COTM 4203:

HIGHWAY
ENGINEERING II
Chair, infrastructure Design & Construction, EIABC

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO
ROAD PAVEMENT

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
1. Introduction to Road Pavement
1.1 General
• A pavement is a layer structure which supports the vehicle
load on its surface and transfers and spreads the load to the
sub grade without exceeding either the strength of the sub
grade or internal strength of the pavement itself.
• Road Pavement is a relatively stable layer constructed over
the natural soil for the purpose of supporting and
distributing a wheel load.
• A highway pavement is a structure consisting of
superimposed layers of processed materials above the
natural soil (sub-grade), whose primary function is to
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distribute the applied vehicle loads to the sub-grade.
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
• It should be strong enough to resist the stresses imposed on it
and it should be thick enough to distribute the external loads.
• The ultimate aim of a pavement is to ensure that the
transmitted stresses are sufficiently reduced so that it will not
exceed the supporting capacity of the sub grade.
• The pavement constructed should have:
• sufficient total thickness and internal strength to carry
expected traffic loads and distribute to the sub grade soil
without overstressing.
• adequate properties to prevent or minimize the penetration
or internal accumulation of moisture.
• a surface that is reasonably smooth and skid resistant. 4
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO
ROAD PAVEMENT
• In addition, the pavement structure should be able to provide
a surface of :
• Acceptable riding quality,
• Adequate skid resistance,
• Favorable light reflecting characteristics, and
• Low noise pollution, etc.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO
ROAD PAVEMENT
• For satisfactory performance of the pavement, the
pavement should have the following desirable
characteristics.
• Requirements of a pavement:
1. Structurally strong to withstand all types of stresses
imposed upon it,
2. Sufficient thickness to distribute the wheel load
stresses to a safe value on the sub-grade soil,
3. Adequate coefficient of friction to prevent skidding of
vehicles,
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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO
ROAD PAVEMENT
4. Smooth surface to provide comfort to road users even
at high speed,
5. Produce least noise from moving vehicles,
6. Dust proof surface so that traffic safety is not impaired
by reducing visibility,
7. Impervious surface, so that sub-grade soil is well
protected, and
8. Long design life with low maintenance cost.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
1.2 Types of Road Pavements
• Based on the structural performance or their response to the
traffic load, road pavements are classified into two:
1. Flexible Pavement
2. Rigid Pavement
• The basis for classification is the way by which traffic loads
are transmitted to the sub grade soil through the pavement
structure.
1. Flexible Pavement is a pavement composed of a series of
layers which has low flexural strength and functions mainly
by way of load dispersal through the component layers.
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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
• A flexible pavement is one, which has low flexural strength,
and the load is largely transmitted to the sub grade soil
through the lateral distribution of stresses.
• Are types of pavements whose total pavement structure
deforms due to traffic loads and returns to its original
position on removal of the load. 
• Asphalt Concrete Road Pavement, Bituminous Surface
Treatment and Gravel Roads can be classified in this class of
pavement.
• Almost all of the Highway Pavements of Ethiopia fall under
this category.
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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
• The pavement thickness is designed such that the stresses on
the sub grade soil are kept within its bearing capacity and the
sub grade is prevented from excessive deformation.
• The strength and smoothness of flexible pavement structure
depends to a large extent on the deformation of the sub grade
soil.
• Generally, there are two types of flexible pavements:
1. Conventional Flexible Pavement
2. Full Depth Asphalt Pavement

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
1. Conventional Flexible Pavement
• Conventional flexible pavements are multi-layered
structures with better materials on top where the intensity of
stress is high and inferior materials at the bottom where the
intensity is low.
• This design principle makes possible to use local materials
and usually results in a most economical design.
• A conventional flexible pavement consists of surface
course, base course, sub base course, compacted sub grade
and natural sub grade.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
2. Full Depth Asphalt Pavement
• Full depth asphalt pavements are constructed by placing one
or more layers of hot mix asphalt directly on the sub grade or
improved sub grade.
• This is more suitable when there is high traffic and local
materials are not available.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
2. Rigid Pavements:
• Rigid Pavement derives its capacity to withstand loads from
the flexural strength (beam strength) permitting the slab to
bridge over minor irregularities in the sub grade, sub base or
base upon which it rests.
• Rigid pavements are pavements which are substantially stiffer
than flexible pavements with lesser deflection due to Portland
Cement Concrete’s high stiffness.
• Rigid pavements are those which are surfaced with Portland
Cement Concrete (PCC) slab.
• Because of high flexural strength, the vehicle load on cement
concrete slab is distributed over relatively wider area of the sub
grade soil. 13
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
• This implies that the inherent strength of the slab itself is
called upon to play a major role in resisting the wheel load.
• Minor imperfections or localized weak spots in the material
below the slab can be taken care of by the slab itself.
• The flexural strength of the concrete slab also permits the
slab to bridge over minor irregularities of the sub grade.
• The performance of rigid pavements is more governed by the
strength of the concrete slab.
• Hence, the major factor in the design of rigid pavement is the
structural strength of the concrete.
• There is no main highway with rigid pavement in Ethiopia,
however, in most cases pavement of air ports is constructed
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from rigid pavements.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT

3. Elements of a Flexible Pavement

• One of the main features of flexible pavement is it
composed of different layers.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO
ROAD PAVEMENT
• The cross section of flexible pavement consists of:
Seal Coats
Tack Coats Coats
Prime Coats

Wearing Course
Surface Course
Binder Course
Base Course
Layers
Sub base Course
Improved Sub grade/ Capping Layer
Natural Sub Grade 17
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
1. Seal Coat
• Seal coat is a thin surface treatment (application of
binder and aggregate) used to:
• water-proof the surface and
• to provide skid resistance.
• Usually applied on surface treatment pavements.
• For example, slurry seal coat, fog spray.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
2. Tack Coat
• Tack coat is a very light application of asphalt over binder
course.
• It provides proper bonding between two layer of binder
course and wearing course,
• It must be thin, uniformly cover the entire surface, and set
very fast.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
3. Prime Coat
• Prime coat is an application of low viscous cutback bitumen
to an absorbent surface like granular bases on which binder
layer is placed.
• It provides bonding between two layers and prevents
absorption of bitumen from the binder/ surface layer.
• Unlike tack coat, prime coat penetrates into the layer below,
plugs the voids, and forms a water tight surface.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
Surface Course
• Surface course is the upper most layers of a flexible
pavement.
• Surface course consists of two distinct sub layers known as a
Wearing Course and Binder Course.
1. Wearing Course
• The wearing course provides the actual surfacing on
which the vehicles run.
• The wearing course is the thin layer directly in contact with
traffic loads and generally contains superior quality materials.
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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO
ROAD PAVEMENT
• It is the structural part of the pavement, which must be
tough to resist distortion under traffic and provide a
smooth and skid resistant riding surface.
• The surface course must be waterproof to protect the
entire pavement and sub grade from the weakening
effect of water.
• It is usually constructed by dense graded hot mix asphalt
in case of an asphalt pavement.
• The primary function of the surface course, and
especially of its wearing course component, is to provide
a safe and comfortable riding surface for traffic.
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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
• The functions and requirements of thin surface layer are:
• It provides characteristics such as friction, smoothness,
drainage, etc.
• It must be tough to resist the distortion under traffic and
provide a smooth and skid resistant riding surface,
• It must be water proof to protect the entire base and sub-
grade from the weakening effect of water.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
2. Binder course
• This layer provides the bulk of the asphalt concrete
structure.
• The main purpose of this layer is to distribute load to the
base course.
• The binder course generally consists of aggregates having
less asphalt and doesn't require quality as high as the
wearing course, so replacing a part of the surface course by
the binder course results in more economical design.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
3. Base course
• The base course is the layer of material immediately
beneath the surface of binder course.
• Base course acts as a regulating layer to provide the
wearing/ binder course with a better riding quality.
• It may be composed of well graded crushed stone
(unbound), granular material mixed with binder or
stabilized materials.
• The base course is composed of a more pervious material
than the surface course.
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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO
ROAD PAVEMENT
• It is the main structural part of the pavement and
provides a level surface for laying the surface layers.
• It is expected to bear the burden of distributing the
applied surface loads so that the bearing capacity of the
sub grade is not exceeded.
• It provides additional load distribution and contributes to
the sub-surface drainage.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
4. Sub base
• The sub base course is the layer of material beneath the
base course constructed using local and cheaper materials.
• It provides additional help to the base and the upper layers
in distributing the load.
• It facilitates drainage of free water that might get
accumulated below the pavement.
• The primary functions of the sub base layer is to provide
structural support, improve drainage, and reduce the
intrusion of fines from the sub-grade.
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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
Function
1. As a structural member of a pavement the sub base helps to
distribute the applied loads to the sub grade.
2. A coarse grained material may be used in the sub base to act
as a drainage layer i.e. to pass to the highway drainage
system any moisture which enters the pavement.
3. To carry constructional traffic and act as a working platform
on which subsequent layers can be constructed.
4. To act as cutoff blanket and prevent moisture from
migrating upward from the sub grade.
5. To act as a cutoff blanket to prevent the infiltration of sub
grade material into the pavement. 28
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT
5. Sub-grade
• Sub grade is a layer of natural soil prepared to receive the
stresses from the layers above.
• Sub grade is considered to be the in situ soil over which the
highway/ pavement is being constructed.
• It is considered as the foundation on which the vehicle load
and the weight of the pavement layers finally rest.
• Hence, the stress transferred to the sub-grade should always
be less than its bearing capacity.
• The term sub grade is also applied to all native materials
exposed by excavation and to excavated soil that may be
artificially deposited to form a compacted embankment. 29
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO ROAD
PAVEMENT

QUESTION

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 QUIZE-1
Give short & precise answer [10pts]

1.Discuss the difference between flexible and rigid

pavement.

2.Discuss, with the help of sketch, the different

layers of a flexible pavement and explain their
purposes.

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