Design of Flexible Granular

Pavements

Presenter: Bill Hutton

 Pavement Types

Flexible Pavements:
Consist of Unbound Granular Materials, typically with a thin
bituminous surface.
Also Includes pavements consisting of
substantial thickness of bitumen bound materials and even
cement stabilised materials
 Pavement Types

Rigid Pavements:
Those consisting of Portland Cement concrete
Pavement Types

Types of Flexible Pavements:

1. Conventional
2. Asphalt Surfaced
3. Deep Strength
4. Full Depth
5. Modified Full Depth

Conventional and Asphalt most commonly used and most

relevant to Zone Substations or Depot Roads.
 Structural Analysis

Pavement design is essentially a Structural Analysis problem!

Structural Adequacy determined by one of two methods

Road Classification Pavement Material

Standard Modified
Local Urban Roads & Rural Empirical Mechanistic
Roads

State Highways & Urban Empirical Mechanistic

Arterials

Freeways, Motorways & Not Applicable Mechanistic

Major Arterial Roads
Structural Analysis

To design a pavement we need to know:

Subgrade Strength or bearing capacity
Measured by the CBR test. Typically CBR 2-3 for clays and
15% or greater for sandy soils. Used directly in the empirical
design procedure

Pavement Material Characteristics; and

Need to know what materials are available. Generally used Type 2.1 for top 150mm
with Type 2.3 below. For deep pavements, may also have a deep layer of CBR15
material

Design Traffic Loading

No. of equipvalent standard axles that traverse the design lane over the pavement
design life
 Design Traffic Loading

The Standard Axle loading is defined as an axle with dual tyres

loaded to 80kN (8.2 tonne).
Design Traffic Loading

Loads on other axle configurations that cause equivalent

damage to the standard axle

Axle Configuration Designation Load, P (kN) Mass (tonnes)

Single Axle, Single SS 53 5.4

Tyre
Tandem Axle, Dual TAD 135 13.6
Tyre

Triaxle, Dual Tyre TRD 181 18.5

Design Traffic Loading
To determine the damaging effect of loads other than the standard
load for an axle type, the following equation is used:

Doubling the axle load causes 16 TIMES the damage

This equation applied to each axle/axle group on a vehicle can be

used to calculate the ESA for that vehicle
Design Traffic Loading
Design Traffic Loading
Design Traffic Loading
Design Traffic Loading
Design Traffic Loading
Design Traffic Loading

150mm
Design Traffic Loading
Geometric Design Considerations
Earthworks 1:200 Residential
1:400 Industrial

Concrete 0.5% Longitudinal (0.3% if required)

1% Cross Fall

Asphalt 2% Cross Fall Minimum

Chip Seal 3% Cross Fall Minimum

Kerb & Channel 0.3% Longitudinal

Table Drains with Grass Invert 0.75% (0.5% min).

Table Drains with Conc. Invert 0.35% (0.3% min).

Case Study 1 Granite Vale Road
Case Study 1 Granite Vale Road
Case Study 1 Granite Vale Road

250mm -75 material with Geo-fabric

150mm Type 2.3 CTB with 3% Cement

Additional Reading & Questions

Austroads Design Guides

Mainroads Technical Specifications

Townsville City Council Ausspec Guidelines

Questions???