Pavement Design

Spring 2007
CEE 320

CEE 320
Anne Goodchild
 Dictionary.com

• Pavement: Noun
– a paved road, highway, etc.
– a paved surface, ground covering, or floor.
– material used for paving
– Sidewalk
• Pave: Verb
– to cover or lay (a road, walk, etc.) with concret
e, stones, bricks, tiles, wood, or the like, so as
to make a firm, level surface.
– noun 2.Southern Louisiana. a paved road
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 What is Pavement: Wikipedia

• Pavement (material), the durable surfacing of roads and walkways ("road s

urface" in British English)
• Sidewalk, a walkway along the side of a road, in American English ("pave
ment" in British English and Philadelphia dialect)
• Pavement (architecture), a floor-like stone or tile structure
• Pavement (band), an indie rock band from Stockton, California
• Pavement (magazine), a youth culture magazine, published in New Zealand
• Pavement Records, a record label
• Portuguese pavement, the traditional paving used in most pedestrian area
s in Portugal ("Calçada Portuguesa" in Portuguese)
• Road surface marking, highway surface markings intended to convey infor
mation
• Limestone pavement, a naturally occurring level outcrop
• Tessellated pavement, a rare sedimentary rock formation that occurs on s
ome ocean shores
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Outline

1. Pavement Purpose
2. Pavement Significance
3. Pavement Condition
4. Pavement Types
a. Flexible
b. Rigid
5. Pavement Design
6. Example
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Pavement Purpose

• Load support
• Smoothness
• Drainage
• All weather
operation
• Direction and
guidance
Spring 2007

DC to Richmond Road in 1919 – from the Asphalt Institute

CEE 320
 Pavement Significance

• How much pavement?

– 4 million centerline miles in U.S.
– 2.5 million miles (63%) are paved
– 8.37 million lane-miles total
– Largest single use of HMA and PCC

• Costs
– $20 to $30 billion spent annually on pavements
– Over $100 million spent annually in WA
– Many states over billion dollar budgets
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Interstate Highway System
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Interstate Highway System

• Largest highway system in the world

• Largest public works project in history
• Started construction in 1956
• 90% federal, 10% state funding
• Owned built and operated by states
• Construction and maintenance costs prim
arily provided by fuel tax
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Resources

• Pavement
Interactive
• State DOTs
• AASHTO
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Pavement Design Procedures

• Asphalt Institute method

• National Stone Association procedure
• Shell procedure
• AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement St
ructures – American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials
– First published in 1972
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 What makes it difficult

• Construction process control

• Material variations
• Exposed environment
– Temperature and weather variability
• Transportation of materials
• Cost of materials
• Unkown traffic loads
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Pavement Types

• Flexible pavements
– Asphalt

• Rigid pavements
– Concrete
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Pavement Types

• Want to distribute the load to avoid perma

nent deformation
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Vehicle loads

• Typical vehicle weighs about 3500 lb, tire

pressures around 35 lb/in2
• Truck can weigh up to 80,000 lb with tire p
ressure of 100 lb/in2

• Trucks and busses present a much more s

ignificant load on the pavement.
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Vehicle Volume

• Pavements have a design life, and fail afte

r cumulative vehicle exposure.
•
Volume of vehicles and prediction of vehic
le volume is fundamental to pavement des
ign.
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Pavement Condition
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Pavement Condition
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Pavement Condition
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Pavement Condition

• Defined by users (drivers)

• Develop methods to relate physical attribu
tes to driver ratings
• Result is usually a numerical scale
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Serviceability Concept

• Pavements degrade o
ver time due to
– Exposure to traffic
– Time
– Exposure to elements

• Different for different

materials and different
construction methods
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 What pavement thickness is required to
sustain X vehicle loads of Y weight?
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Pavement Types

• Flexible Pavement
– Hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavements
– Called "flexible" since the total pavement structure bend
s (or flexes) to accommodate traffic loads
– About 82.2% of paved U.S. roads use flexible pavement

• Rigid Pavement
– Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements
– Called “rigid” since PCC’s high modulus of elasticity do
es not allow them to flex appreciably
– About 6.5% of paved U.S. roads use rigid pavement
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Flexible Pavement
Spring 2007

Base: higher strength material than subbase, often a cementing material is used.
CEE 320

Cementing material can be portland cement or asphaltic cement, or other material.

 Flexible Pavement

• Structure
– Surface course
(waterproof, anti-skid)
– Base course
– Subbase course
– Subgrade
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Types of Flexible Pavement

Dense-graded
Spring 2007

Open-graded Gap-graded
CEE 320
CEE 320
Spring 2007

Rigid Pavement
 Rigid Pavement

• Structure
– Surface course
– Base course
– Subbase course
– Subgrade
Spring 2007
CEE 320
 Types of Rigid Pavement

• Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP)

Spring 2007
CEE 320

Joints accommodate shrinkage during drying.

 Types of Rigid Pavement

• Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavem

ent (CRCP)
Spring 2007
CEE 320

Photo from the Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute