6/4/2023

IOE Pulchowk Campus

CE 703 Transportation Engineering II

Rojee Pradhananga
(rojee.pradhananga@pcampus.edu.np)

Review
IOE Pulchowk Campus

• Definition and functions

• Pavement layers
• Types of pavement
• Difference between flexible and rigid pavement

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IOE Pulchowk Campus

Chapter 2 Highway Pavement

Loads and Other Factors Controlling

Pavement Design

Rojee Pradhananga 3

Loads and Other Factors Controlling

Pavement Design IOE Pulchowk Campus

1. Traffic and loading factors

2. Material properties
3. Environment factor
4. Failure criteria

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1. Traffic and Loading Factors

IOE Pulchowk Campus

• Axle load
• Number of load repetitions
• Contact area
• Vehicle speed

Axle load
IOE Pulchowk Campus

• Total weight of the vehicle carried by its

axles
• Axle load → Wheel load → Pavement
surface
• Wheel load: 18 t, 14kg/cm2
36 t, 14kg/cm2

o Higher the wheel load, thicker is the 36 t, 7kg/cm2

18 t, 7kg/cm2
pavement required.
o Pavement design is governed by
number and wheel loads of the
commercial vehicles.

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Axle load
IOE Pulchowk Campus

• Wheel configuration:
o Most commercial vehicles are provided with dual
rear wheels
o Affects the stress distribution and deflection
o Design:
Flexible pavement: Wheels on only one side is
considered
Rigid pavement: Wheels on both sides are
considered

Axle load
IOE Pulchowk Campus

o Dual wheel load is converted into equivalent single wheel

load to simplify the analysis.

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Axle load
IOE Pulchowk Campus

• Axle configuration:
o Commercial vehicles are provided with multiple axles to
further enhance the load carrying capacity.

Axle load
IOE Pulchowk Campus

o In design Standard Axle Load and Equivalency Factor (F)

are used.
Damage caused by passage of
axle load L on a pavement
𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐱𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐋 (𝐅) =
Damage caused by passage of
a standard axle load 𝑳𝒔 on the
same pavement

Standard Axle Load: 80KN rear single axle with dual wheels
(varying depending on country’s design standard)

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Axle load
IOE Pulchowk Campus

Generalized version of AASHTO’s Fourth power damage

formula:
Structural damage caused by an axle load varies as fourth power of
its ratio to the standard axle load.
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L
𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐱𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐋 (𝐅) =
Ls

Empirical relation and varies for different failure criterion

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Number of Load Repetitions

IOE Pulchowk Campus

o Repeated application of the wheel load → pavement distress →

pavement failure

o Total number of repetitions of the axle loads is computed as

Cumulative Number of Standard Axles for the design life.

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Contact Area
IOE Pulchowk Campus

• Wheel load is assumed to be uniformly distributed over

the contact area.
• Size depends on the contact pressure.
Wall of tire in Wall of tire in
compression tension

Tire
Tire
pressure
pressure

Cp > tp Cp < tp

Low pressure tire High pressure tire

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Contact Area
IOE Pulchowk Campus

In pavement design, the contact pressure is generally

assumed to be equal to the tire pressure.

Load
Contact area Ac =
Tire pressure (t p )

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Contact Area
IOE Pulchowk Campus

• True shape is elliptical.

Flexible pavement:
o Each tire is assumed to have a circular contact area since it is
axisymmetric and suitable for layered theory.
o For dual tires, a single circle with the same contact area as of the duals is
used.

Load
Radius of contact area 𝑎 =
𝜋 𝑡𝑝

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Contact Area
IOE Pulchowk Campus

Rigid pavement:
o Elliptical shape with a 0.
3
L

rectangle and two semicircles is 0.6 L Area = 0.5227 L2

assumed.
L 0.8712 L

Actual Area Equivalent Area

L
o For FEM analysis, an 0.
3

0.6 L Area = 0.5227 L2 0.6 L

equivalent rectangular area is
assumed.
L 0.8712 L

Actual Area Equivalent Area

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Vehicle Speed
IOE Pulchowk Campus

o Vehicle speed is directly related to duration of loading.

o The damage to the pavement is much higher if the vehicle is

moving at creep speed.

o The resilient modulus of the pavement layers should be selected

carefully considering the combination of loading and vehicle
speed.

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2. Material Properties
IOE Pulchowk Campus

o Must be specified to determine pavement responses (stresses,

strains and displacements)

o Linearly elastic: Elastic moduli and Poisson’s ratios

o For consideration of moving load/repetition of load, resilient

modulus is a better representative.

o Nonlinear property of material can be characterized by a stress

dependent resilient modulus.

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3. Environment Factor
IOE Pulchowk Campus

• Temperature
• Precipitation
• Road geometry (small effect)

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Temperature
IOE Pulchowk Campus

Both temperature and precipitation affect elastic moduli of pavement

layers.

Flexible pavement:
o Affects resilient modulus of asphalt layer.
o Low temperature can cause asphalt pavement to crack.

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Temperature
IOE Pulchowk Campus

Rigid pavement:

o Create curling stress and affect slab subgrade contact and the
stress values.
o Determine joint and crack openings and affect the efficiency
of load transfer.

• Frost penetration is another temperature effect that affects the

subgrade strength in cold climate.
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Precipitation
IOE Pulchowk Campus

o Quantity of surface water infiltration affects the moisture content

of the subgrade and the depth of GWT.
o Poor drainage may bring lack of shear strength, pumping, loss of
support etc.

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4. Failure Criteria
IOE Pulchowk Campus

Number of failure criterions is adopted

considering different distress types.
Binder Course B
A Tensile strain

Flexible pavement: C Compressive strain

Sub-grade Soil
• Fatigue cracking:
o Under repeated traffic loading, bituminous surfacing of pavement displays
flexural fatigue cracking.
o Failure criteria: Relates allowable number of load repetitions to the tensile strain at
the bottom of the bituminous layer based on laboratory fatigue test

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4. Failure Criteria
IOE Pulchowk Campus

• Rutting:
o Surface depression (rut depth) along the
wheel path.
o Failure criteria: a) Limit vertical
compressive strain on the top of the sub Binder Course
A B Tensile strain

grade or b) Limit the rut depth to tolerable

C Compressive strain
limit using empirical relation from road test Sub-grade Soil

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4. Failure Criteria
IOE Pulchowk Campus

• Thermal cracking:
o Low temperature cracking
o Thermal fatigue cracking
o Mix stiffness and fracture strength relationship to temperature, tensile
strain due to daily temperature cycle

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4. Failure Criteria
IOE Pulchowk Campus

Rigid pavement:
• Fatigue cracking:
o Major failure criteria in rigid pavement design.
o Due to load and temperature stress.
o Allowable number of load repetitions depends on ratio of flexural tensile stress
and concrete modulus of rupture.

• Pumping, faulting/spalling/joint deterioration

o Difficult to analyze mechanistically

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Tasks
IOE Pulchowk Campus

➢ Check factors controlling pavement design

➢ Traffic and loading factors, material characteristics,
environmental factors, failure criteria

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