 INTRODUCTION

Development of a country depends on the connectivity of various places with adequate road
network Roads are the major channel of transportation for carrying goods and passengers. They
play a significant role in improving the socio-economic standards of a region. Roads constitute
the most important mode of communication in areas where railways have not developed much
and form the basic infra-structure for the development and economic growth of the country. The
benefits from the investment inroad sector are indirect, long-term and not immediately visible.
Roads are important assets for any nation. However, merely creating these assets is not enough.
it has to be planned carefully and a pavement which is not designed properly deteriorates fast.
India is a large country having huge resource of materials. If these local materials are used
properly, the cost of construction can be reduced. There are various type of pavements which
differ in their suitability in different environments. Each type of pavement has its own merits and
demerits, despite a large number of seminars and conference, still in India. 98% roads are having
flexible pavements. A lot of research bus been made on axe of Waste materials but the role of
these materials is still limited. So there is need to take a holistic approach and mark the areas
where these arc most suitable.

India has one of the largest road networks in the world (over 3 million km at present).sFor the
purpose of management and administration. roads in India are divided into the following five
categories:

• National Highways (NH)

• State Highways (SH)

• Major District Roads (MDR)

• Other District Roads (ODR)

• Village Roads (VR)

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  THE NATIONAL HIGHWAYS (NH)

The National Highways are intended to facilitate median and long distance inter-city passenger
and freight traffic across the country. The State Highways are supposed to carry the traffic along
major centers within the State. Other District Roads and Village Roads provide villages
accessibility to meet their social needs as also the means to transport agriculture produce from
village to nearby markets. Major District Roads provide the secondary function of linkage
between main roads and rural roads.

The Road network in the country is as under

CATEGORIES LENGTH(KMS)
Primary road system covering national highways 38,445
Secondary road system covering state highways(SH) 1,33,000
Other roads including major district roads (MDR) Other district roads(ODR)
28,46,400
and village roads (VR)

Point of view geographic and population of the state is the nation’s largest state. State industrial,
economic and social development of the state and the population of each village is absolutely
necessary to re-connect to the main roads. in addition to state important national roads, state
roads and district roads and their proper broad be made to improve the quality of traffic point of
view is of particular importance. Public Works Department to build roads and improve
connectivity in rural zones. Other District Road and State broad and improvement of rural roads
and main routes narrow construction of zones and depleted bridges and brides reconstruction of
the bases are transacted on a priority basis. Also under Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojana and
pre-fabricated construction of rural roads linking the work of other district roads broad
Kilometers the scale bases are edited.

Successful operation of various schemes for the Public Works Department engineers and
supervisory boards indifferent districts of the engineer's office has been settled. Activities by
planning, execution and quality control etc. remove impediments find joy in relation to the
supervision over the activities are focused. Various schemes operated by the Department of the
Office of the Regional Chief Engineers and Chief Engineers office.

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  STATE HIGHWAYS(SH)

These are arterial routes of a state linking district headquarters and important
cities within the state and connecting them with National Highways of the
neighboring States. The total length of State Highways is 1,56,694 km.

 MAJOR DISTRICT ROADS(MDR)

These are important roads within a district serving areas of production and
markets, and connecting these with each other or with the main highways.

 OTHER DISTRICT ROADS(ODR)

These are roads serving rural areas of production and providing them with
outlet to market centres, taluka/tehsil headquarters, block development
headquarters or other main roads.

 VILLAGE ROADS(VR)

These are roads connecting villages or group of villages with each other and to the
nearest roadof a higher category.

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WHAT IS ROAD OR PAVEMENT?

Pavement or Road is an open, generally public way for the passage of vehicles, people, and
animal.

Pavement is finished with a hard smooth surface. It helped make them durable and able to
withstand traffic and the environment. They have a life span of between 20 - 30 years.

Road pavements deteriorate over time due to -

• The impact of traffic particularly heavy vehicles.

• Environmental factors such as weather, pollution.

 PURPOSE

Many people rely on paved roads to move themselves and their products rapidly and reliably.

 FUNCTIONS

 One of the primary functions is load distribution. It can be characterized by the tire loads,
tire configurations, repetition of loads, and distribution of traffic across the pavement,
and vehicle speed.
 Pavement material and geometric design can affect quick and efficient drainage. These
eliminating moisture problems such as mud and pounding (puddles). Drainage system
consists of:
 Surface drainage: Removing all water present on the pavement surface, sloping,
chambers, and kerbs.
 Subsurface drainage: Removing water that seep into or is contained in the underlying
subgrade.

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  TYPES OF PAVEMENTS

There are various types of pavements depending upon the materials used; a briefs, description of
all types is given here-

 FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS

Bitumen has been widely used in the construction of flexible pavements for a long time. This is
the most convenient and simple type of construction. The cost of construction of single lane
bituminous pavement varies from 20 – 30 lakhs per km in plain areas. In some applications,
however, the performance of conventional bitumen may not be considered satisfactory because
of the following reasons.

 In summer season, due to high temperature, bitumen becomes soft resulting in bleeding,
rutting and segregation finally leading to failure of pavement.
 In winter season, Due to low temperature, the bitumen becomes brittle resulting in
cracking. Travelling and unevenness which makes the pavement unsuitable for use.
 In rainy season, water enters the pavement resulting into pot holes and sometimes total
removal of bituminous layer.
 In hilly areas. Due to sub-zero temperature, the freeze thaw and heave cycle takes place.
Due to freezing and melting of ice in bituminous voids. Volume expansion and
contraction occur. This leads to pavement failure.
 The cast of bitumen has been rising continuously. In near future, there will be scarcity of
bitumen and it will be impossible to procure bitumen at very high costs.

 RIGID PAVEMENTS

Rigid pavements, though costly in initial investment are cheap in long run because of low
maintenance casts. There are various merits in the use of rigid pavements (Concrete pavement)
are summarized below:

 Bitumen is derived from petroleum dude, which is in shoo supply globally and the price
of which has been rising steeply. India imports nearly 70% of the petroleum crude. The
demand for bitumen in the coming years is likely to grow steeply, far outstripping the
availability. Hence it will be in India% interest to explore alternative binders. Cement is
available in sufficient quantity in India, and its availability in the future is also assured.
Thus cement concrete roads should be the obvious choice in future road programs.
 Besides the easy available of cement, concrete roads have a long life and are practically
maintenance-free.

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  Another major advantage of concrete roads is the savings in fuel by commercial vehicles
to an extent of 14-20%. The fuel savings themselves can support a large programme of
concreting.
 Cement concrete roads save a substantial quantity of stone aggregates and this factor
must be considered when a choice pavements is made.
 Concrete roads can withstand extreme weather conditions - wide ranging temperatures,
heavy rainfall and water logging.
 Though cement concrete roads may cost slightly more than a flexible pavement initially,
they are economical when whole-life-costing is considered.
 Reduction in the cast of concrete pavements can be brought about by developing semi-
self- compacting concrete techniques and the use of closely spaced thin joints. R&D
efforts should be initiated in this area.

 TYPES OF CONCRETE PAVEMENTS

1. PLAIN CONCRETE OR SHORT PAVEMENT SLABS

This type of pavement consists of successive slabs whose length is limited to about 25 times the
slab thickness. At present it is recommended that the paving Malt not be made longer than 5.even
if the joints have dowels to transfer the loads. The movements as a result of fluctuations in
temperature and humidity are concentrated in the joints. Normally, these joints are sealed to
prevent water from penetrating the road structure. The width of the pavement slabs is limited to a
maximum of 4.5 m.

2. REINFORCED CONCRETE

• Continuously reinforced concrete

Continuously reinforced concrete pavements are characterized by the absence of transverse joints
and are equipped with longitudinal steel reinforcement. The diameter of the reinforcing bars is
calculated in such a way that cracking can be controlled and that the cracks are uniformly
distributed (spacing At I to 3 m). The crack width has to remain very small. i.e. less than 03 mm.

• Reinforced pavement slabs

Reinforced concrete pavement slabs are almost never used, except for inside or outside industrial
floors that we subjected to large loads or if the number of contraction joints has to be limited.

• Steel fibre concrete

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The use of steel fibre concrete pavements is mainly limited to industrial floors. However, in that
sector they are used intensively. For road pavements steel fibre concrete can be used for thin or
very thin paving slabs or for very specific application.

 MINERALS USED

Concrete is widely used in domestic, commercial, recreational, rural and educational

construction.

Communities around the world rely on concrete re a safe, strong and simple building material. It
is used in all types of construction: from domestic work to multi-storey office blocks and
shopping complexes.

Despite the common usage of concrete, few people are aware of the considerations involved in designing
strong, durable, high quality concrete.There are inanity three materials used primarily-

• Cement

• Sand

• Aggregate

 CEMENT

Cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently and can bind other materials
together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term caementicium to describe
masonry resembling modern concrete that was made .m crushed rack with burnt lime as binder.
The volcanic ash and pulverized brick additives that were added to the burnt lime to obtain a
hydraulic binder were later referred to as cementum, cimentum, cement and cement Cements
used in construction can be characterized as being either hydraulic or non-hydraulic. Hydraulic
cements (e.g.. Portland cement) harden .cause of hydration, a chemical reaction between the
anhydrous cement powder and water. Thus, they can harden underwater or when constantly
exposed to wet weather The chemical reaction results in hydrates that are not very water-soluble
and so are quite durable in water. Non-hydraulic cements do not remain underwater. Example:
slaked limes harden by traction with atmospheric carbon dioxide. The most important uses of
cement are as an ingredient in production of mortar in masonry and of concrete a combination of
cement and an aggregate to form a strong building material.

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  TYPES OF CEMENT:-

• Portland cement

Portland cement is by far the most common type of cement in general use around the
world. This cement is made by heating limestone (calcium carbonate) with small quantities of
other materials (such as clay) to 1450 °C in a kiln, in a process known as calcinations, whereby a
molecule carbon Dioxide is liberated from the calcium carbonate to form calcium oxide or
quicklime. which is then blended with the other materials that have been included th the mix.
The resulting hard substance called, clinker is then grounded with a small amount of gypsum into
a powder to make 'Ordinary Portland Cement’. The most commonly used type of cement (often
referred to as OPC). Portland cement is a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar and most non-
specialty grout. The most common use for Portland cement is in the production of concrete.
Concrete is a composite material consisting of aggregate (gravel and sand), cement and water. As
a construction material concrete can be cast in almost any shape desired, and once harden, can
become a structural (load bearing) element. Portland cement may be grey or white.

 Portland fly ash cement

It contains up to 35% fly ash. The fly ash is pozzolanic, so that ultimate strength is
maintained. Because fly ash addition allows lower concrete water content, early strength can also
be maintained. Where good quality cheap fly ash is available, this can be an economic alternative
to ordinary Portland cement.

 Portland pozzolana cement

It includes fly ash cement, since fly ash is pozzolana, but also includes cements made from other
natural or artificial pozzolans.In other countries where volcanic ashes are available.

• Portland silica fume cement

Addition of silica fume can yield exceptionally high strengths, and cements containing 5-
20% silica fume are occasionally produced. However, silica fume is more usually added to
Portland cement at the concrete mixer.

 SAND
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral
particles. The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and
conditions but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-
tropical coastal settings is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO 2) usually in the form of quartz. The

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second most common type of sand is calcium carbonate, for example aragonite, which has
mostly been created, over the past half billion years, by various kens of life, like coral and
shellfish. It for example, the primary forms of sand apparent in areas where reefs have dominated
the ecosystem for millions of years like the Caribbean.

 AGGREGATE
Aggregates are then granular materials such as sand, gravel or crushed stone that along with
water and Portland cement, are an essential ingredient in concrete. For a good concrete mix,
aggregates need to be clean, hard, strong particles free of absorbed chemicals or coatings of clay
and other fine materials that could cause the deterioration of concrete. Aggregates, which
account for 60 to 75 percent of the total volume of concrete, are divided into two distinct
categories -fine and coarse. Fine aggregates generally consist of natural sand or crushed stone
with most particles passing through a 3/8-inch (95-mm) sieve. Coarse aggregates are any
particles greater than 0.19 inch (4.75 mm1. but generally range between 3/8 and 1.5 inches (9.5
mm to 37.5 mm) in diameter. Gravels constitute the majority of coarse aggregates, used in
concrete with crushed stone making up most of the remainder. Natural gravel and sand are
usually dug or dredged from a pit, river, lake, or seabed. Crushed aggregate is produced by
crushing quarry rock, boulders, cobbles, or large-size gravel. Recycled concrete is a viable
source of aggregate and has been satisfactorily used in granular sub bases, soil-cement, and in
new concrete. Aggregate processing consists of crushing, screening, and washing the aggregate
to obtain proper cleanliness and gradation. If necessary, a benefaction process such as jigging or
heavy media separation can be used to upgrade quality.

Once processed, the aggregates are handled and stored in a way that minimizes
segregation and degradation and prevents contamination. Aggregates strongly influence
concrete's freshly mixed and hardened properties, mixture proportions, and economy,
Consequently, Selection

Of aggregates is an important process. Although some variation in aggregate properties is

expected, characteristics that are considered when selecting aggregate include:

• Grading

• Durability

• Particle shape and surface texture

• Abrasion and skid resistance

• Unit weights and voids

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• Absorption and surface moisture

Grading refers to the determination of the particle-size distribution for aggregate.

Grading limits and maximum aggregate size are specified because grading and size affect the
amount of aggregate used as well as cement and water requirements, workability.

 FINE AGGREGATE:

Fine aggregate shall consist of sand, or sand stone with similar characteristics, or combination
thereof. It shall meet requirements of the State Department of Transportation of Uttar Pradesh.
Standard Specifications for Highway and structure Construction, current edition.

The fine aggregate shall be well graded from coarse to fine and shall conform to the following
requirements

Sieve size % passing

3/8 “ 100 %
No.4 95-100%
No.16 45-80%
No.15 10-30%
No.100 2-10%

 COARSE AGGREGATE:

Coarse aggregate shall consist of clean. hard durable gravel. crushed gavel. crushed boulders, or
crushed stone. It shall meet the requirements of the St. Department of Tr.sportation of Uttar
Pradesh . Section 501.3.6A of the Standard Specifications for Highs, ay and Structure
Construction. current edition.

Coarse aggregate shall be well graded between the limits specified in the following:-

Sieve Size %by Weight Passing

Size No. 1 Size No. 2

2” ----------- 100
1” 100 20-55
2/4” 90-100 0-15
3/8” 20-55 0-5
No. 4 0-10 ----------
No. 8 0-5 ---------

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  PROPORTIONING:
The following table set forth the master limits of the job mix for the several grades of concrete,
and designates the quantities of materials and relative proportions for each grade of concrete. For
Air-Entrained High-Early-Strength Concrete, as required or permitted when High-Early-Strength
Cement is used, the proportions shall be as given in the table.

The quantities of aggregates set forth in the tabulations are for oven dry materials 'having a bulk
specific gravity of 2.65, for aggregates having a different specific gravity, the weights shall be
adjusted in the ratio that the specific gravity of the material used bears to 2.65 .

Maximum size Cement Sand (wet) Coarse Water

coarse aggregate aggregate(wet)
3/8” 1 2½ 1½ ½
1/2” 1 2½ 2 ½
3/4” 1 2½ 2½ ½
1” 1 2½ 2¾ ½
1 ½” 1 2½ 3 ½

 PROCEDURE TO CONSTRUCT PAVEMENTS

During construction of cement concrete pavement, various steps are taken below:-

 Survey of proposed work is done by experienced engineers or by expert of survey, site

survey includes geographical details, soil properties and site investigation.

 After survey a term of experienced engineer and architecture prepare detail plan of work
with the help of various software.

 After that a engineer prepare detail estimate of propose work and also prepare a estimate
regarding equipment required and labor requirement.

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  Now excavation is done with the help of automatic machines and then equipment is used
to cut nearby trees and root removal process.

 And after these construction of soil sub-grade, base coarse and then construction slab is
done.

 PREPARATION OF THE SUB- GRADE OR BASE COARSE

The road sub-grade has to be prepared carefully in order to realize everywhere a payment
structure of an adequate and uniform thickness. This allows to provide a homogeneous bond
between concrete slab and its foundation which is important for the later behavior of the
pavement structure.

For roads with a base, drainage of water must be provided. Mud, leaves etc, have to be removed.

When the base is permeable, it should be spray with the water in order to prevent the mixing
water from being suck out of the concrete.

However, if the base is impermeable (example - if the concrete is placed on water tight asphalt
Concrete interlayer) it can be necessary under warm weather conditions to cool down this layer
by spraying water on the surface.

The following points are important for roads without a foundation:

 Drainage of all surface water.

 Good compaction of the subgrade;

 Feeling and compaction of any ruts caused by construction traffic;

 It is forbidden to level the subgrade by means of a course of sand. If the subgrade has to
be level, it is advisable to do this by using a granular material.. either slag or course
aggregate (example- with a grain size 0/20);

 Provide an additional width of subgrade for more lateral support.

It must be always be avoided that water is sucked from the cement paste into the sub structure or
the base. This can be accomplished by either moderately moistening the sub-grade, or by
applying a plastic sheet on the sub-structure of the pavement. This latter work must be done with
care, to prevent this sheet from tearing or being pulled loose by the wind.

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  MIXING AND TRANSPORT OF CONCRETE

 CONCRETE MIXING PLANT

The concrete mixing plant must have sufficient capacity in order to be able to continuously
supply concrete to the pairing machine. The mix constitutes and admixture have to be dozed
very accurately. The number of aggregates feed beans has to equal at least the number of
different aggregates fraction. The bean shall have raised to prevent contamination of the
aggregate fractions. The equipment for loading the material shall be in a good condition and shall
have sufficient capacity to be able to continuously feed the beans. The bucket of the loaders shall
not be wider than the bin. The content of cement silos and the water tank are proportion to the
production rates.

For small works, permanent concrete mixing plant are often called on. In that case mixing plants
that are inspected and that can deliver Indian quality certification concrete should be used.

Further - more it is useful and even essential to have a communication system between concrete
mixing plant and construction site in order to coordinate the batching and paving operation

 TRANSPORT OF CONCRETE

Sufficient trucks must be available to continuously supply the paving machines. The number
depends on the yield at the construction site, the loading capacity of trucks and the cycle time
(i.e. The transport time plus the time required to load and unload a truck). The loading capacity
and the type of truck to be used depend on the nature of the work, the haul roads and the concrete
paving machines.

Usually, the specification prescribed that the concrete has to be transported in dump trucks and
paving concrete consist of relatively dry mix having a consistency that makes transport and
unloading in truck mixer is difficult. Furthermore, dump trucks can discharged the concrete
faster. For small work and in urban areas, the use of truck mixer is increasingly accepted. Under
the circumstances and admixture (example - a superplastisizer) can be mixed in just before
discharging the concrete.

The necessary major have to be taken to prevent change of water content and temperature of
concrete during transport. To this end, the specification prescribed to cover the dump trucks by
means of Tarpaulin.

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  PLACING THE CONCRETE.

Usually the concrete is placed using sleep form paving machines which applies for all categories
of roads. This equipment meets both requirements for quality and for envisaged rate of
production. Conventional concreting trains riding on set up rails are hardly used anymore for
road works in our country. For this reason this manner of execution will not be dealt with here.

However the technique of manually placing the concrete using form is still applied in certain
cases, such as for the construction of roundabout with a small diameter, at intersection, for repair
work or when execution condition are such that sleep from pavers cannot be utilized. This occur
increasingly often in urban areas for the construction of pavement surface of exposed aggregates
and possible colored concrete.

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  PAVEMENT THICKNESS AND COMPOSITION

Once the design traffic and the subgrade CBR are known the pavement composition and the
thickness can be decided as per the procedure detailed in IRC:37. The detailed pavement design
procedure including principles of pavement design, determination of properties of different
layers of pavement and subgrade has been described in the above mentioned guidelines. The
cementitious bases have also been described Pavement design catalogues have also been
presented in these guidelines for different traffic ranges (upto 50 mass design traffic) , different
CBRs and different combination of material composition.

 DESIGN OF RIGID PAVEMENT

The edge flexural stress caused by axle loads for Bottom Up Cracking (Day Time) is
maximum when the tyre imprint of the outer wheel touches the longitudinal edge. Typical lateral
distribution characteristics of wheel paths of commercial vehicles observed on Indian
highways indicate that very few wheels of vehicles are tangential to the longitudinal edge or
longitudinal joint on two- lane two-way roads and divided multi-lane highways. Taking into
consideration these issues, it is recommended that 25 percent of the total two-way commercial
traffic may be considered as design for two lane two way roads for analysis of fatigue damage. In
case of four lane and other multilane divided highway, 25% of total traffic in the direction of
traffic is to be considered for design.

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  DESIGN OF JOINTS

Cement Concrete Pavements have different types of joints given as:

 Contraction joints

 Construction joints

 Expansion joint

 Longitudinal joint

Contraction joints are transverse joints which relieve the tensile stresses in concrete pavements.
The joint spacing of a concrete pavement depends upon the type of coarse aggregates and the
average temperature fluctuation in different seasons. The spacing of contraction joints should be
limited to 4.5 m to prevent top-down cracking during the night hours. Expansion joints are no
longer in use. Construction joints are as far as possible, be placed at contraction joints except in
case of emergency.

Dowel bars are provided for load transfer of transverse joints. The design of dowel bars
recommended as per IRC:58 for the dimension and lengths of dowel bars are given below:
Recommended dimensions of Dowel Bars for transverse joints of Rigid Pavements are
given in Table

Dimensions of Dowel Bars for Transverse Joints

Slab thickness, Dowel Bar Details

Mm Diameter, mm Length, mm Spacing, mm
200 25 360 300
230 30 400 300
250 32 450 300
280 36 450 300
300 38 500 300
350 38 500 300

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 The values given are for general guidance. Field performance under heavy loading prevalent
in India will be the most appropriate guide. Dowel bars are not satisfactory for slabs of small
thickness and shall not be provided for slab of less than 200 mm thickness.

 LONGITUDINAL JOINTS

Longitudinal joints are required in pavement of width greater than

4.5 m. Tie bars are provided in longitudinal joints. The method of determination of the area of
steel required and the length of tie bars are given in IRC:58. The details of tie bars are given
below:

Tie Bar Details

Slab Tie Bar Details

Thickness Diameter (d) Max. Spacing (mm) Minimum Length
(mm) (mm) (mm)

Plain Deformed Plain Bars Deformed

Bars Bars Bars

150 8 330 530 440 480

10 520 830 510 560

200 10 390 620 510 560

12 560 900 580 640
250 12 450 720 580 640

300 12 370 600 580 640

16 660 1060 720 800

350 12 320 510 580 640

16 570 910 720 800

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  DESIGN OF CONTINUOUSLY REINFORCED CONCRETE PAVEMENT
(CRCP)

Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP) is intended for roads carrying high volume
of commercial traffic and where closing road often for maintenance is difficult.
The CRCP may be with elastic joints or without joints. The CRCP with joints are similar to
jointed reinforced concrete pavement except that steel reinforcements run through the pavement
continuously. Transverse joints are formed in concrete slab by saw cut at 4.5 m spacing for full
width and sealed but without discontinuing the steel. The CRCP without joints is a joint less
rigid pavement with continuous reinforcement.

The main advantages of CRCP are

 These pavements are rugged and durable for heavytruck corridors or expressways.

 The riding quality remains smoothen as there are no transverse joints but noise
problem persists.

 The cost of maintenance is minimal

CRCP roads are to avoided in the following situations:-

 In marine climate near sea coast where the reinforcing bars are vulnerable for
corrosion.
 In a road having large number of utility lines, it is not desirable to construct
CRCP as repair of these utility lines is a difficult task.
 Due to high initial cost, CRCP should be avoided in road catering to light traffic
like village road, urban streets and of short length.
 Construction of CRCP using manual method should be avoided. This manual
method will be slow and would result in construction of large number of
transverse construction joints.

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  STRENGTHENING OF FLEXIBLE ROAD PAVEMENTS USING FALLING
WEIGHT DEFLECTOMETER (FWD

Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) is an impulse-loading device in which a transient load is

applied to the pavement and the deflected shape of the pavement surface is measured. The
working principle of a typical FWD is illustrated in Fig. 5.1. D0, D1 etc. shown in Fig 5.1 are
surface deflections measured at different radial distances. Impulse load is applied by means of a
falling mass, which is allowed to drop vertically on a system of springs placed over a circular
loading plate. The deflected shape of the pavement surface is measured using displacement
sensors which are placed at different radial distances starting with the center of the load plate.
Trailer mounted as well as vehicle mounted FWD models are available commercially. The
working principle of all these FWD models is essentially the same. A mass of weights is dropped
from a pre-determined height onto a series of springs/buffers placed on top of a loading plate. The
corresponding peak load and peak vertical surface deflections at different radial locations are
measured and recorded.

Working principal of FWD

The details of FWD calibrations, method of measurement, analysis of data, design of

overlay and calculation of the remaining period of service etc. are given in IRC:115
“Guidelines for Structural Evaluation and Strengthening of Flexible Road Pavements using
Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) Technique”. Following steps are to be taken before
deflection measurement.

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  CALIBRATION OF THE FWD

It is essential that FWD’s are calibrated for the following for getting accurate and
reproducible results.

 Static calibration of the load cells

 Load repeatability of the FWD

 Absolute calibration of deflection transducers.

Pavement evaluation survey and data collection.

The following are the broad categories of survey investigation and data collection exercise;

(i) Historical data about the pavement,

(ii) Condition survey of the pavement for identification of uniform sections having similar
conditions;

(iii) Deflection measurements using FWD.

(iv) Pavement layer thickness and composition and the subgrade characteristics.

 ANALYSIS OF DATA

Following are the steps for analysis of data obtained from the field
observations:-

i) Processing of Load & Deflection Data

ii) Identification of Homogeneous sub sections.

iii) Back calculation of layer moduli

iv) Correction for Temperature

v) Correction for seasonal variation

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  CONCLUSION

Most of the target States use a number of preservation treatments and strategies. This was to be
expected as the target States were pre-screened to yield as much data as possible on life
extension of as many of the treatments as possible.

The following types of data were needed for this study:

 Treatment location information

 Traffic data

 Treatment information (type, date of placement)

 Construction history information (date of last treatment)

 Condition information prior to and after the treatment

 Treatment cost information (pavement costs only)

Extended service life information

It seems that is was very difficult for the States to extract the data needed for this study. For
some States all of the data exists, but cannot be linked effectively. In others States the data
simply does not exist, or data has not been collected for a long enough period of time.
Improvements to systems to collect and link traffic, condition, construction, and maintenance
history are needed.

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