UNIT V

PAVEMENT DESIGN

PAVEMENT
 Pavement is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain
vehicular load or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway.

REQUIREMENTS OF A PAVEMENT
An ideal pavement should meet the following requirements:
 Sufficient thickness to distribute the wheel load stresses to a safe value on the sub-
grade soil,
 Structurally strong to withstand all types of stresses imposed upon it,
 Adequate coefficient of friction to prevent skidding of vehicles,
 Smooth surface to provide comfort to road users even at high speed.
 Produce least noise from moving vehicles,
 Dust proof surface so that traffic safety is not impaired by reducing visibility
 Impervious surface, so that sub-grade soil is well protected, and
 Long design life with low maintenance cost.

TYPES OF PAVEMENTS
Based on the structural behaviour, pavements are generally classified into two categories:
1. Flexible Pavements
2. Rigid Pavements

FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS
1. Flexible pavements are those, which on the whole have low or negligible flexural
strength and are rather flexible in their structural action under the loads.
2. A typical flexible pavement consists of four components
i. Soil sub grade iii. Base course
ii. Sub-base course iv. Surface course
 Flexible pavements will transmit wheel load stresses to the lower layers by grain-to-
grain transfer through the points of contact in the granular structure.
 The wheel load acting on the pavement will be distributed to a wider area, and the
stress decreases with the depth.
 Taking advantage of these stress distribution characteristic, flexible pavements
normally has many layers. Hence, the design of flexible pavement uses the concept of
layered system.
 Based on this, flexible pavement may be constructed in a number of layers and the top
layer has to be of best quality to sustain maximum compressive stress, in addition to
wear and tear.
 The lower layers will experience lesser magnitude of stress and low quality material
can be used.

5. PAVEMENT DESIGN ( TE-1) Page 1

  Flexible pavements are constructed using bituminous materials. These can be either in
the form of surface treatments (such as bituminous surface treatments generally found
on low volume roads) or, asphalt concrete
surface courses (generally used on high
volume roads such as national highways).
 Flexible pavement layers reflect the
deformation of the lower layers on to the
surface layer (e.g., if there is any undulation
in sub-grade then it will be transferred to the
surface layer). In the case of flexible
pavement, the design is based on overall
performance of flexible pavement, and the
stresses produced should be kept well below
the allowable stresses of each pavement
layer.

RIGID PAVEMENTS
 Rigid pavements have sufficient flexural strength to transmit the wheel load stresses
to a wider area below.
 A typical cross section of the rigid pavement is shown in Figure 19:3. Compared to
flexible pavement, rigid pavements are placed either directly on the prepared sub-
grade or on a single layer of granular or stabilized material.

 Since there is only one layer of material between the concrete and the sub-grade, this
layer can be called as base or sub-base course.
 In rigid pavement, load is distributed by the slab action, and the pavement behaves
like an elastic plate resting on a viscous medium (Figure).
 Rigid pavements are constructed by Portland cement concrete (PCC) and should be
analyzed by plate theory instead of layer theory, assuming an elastic plate resting on
viscous foundation.
 Plate theory is a simplified version of layer theory that assumes the concrete slab as a
medium thick plate which is plane before loading and to remain plane after loading.

5. PAVEMENT DESIGN ( TE-1) Page 2

 Bending of the slab due to wheel load and temperature variation and the resulting
tensile and flexural stress.

SEMI RGIGD PAVEMENTS

 When bonded materials like the pozzolanic concrete (lime-flyash-aggregate mix), lean
cement concrete or soil-cement are used in the base course or sub-base course layer,
the pavement layer has considerably higher flexural strength than the common
flexible pavement layers.
 However these bonded materials do not possess as much flexural strength as the
cement concrete pavements. Therefore when this intermediate class of materials used
in the base or sub-base course layer of the pavements, they are called semi-rigid
pavements.
 This third category of semi-rigid pavements are either designed as flexible pavements
with some correction factors to find the thickness requirements based on experience,
or by using a new design approach.
 These semi-rigid pavement materials have low resistance to impact and abrasion and
therefore are usually provided with flexible pavement surface course.

COMPARISON OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT & RIGID PAVEMENT

FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT
1. Have low flexural strength
2. Load is transferred by grain to
grain contact
3. Surfacing cannot be laid
directly on the sub grade but a
sub base is needed
4. No thermal stresses are
induced
5. expansion joints are not needed
6. Design life 10-15 years
7. Initial cost of construction is
low
8. Maintenance cost is high
9. Road can be used for traffic
within 24 hours
10. Damaged by Oils and Certain
Chemicals
RIGID PAVEMENT
1. Have more flexural strength
2. No such phenomenon of
grain to grain load transfer
exists
3. Surfacing can be directly laid
on the sub grade
4. Thermal stresses are induced
5. Expansion joints are needed
6. Design life 20-30 years
7. Initial cost of construction is
high
8. Less maintenance cost
9. Road cannot be used until 14
days of curing
10. No Damage by Oils and
other chemicals

5. PAVEMENT DESIGN ( TE-1) Page 3

FUNCTIONS OF PAVEMENT COMPONENTS

SOIL SUBGRADE
 The soil subgrade is a layer of natural soil prepared to receive the layers of pavements
materials placed over it.
 The loads on the pavement are ultimately received by the soil subgrade for dispersion
to the earth mass. It is essential that at no time, the soil subgrade is overstressed.
 It is desirable that at least top 50 cm layer of the subgrade soil is well compacted
under controlled of optimum moisture content and maximum density.
 The common strength tests for the evaluation of soil subgrade are
 California bearing ratio test
 California resistance value test
 Tri axial compression test and
 Plate bearing test

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SUB BASE COURSE
 It is the layer of locally available material laid over the subgrade. Materials used may be
sand, gravel, rubble stabilized soil. etc
 It functions primarily as structural support but it can also help:
1. Minimize the intrusion of fines from the sub-grade into the pavement structure.
2. Improve drainage.
3. Minimize frost action damage.
4. Provide a working platform for construction.
5. The sub base generally consists of lower quality materials than the base course
but better than the sub-grade soils.

BASE COURSE
 It is the layer between sub base and wearing course.
 It is made of good materials like Hard Broken Granite metal and well compacted.
 It is important structural component and should be strong enough to bear the road
traffic load
 Functions of base course
1. To prevent horizontal shear stresses and vertical pressure produced by moving
or standing wheel load
2. To provide density and resistance to weathering
3. Distribution of higher wheel load pressure.

WEARING COURSE
 The top most layer of the pavement
 The purpose of the wearing course is to give a smooth riding surface that is dense. It
resists pressure exerted by tyres and takes up wear and tear due to the traffic.
 Wearing course also offers a water tight layer against the surface water inflation.
 In flexible pavement, normally a bituminous surfacing is used as a wearing course. In
rigid pavements the cement concrete acts like a base course as well as wearing course.
 The type of surface depends upon the availability of materials, plants and equipments
and upon the magnitude of surface loads.

5. PAVEMENT DESIGN ( TE-1) Page 5

DESIGN FACTORS
 The various factors to be considered for the design of pavements are given below.
1. Design wheel load
2. Subgrade soil
3. Climatic factors
4. Pavement component materials
5. Environmental factors
6. Special factors in the design of different types of pavements.

1. DESIGN WHEEL LOADS

The various wheel load factors to be considered in pavement design are:

A. Maximum Wheel load

 The wheel load configurations are important to know the way in which the loads of a
given vehicle are applied on the pavement surface.
 For highways the maximum legal axle load as specified by Indian Road Congress is
8170 kg with a maximum equivalent single wheel load of 4085 kg. Total load
influences the quality of surface course.
 The magnitude of the vertical pressure at any depth of soil subgrade mass depends
upon the surface pressure as well as on the total load.
 The equation for vertical stress computations under a uniformly distributed circular
load based on Boussineq’s theory given by: a2

 σz = Vertical pressure, p = wheel load, z = depth at which the stress is calculating,

a = radius of the wheel base

B. Contact pressure
 The influence of tyre pressure is predominating in the upper layers. At a greater depth
the effect of type pressure diminishes and the total load exhibits a considerable
influence on the vertical stress magnitudes.
 Tyre pressure of high magnitudes therefore demand high quality of materials in upper
layers in pavements.
 The stresses on the pavement surface under the steel tyre wheels of bullock carts are
very high. This demands use of very strong and hard aggregate for the wearing
surface of the pavement.
 Generally the wheel load is assumed to be distributed over a circular area. But by
measurement of the imprints of tyres with different load and inflation pressures, it is
seen that contact area in many cases are elliptical.

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C. Equivalent single wheel load.
 To carry maximum load within the specified limit and to carry greater load, dual
wheel, or dual tandem assembly is often used. Equivalent single wheel load (ESWL)
is the single wheel load having the same contact pressure, which produces same value
of maximum stress, deflection, tensile stress or contact pressure at the desired depth.
 The procedure of finding the ESWL for equal stress criteria is provided below. This is
a semi-rational method, known as Boyd and Foster method, based on the following
assumptions:
 Equalancy concept is based on equal stress;
 contact area is circular;
 Influence angle is 45o; and
 Soil medium is elastic, homogeneous, and isotropic half space.
The ESWL is given by:

 Where P is the wheel load, S is the centre to centre distance between the two wheels,
d is the clear distance between two wheels, and z is the desired depth.

D. Repetition of loads
 The deformation of pavement or subgrade due to a single application of wheel load
may be small. But due to repeated application of the load there would be increased
magnitude of plastic and elastic deformations and the accumulated unrecovered or
permanent deformations may even result in pavement failure.

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  It is required to carry out traffic surveys for accounting the factor of repetitions for
wheel loads in the design of pavement. Such data collected are converted to some
constant equivalent wheel loads.
 Traffic composition in India is of mixed type and it is essential for design purposes to
convert the various wheel loads to one single standard wheel load.
 Equivalent wheel load is as single load equivalent to the repeated applications of any
particular wheel load on a pavement which requires the same thickness and strength
of pavements.
 If the pavement structure fails with N1 number of repetitions of P1 kg load and
similarly if N2 number of repetitions of p2 kg load can also cause failure of the same
pavement surface, then P1N1 and P2N2 are considered equivalent.

2. Subgrade soil
 The properties of the subgrade are important in deciding the thickness
requirements of pavements.
 A subgrade with lower stability requires thicker pavement to protect it from the
traffic loads. The variations in stability and volume of the subgrade soil with
moisture changes are to be studies as these properties are dependent on the soil
characteristics.
 The stress strain behaviour of the soil under static and repeated loads has also
significance.
 Apart from the design, the pavement performance to a great extent depends on the
subgrade soil properties and the drainage.

3. Climatic factors
The climatic variations cause following major effects.

(a) Variation in moisture condition

 The surface water during rains may enter the subgrade either through the pavement
edges or through the pavement itself, if it is porous.
 The subgrade moisture variation depends on fluctuations of ground water table. The
moisture movement in subgrade is also caused by capillary action and vapour
movements. However, high moisture variations could be controlled by providing
suitable surface and sub-surface drainage system.
 The stability of most of the subgrade soils are decreased under adverse moisture
conditions.
 Presence of soil fraction with high plasticity will result in variations in volume
(swelling and shrinkage) with variation in water content.

(b) Frost action

 Frost action refers to the adverse effective due to frost heave, frost melting and thaw
and the alternate cycles of freezing and thawing. The frost action in general includes
all effects associated with freezing temperature on pavement performance.

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  The held water in subgrade soil forms ice crystals at some spots if the freezing
temperatures continue for a certain period. The ice crystals grow further in size if
there is a continuous supply of water due to capillary action and the depressed
temperature continues. This result in raising of portion of the pavement structure
known as frost heave.
 Subsequent increase in temperature would result in melting or thawing of the frozen
ice crystals and soften the road bed. The load carrying capacity of the subgrade is
considerably decreased at this stage due to the voids created by the melted ice crystals
and the excessive water trapped in the thawed soil below the pavement.
 Under heavy traffic, the pavement would deflect excessively causing progressive
failure due to decreased load carrying capacity of the subgrade.

(c) Variation in temperature.

 Wide variation in temperature due to climatic changes may cause damaging effects in
some pavements. Temperature stresses of high magnitude are induced in cement
concrete pavements due to daily variations in temperature and consequent warping of
the pavement.
 Bituminous pavement become soft in hot weather and brittle in very cold weather

4. Pavement component materials

 For, design purposes, it is required that the various pavement materials are assigned
strength parameters suitable to the design method employed for the purpose.
 The general strength values evaluated are:
i. California Bearing Ratio (CBR) value
ii. Elastic Modulii
 Depending upon the design methods, the elastic modulli of different pavement
materials are evaluated. Mainly Plate bearing test is employed for this purpose.
 Further modulus elasticity or modulus of deformation of highway materials may
be determined from tri axial compression test.

5. Environmental factors
 The environmental factors such as height of embankment and its foundation details,
depth of cutting, depth of water table, etc. affect the performance of pavements.
 The choice of bituminous binder and the performance of the bituminous pavements
depend on the variations in pavement temperature with the seasons in the region.
 The warping stresses in rigid pavements depend on the daily variations in temperature
in the region and in the maximum difference in temperature between the top and
bottom of the pavement slab.

6. Special factors in the design of different types of pavements.

 In the case of semi-rigid pavement materials, the formation of shrinkage cracks,
pattern and the mode of propagation and the fatigue behaviour under such adverse
conditions of hair cracks are to be studied before arriving at a rational method of
design for the semi-rigid pavements.

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GROUP INDEX METHOD OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT DESIGN

 Group Index method of flexible pavement design is an empirical method which is

based on the physical properties of the soil sub-grade.

Determination of Group Index Value of Soil Sub grade:

 Group Index is a number assigned

to the soil based on its physical
properties like particle size, Liquid
limit and plastic limit. It varies from
a value of 0 to 20, lower the value
higher is the quality of the sub-
grade and greater the value, poor is
the sub-grade.
 By sieve analysis test we can
determine Group index value of soil
sub grade from below equation
GI = 0.2a + 0.005 ac + 0.01bd

 Where,
a= percentage of soil passing 0.074 mm sieve in excess of 35 per cent, not exceeding
75.
b= percentage of soil passing 0.074 mm sieve in excess of 15 per cent, not exceeding
55.
c = Liquid limit in per cent in excess of 40.
d= Plasticity index in excess of 10.

DATA REQUIRED FOR FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT DESIGN

1. Group index of soil subgrade

 Group index value range of different soils is given below
 For good soil – 0 to 1
 For fair soil – 2 to 4
 For poor soil – 5 to 9
 For very poor soil – 10 to 20
2. Traffic volume
 It is the measure of Annual average daily traffic, peak-hour traffic. It is denominated
by commercial vehicles/day or CVPD.
 It is classified in three categories. Based on number of vehicles per day.
 If no. of vehicles per days is
 <50 – light traffic
 50-300 – medium traffic
 >300 – Heavy traffic

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FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT DESIGN PROCEDURE:
Before going to design the pavement we must know the structure of flexible pavement

Calculation total thickness (T):

 From the below chart for given group index of soil subgrade and traffic volume value
select appropriate thick curve value of “combined thickness of surface, base and sub-
base line” which will give the total thickness of pavement.

 (Note: thick line indicates the total thickness value and the dotted line indicates
thickness of surface and base)

Calculation thickness of sub-base course (tsb):

 From the below chart for given group index of soil subgrade select appropriate curve
value of “thickness of sub base only” which will give the thickness of the sub-base
course.
 The curve highlighted in below diagram

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Calculation of thickness of base and surface course (tb & ts):
 Thickness of surface and base course = total thickness – sub-base thickness = T – tsb
 The combined value of thickness of base and surface course can be found out from
above chart form dotted curve with the help of group index value and traffic volume.
Or otherwise assume the thickness of surface course (t s) = 5 cm
 Then we can easily calculate the value of thickness of the base course, Tb = T-tsb-ts

Cross section of flexible pavement:

 The group index method is essentially an empirical method based on the physical
properties of the subgrade soil and it does not consider the strength characteristics of
soil and is therefore open to question regarding its reliability.

DESIGN METHODS-CBR METHOD, (AS PER IRC 37-2002)

Design procedure
 Based on the performance of existing designs and using analytical approach, simple
design charts and a catalogue of pavement designs are added in the code.
 The pavement designs are given for subgrade CBR values ranging from 2% to 10% and
design traffic ranging from 1 msa to 150 msa for an average annual pavement temperature
of 35 C.
 The later thicknesses obtained from the analysis have been slightly modified to adapt the
designs to stage construction. Using the following simple input parameters, appropriate
designs could be chosen for the given traffic and soil strength.
 Design traffic in terms of cumulative number of standard axles; and CBR value of
subgrade.

DESIGN TRAFFIC
The method considers traffic in terms of the cumulative number of standard axles (8160 kg)
to be carried by the pavement during the design life. This requires the following information:
1. Initial traffic in terms of CVPD (Commercial Vehicles Per Day)
2. Traffic growth rate during the design life
3. Design life in number of years
4. Vehicle damage factor (VDF)
5. Distribution of commercial traffic over the carriage way.

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INITIAL TRAFFIC
Initial traffic is determined in terms of commercial vehicles per day (CVPD). For the
structural design of the pavement only commercial vehicles are considered assuming laden
weight of three tonnes or more and their axle loading will be considered. Estimate of the
initial daily average traffic flow for any road should normally be based on 7-day 24-hour
classified traffic counts (ADT). In case of new roads, traffic estimates can be made on the
basis of potential land use and traffic on existing routes in the area.

TRAFFIC GROWTH RATE

Traffic growth rates can be estimated (i) by studying the past trends of traffic growth, and (ii)
by establishing econometric models. If adequate data is not available, it is recommended that
an average annual growth rate of 7.5 percent may be adopted.

DESIGN LIFE
For the purpose of the pavement design, the design life is defined in terms of the cumulative
number of standard axles that can be carried before strengthening of the pavement is
necessary. It is recommended that pavements for arterial roads like NH, SH should be
designed for a life of 15 years, EH and urban roads for 20 years and other categories of roads
for 10 to 15 years.

VEHICLE DAMAGE FACTOR

The vehicle damage factor (VDF) is a multiplier for converting the number of commercial
vehicles of different axle loads and axle configurations to the number of standard axle-load
repetitions. It is defined as equivalent number of standard axles per commercial vehicle. The
VDF varies with the axle configuration, axle loading, terrain, type of road, and from region to
region. The axle load equivalency factors are used to convert different axle load repetitions
into equivalent standard axle load repetitions. For these equivalency factors refer IRC:37-
2001. The exact VDF values are arrived after extensive field surveys.

VEHICLE DISTRIBUTION
A realistic assessment of distribution of commercial traffic by direction and by lane is
necessary as it directly affects the total equivalent standard axle load application used in the
design. Until reliable data is available, the following distribution may be assumed.
 Single lane roads: Traffic tends to be more channelized on single roads than two lane
roads and to allow for this concentration of wheel load repetitions, the design should
be based on total number of commercial vehicles in both directions.
 Two-lane single carriageway roads: The design should be based on 75 % of the
commercial vehicles in both directions.
 Four-lane single carriageway roads: The design should be based on 40 % of the total
number of commercial vehicles in both directions.
 Dual carriageway roads: For the design of dual two-lane carriageway roads should be
based on 75 % of the number of commercial vehicles in each direction. For dual

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 three-lane carriageway and dual four-lane carriageway the distribution factor will be
60 % and 45 % respectively.

COMPUTATION OF TRAFFIC (N)

PAVEMENT THICKNESS DESIGN CHARTS

For the design of pavements to carry traffic in the range of 1 to 10 msa, use chart 1 and for
traffic in the range 10 to 150 msa, use chart 2 of IRC:37 2001. The design curves relate
pavement thickness to the cumulative number of standard axles to be carried over the design
life for different sub-grade CBR values ranging from 2 % to 10 %. The design charts will
give the total thickness of the pavement for the above inputs. The total thickness consists of
granular sub-base, granular base and bituminous surfacing. The individual layers are
designed based on the recommendations given below and the subsequent tables.

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PAVEMENT DESIGN CATALOGUE

Plate 1 – Recommended Design for Traffic Range 1 -10 msa

DESIGN OF RIGID PAVEMENTS

MODULUS OF SUB-GRADE REACTION

 Westergaard considered the rigid pavement slab as a thin elastic plate resting on soil
sub-grade, which is assumed as a dense liquid. The upward reaction is assumed to be
proportional to the deflection.
 Base on this assumption, Westergaard defined a modulus of sub-grade reaction K in
kg/cm3 given by K = p/Δ where K = p/Δ is the displacement level taken as 0.125 cm
and p is the pressure sustained by the rigid plate of 75 cm diameter at a deflection of
0.125 cm.

RELATIVE STIFFNESS OF SLAB DUE TO SUB GRADE

 A certain degree of resistance to slab deflection is offered by the sub-grade. The sub-
grade deformation is same as the slab deflection. Hence the slab deflection is direct
measurement of the magnitude of the sub-grade pressure.
 This pressure deformation characteristic of rigid pavement lead Westergaard, to
define the term radius of relative stiffness l in cm is given

 Where E is the modulus of elasticity of cement concrete in kg/cm2 (3.0 x 105), µ is the
Poisson's ratio of concrete (0.15), h is the slab thickness in cm and K is the modulus
of sub-grade reaction.

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CRITICAL LOAD POSITIONS
 Since the pavement slab has definite length and width, either the character or the
intensity of maximum stress induced by the application of a given traffic load is
dependent on the location of the load on the pavement surface.
 There are three typical locations namely the interior, edge and corner, where differing
conditions of slab continuity exist. These locations are termed as critical load
positions.
(a) Interior Loading: When load is applied in the interior of the slab surface at any place
remote from all edges.
(b) Edge Loading: When load is applied on an edge of the slab at any place remote from
a corner.
(c) Corner Loading: When the centre of load application is located on the bisector of the
corner angle formed by two intersecting edges of the slab, and loaded area is at the
corner touching the two corner edges.

EQUIVALENT RADIUS OF RESISTING SECTION

 When the interior point is loaded, only a small area of the pavement is resisting the
bending moment of the plate.

 Where a is the radius of the wheel load distribution in cm and h is the slab thickness
in cm.

STRESSES IN RIGID PAVEMENTS

WHEEL LOAD STRESSES - WESTERGAARD'S STRESS EQUATION

 The cement concrete slab is assumed to be homogeneous and to have uniform elastic
properties with vertical sub-grade reaction being proportional to the direction.
 Westergaard developed relationships for the stress at interior, edge and corner
regions, denoted as σi; σe; σc in kg/cm2 respectively.

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TEMPERATURE STRESSES
 Temperature stresses are developed in cement concrete pavement due to variation in
slab temperature. This is caused by
 Daily variation resulting in a temperature gradient across the thickness of the
slab results in warping stresses.
 Seasonal variation resulting in overall change in the slab temperature results in
frictional stresses.

WARPING STRESS
 Whenever the top and bottom surfaces of a concrete pavement simultaneously possess
different temperatures, the slab tends to warp downward or upward inducing warping
stresses.
 The differences in temperature between the top and bottom of the slab depend mainly
on the slab thickness and the climatic conditions of the region.
 The warping stress at the interior, edge and corner regions, denoted as σti; σte; σtc in
kg/cm2 respectively and

 Where
 E = Modulus of elasticity of concrete in kg/cm2 (3 X105)
 ϵ = Thermal coefficient of concrete per oC (1x10-7)
 t = Temperature difference between the top and bottom of the slab
 Cx and Cy are the coefficient based on Lx/l in the desired direction and Ly/l
right angle to the desired direction
 µ = Poisson's ration (0.15),
 a = Radius of the contact area and l is the radius of the relative stiffness.

FRICTIONAL STRESSES
 Due to uniform temperature rise and fall in the cement concrete slab, there is an
overall expansion and contraction of the slab. Since the slab is in contact with soil sub
grade or the sub-base, the slab movements are restrained due to the friction between
the bottom layer of the pavement and the soil layer.
 The frictional resistance therefore tends to prevents the movements there by inducing
the frictional stress in the bottom fibre of the cement concrete pavement.
 The frictional stress σf in kg/cm2 is given by the equation

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  Where W is the unit weight of concrete in kg/cm2 (2400), f is the coefficient of sub
grade friction (1.5) and L is the length of the slab in meters.

COMBINATION OF STRESSES
 It is necessary to consider the conditions under which the various stresses in cement
concrete pavements would combine to give the most critical combinations.
 The following conditions are considered to provide the critical combinations

(i) During summer: The critical combinations at interior and edge region during mid
day occur when the slab tends to warp downwards. During this period maximum
tensile stress is develop at the bottom fibre due to warping and this is cumulative with
the tensile stress due to the loading. However the frictional stress is compressive
during expansion. The load stress at edge region is higher than the interior
Summer, mid-day: The critical stress is for edge region given by
σcritical = σe + σte - σf

(ii) During winter: The critical combination of stresses at the above regions occurs at the
bottom fibre when the slab contracts and the slab warp downward during the mid day.
The frictional stress is tensile during contraction.
Winter, mid-day: The critical combination of stress is for the edge region given
by σcritical = σe + σte + σf

(iii)Mid Nights: At corner region, the critical combination occurs at the top fibre of the
slab, when the slab warps upwards during mid nights. There is no frictional stress at
the corner region.
Mid-nights: The critical combination of stress is for the corner region given by
σcritical = σc + σtc

DESIGN OF JOINTS INCEMENT CONCRETE PAVEMENTS

 Various types o joints provided in cement concrete pavements to reduce the
temperature stresses are expansion joint, contraction joints and warping stresses
 If expansion and contraction joints are properly designed and constructed, there is no
need of providing warping joints, in addition.
 Expansion joint spacing is designed based on the maximum temperature variation
expected and the width of joint.
 The contraction joint spacing design is governed by the anticipated frictional
resistance and allowable tensile stresses in concrete during the initial curing period, or
the amount of reinforcement, if any.
 The spacing between the expansion joints is so adjusted that the contraction joints
have equal spacing.

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EXPANSION JOINTS
 The width or gap in expansion joint depends upon the length of slab. Greater the
distance between the expansion joints, the greater is the width required of the gap for
expansion.
 The use of the wide expansion joint space should be avoided as it would be difficult to
keep them properly filled in when the gap widens during the winter season.
 The purpose of the expansion joint is to allow the expansion of the pavement due to
rise in temperature with respect to
construction temperature.
 The design consideration are:
 Provided along the longitudinal
direction,
 Design involves finding the joint
spacing for a given expansion joint
thickness (say 2.5 cm specified by
IRC) subjected to some maximum
spacing (say 140 as per IRC)

CONTRACTION JOINT
 The purpose of the contraction joint is to allow the contraction of the slab due to fall
in slab temperature below the construction temperature. The design considerations
are:
 The movement is restricted by the sub-grade friction
 Design involves the length of the slab given by:

 Where, Sc is the allowable stress in tension in cement concrete and is taken as 0.8
kg/cm2, W is the unit weight of the concrete which can be taken as 2400 kg/cm3 and f
is the coefficient of sub-grade friction which can be taken as 1.5.
 Steel reinforcements can be use, however with a maximum spacing of 4.5 m as per
IRC.

5. PAVEMENT DESIGN ( TE-1) Page 19

DESIGN OF DOWEL BARS
 The purpose of the dowel bar is to effectively transfer the load between two concrete
slabs and to keep the two slabs in same height.
 The dowel bars are provided in the direction of the traffic (longitudinal). The design
considerations are:
 Mild steel rounded bars,
 bonded on one side and free on other side

 Bradbury's analysis: Bradbury's analysis gives load transfer capacity of single dowel bar
in shear, bending and bearing as follows:

 where,
 P = Load transfer capacity of a single dowel bar in shear s, bending f and bearing
b, d is the diameter of the bar in cm,
 Ld =Length of the embedment of dowel bar in cm,
 Δ = Joint width in cm,
 Fs; Ff; Fb are the permissible stress in shear, bending and bearing for the dowel bar
in kg/cm2.

DESIGN PROCEDURE
Step 1 Find the length of the dowel bar embedded in slab L d

Step 2 Find the load transfer capacities Ps, Pf , and Pb of single dowel bar with the Ld

Step 3 Assume load capacity of dowel bar is 40 percent wheel load, find the load capacity
factor f as

5. PAVEMENT DESIGN ( TE-1) Page 20

Step 4 Spacing of the dowel bars:
 Effective distance up to which effective load transfer take place is given by 1.8 l,
where l is the radius of relative stiffness.
 Assume a linear variation of capacity factor of 1.0 under load to 0 at 1.8 l.
 Assume dowel spacing and find the capacity factor of the above spacing.
 Actual capacity factor should be greater than the required capacity factor.
 If not, do one more iteration with new spacing.

DESIGN OF TIE BARS.

 In contrast to dowel bars, tie bars are not load transfer devices, but serve as a means to
tie two slabs.
 They are provided across longitudinal joints.
 Hence tie bars must be deformed or hooked and must be firmly anchored into the
concrete to function properly. They are smaller than dowel bars and placed at large
intervals.

Step 1 Diameter and spacing: The diameter and the spacing are first found out by equating
the total sub-grade friction to the total tensile stress for a unit length (one meter).
 Hence the area of steel per one meter in cm2 is given by:

 Where,
 b =Width of the pavement panel in m,
 h = Depth of the pavement in cm,
 W = Unit weight of the concrete (assume 2400 kg/cm2),
 f = Coefficient of friction (assume .5),
 Ss = Allowable working tensile stress in steel (assume 1750 kg/cm2).
 Assume 0.8 to 1.5 cm Ø bars for the design.

Step 2 Length of the tie bar: Length of the tie bar is twice the length needed to develop
bond stress equal to the working tensile stress and is given by:

 Where,
 d =Diameter of the bar,
 Ss =Allowable tensile stress in kg/cm2,
 Sb = is the allowable bond stress and can be assumed for plain and
deformed bars respectively as 17.5 and 24.6 kg/cm2.

5. PAVEMENT DESIGN ( TE-1) Page 21