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CE 420 (Module 5 Unit 1)
CE 420 (Module 5 Unit 1)
Pavements are among the costliest items associated with highway construction and
maintenance, and are largely responsible for making the U.S. highway system the
most expensive public works project undertaken by any society. Because the
pavement and associated shoulder structures are the most expensive items to construct
and maintain, it is important for highway engineers to have a basic understanding of
pavement design principles. In the United States, there are over 3 million miles of
highways. About 45% of these roads are lower-volume roads that are not paved (these
roads generally have a gravel surface or are composed of a stabilized material
consisting of an aggregate bound together with a cementing agent such as portland
cement, lime fly ash, or asphaltic cement).
Highways that carry higher volumes of traffic with heavy axle loads require surfaces
with asphalt concrete or portland cement concrete to provide for all-weather
operations and prevent permanent deformation of the highway surface. These types of
pavements can cost upward of several million dollars per mile to construct. Some
states, such as California, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas, have
pavement construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation budgets that easily exceed a
billion dollars per year. Given the magnitude of this pavement-asset investment, it is easy
to understand why the construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of pavement
infrastructure must be done in a cost-effective manner.
Fundamentally, a paved surface performs two basic functions. First, it helps
guide drivers by giving them a visual perspective of the horizontal and vertical
alignment of the traveled path thus giving drivers information relating to the driving
task and the steering
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control of the vehicle. The second function of pavement is to support vehicle loads, and
this second function is the focus of this module.
In general, there are two types of pavement structures: flexible pavements and
rigid pavements. There are, however, many variations of these pavement types.
Composite pavements (which are made of both rigid and flexible pavement layers),
continuously reinforced pavements, and post-tensioned pavements are other types,
which usually require specialized designs and are not covered in this chapter. As with
any structure, the underlying soil must ultimately carry the load that is placed on it.
te the traffic load stresses to the soil (subgrade)
at a magnitude that will not shear or distort the soil. Typical soil-bearing capacities can be
less than 50 lb/in2 and in some cases as low as 2 to 3 lb/in2 . When soil is saturated
with water, the bearing capacity can be very low, and in these cases it is very
important for pavement to distribute tire loads to the soil in such a way as to prevent
failure of the pavement structure.
Flexible-Pavement Design Equation The basic equation for flexible-pavement design given
in the 1993 AASHTO design guide permits engineers to determine a structural number
necessary to carry a designated traffic loading. The AASHTO equation is:
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transmitting in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document,
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Structural Number The objective of Eq. 4.1 and the nomograph in Fig. 4.5 is to determine
a required structural number for given axle loadings, reliability, overall standard
deviation, change in PSI, and soil resilient modulus. As previously mentioned, there
are many pavement material combinations and thicknesses that will provide
satisfactory pavement
service life. The following equation can be used to relate individual material types and
thicknesses to the structural number:
where a1, a2, a3 = structural-layer coefficients of the wearing surface, base, and subbase
layers, respectively, D1, D2, D3 = thickness of the wearing surface, base, and subbase
layers in inches, respectively, and M2, M3 = drainage coefficients for the base and
subbase, respectively.
Values for the structural-layer coefficients for various types of material are presented
in Table 4.5. Drainage coefficients are used to modify the thickness of the lower pavement
value of 1.0 for a drainage coefficient represents a material with good drainage
characteristics (a sandy material). A soil such as clay does not drain very well and,
consequently, will have a lower drainage coefficient (less than 1.0) than a sandy material.