Design of Overlay by Benkelman Beam

Deflection Method
IRC 81:1997
Principle

A well compacted pavement section or one which has been well

conditioned by traffic deforms elastically under each load application
such that when the load moves away, there is an elastic recovery or
rebound deflection of the deformed pavement surface.

Maximum deflection depends upon subgrade soil properties,

moisture in subgrade, pavement thickness and its composition,
temperature of pavement etc.

It is desirable to carry deflection studies soon after the monsoons.

Benkelman Beam

Slender beam of length 3.66 m which is pivoted to a datum frame at a

distance 2.44 m from probe end

A truck loaded with rear axle load of 8170 kg is used for study
Specifications-

Condition survey and deflection data are used to establish sections of

uniform performance

At least 10 deflection measurements should be made for each section

per lane subject to a minimum of 20 measurements per km.

If the highest or the lowest deflection values for the section differ
from the mean by more than one-third of the mean, then extra
deflection measurement should be made at 25 m on either side of
point where high or low values are observed.
Pavement Condition Survey

•Visual inspection of the road stretch and grouping into sub-stretches

•Assessment of pavement cracking – type & percentage cracked area

•Rut depth measurements

•Observations on other types of pavement deterioration

Loading and other standards –

•axle load of 8170 kg / load of 4085 kg on dual wheels

•tyre pressure, p = 5.6 kg / cm2

•standard pavement temperature = 35o C

•highest subgrade moisture content soon after monsoon

Procedure
Leg correction, if any, at each point of deflection observation: -

If (Di - Df) is less than 0.025 mm (2.5 div.),

D = 0.02 (D0 - Df) mm

If (Di - Df) is more than 0.025 mm (2.5 div.),

D = [ 0.02 (D0 - Df) + 0.0582(Di - Df ) ] mm

Mean deflection, D

Characteristic Deflection, Dc = ( D + 2 σ ) for important roads (NH,

SH)

Dc = ( D + σ ) for low traffic roads

Correction for pavement temperature and subgrade moisture
variations

IRC has suggested a standard pavement temperature of 35 C and a

correction factor of 0.01 mm per oC

The temperature correction will be negative when pavement

temperature is above 35 oC and positive when it is lower.

Moisture Correction- Refer IRC 81, Topic 4.5

L
Steps-

1) Find characteristic deflection after applying corrections

2) Find design traffic in MSA as per IRC 81:1997

3) Refer the graph for overlay thickness