitumen 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000
BC with modified bitumen 5700 3800 2400 1600 1300
BM with VG 10 bitumen 500 MPa at 350 C
BM with VG 30 bitumen 700 MPa at 350 C
Rap treated with 4% bitumen emulsion/foamed
bitumen with 2-2.5 % residual bitumen and 1 % 800 MPa at 350 C
cementitious material
• Resilient modulus measured at 35°C temperature shall be adopted.
• For snowbound areas resilient modulus shall be measured at 200 C.
• For analysis, Poisson’s ratio value of 0.35 is recommended for the bituminous layer.
Output of IITPAVE
Design Check
• At Critical Locations

Computed Strains Allowable Strains

(Calculated using IITPAVE < (Calculated using failure models
corresponding to trial thickness) corresponding to design life)

• Trial thickness will be design thickness, otherwise repeat with

increased trial thickness.