shoulders / paved shoulders, this widened part can be used by vehicles as an extra lane, thereby

maintaining the Level of service. The shoulders can also be used for paridng in popiilated urban
areas. If rough texture is provided to paved shoulders it will bring in additional safety for
vdtdcles particularly during ni^t hours. The paved / tied concrete shoulders will also add to
the economy of the future project as this widened part itself can be extended to make a new
lane.

1.2 TOPIC OF STUDY AND ITS IMPORTANCE

The study topic entitled "Analysis of Design of a Rigid Pavement with Varymg Types of
Shoulders, Subbase and Subgrade" consists of designing arigidpavement using the latest IRC
recommendations given in IRC: 58-2011.

The rigid pavements due to their longer life, lesser maintenance cost and with almost
comparable cost of construction, especially for heavy traffic roads, have a great scope in the
time to come. Recently, the IRC guidelines have been revised for the design of cement concrete
pavements. The inqjortance of the topic lies in designing the cement concrete pavement using
the latest guidelines and evaluating the effect of variations in the subgrade strength, type of
subbase and its thickness, type of shoulder and traffic volume on thickness of the pavement.
The IRC code recommends a minimum value of CBR of subgrade as 8% without mentioning
any reason for the same. Similarly the code has given the provision of designing the pavement
with different types of subbase such as Dry Lean Concrete, Granular subbase and Cement
Treated Subbase, with varying thicknessfixnn100 mm to 150 mm, 150 mm to 300 mm and
100 mm to 200 mm respectively, without mentioning where a particular subbase / thickness is
to be adopted. Similarly the code provides for designing the pavement with Earthen and Tied
(cement concrete) shoulders.

An attempt has been made in the thesis to evaluate the effect of varying strength of subgrade,
type of subbase and its thickness, type of shoulder and traffic volimie on the thickness of
pavement. It is expected that the outcome of the study will help in knowing the benefits, if any,
by adopting the varying conditions of subgrade, subbase and shoulders in the design of a rigid
pavement.