IRC Rigid Pavement Design

Atul Narayan, S. P.
IIT Madras

September 17, 2015

Outline

Introduction

Thickness design

Joints, Reinforcement and Tie bar design

Dowel bar design

Subordinate learning objectives

To analyze the stress-strain distribution in pavements for given

loading conditions. 3

To estimate pavement distresses based on stresses and

strains in pavement structure. 3

To explain the effect of mechanical properties on pavement

behavior and performance. 3

To analyze the stresses and distresses caused by vehicle

loading. 3

To estimate the expected volume of traffic in design life.

General

The IRC design method is given in IRC 58: 2002

This design method is very similar to the design method of

Portland Cement Association.

Recommended design life is 30 years.

Pavement Analysis Method

Analysis is essentially conducted using the finite element

program - IITRIGID

Stresses may also be obtained using Westergaards solutions

Recommended critical loading condition is edge loading for

doweled pavements and corner loading for undoweled
pavements

IRC recommends a contact pressure of 0.8 MPa

IRC does not specify shape of contact area

Material Properties
Subgrade

Modulus of subgrade reaction should be determined as per IS

9214

Standard plate diameter for determining k is 75 cm

Smaller plate diameter of 30 cm may be used.

Conversion equation:
k75 = 0.5k30

k-value can also be determined from CBR through tables

provided in IRC 58.

(1)

Material Properties
Concrete

Modulus of rupture should be at least

S = Sc + Z

(2)

where Sc is the characterisitic strength used in the design, Z

is the single-tail normal deviate for reliability and is the
standard deviation.

For design, Sc of 4.5 MPa can be used.

Recommended elastic modulus and Poissons ratio are 30

GPa and 0.15 respectively

Recommended coefficient of thermal expansion is

10 106 /0 C

Traffic

Just like in IRC 37, IRC 58 recommends conducting axle-load

survey

An Axle-load distribution table is constructed from the data

IRC recommends multiplying axle loads by a Load Safety

Factor (LSF). Recommended value of LSF is 1.2.

Cumuluative number of axle-loads is given by

C=

365A{(1 + r )n 1}
r

There are no directional and lane distribution factor in use.

(3)

Traffic (cont.)

Not all axle loads occur at the edge of the slab. There is
vehicle wander.

For two-lane two-way highways, IRC conservatively

recommends 25% of the total axles (in both directions) be
used for determining fatigue life.

That is, 25% of the total axle load occurs at the edge of the
pavement. (PCA design method uses 6%)

For highways with multiple lanes each way, IRC recommends

25% of the total axle load in one direction.

Climate

Effect of moisture on
subgrade properties
are not considered

IRC recommends
temperature
differential for curling
stresses based on
location

Pavement Distresses
Fatigue Equation

For SR 0.55
For 0.45 SR 0.55
For SR 0.45

0.9718 SR
0.0828
3.268
4.2577
Nf = (
)
SR 0.4325
Nf = +

log Nf =

(4a)
(4b)
(4c)

Pavement Distresses
Erosion and pumping

Erosion is not considered in design method

The reason is that erosion is severe only for tandem axles and
tandem axles are rare in India

Erosion being smaller for single-axle loads does not mean

they are negligible.

Outline

Introduction

Thickness design

Joints, Reinforcement and Tie bar design

Dowel bar design

Procedure
1. Assume a thickness for the slab.
2. Divide the axle load distribution into axle groups

Create an axle group for every 2-ton interval for single axles
Create an axle group for every 4-ton interval for tandem axles

3. Take the mean axle load of the group and multiply it by LSF.
4. Determine the critical stress for each axle group using the
charts provided in IRC 58.
5. Determine Nfi , the number of repetitions to failure, for the
critical stresses.
6. Determine the expected number of axles in each axle group.
25% of these axles are expected to occur at the edge of the
pavement. (ni )
ni
7. Determine the damage caused by each axle group as
N fi
ni
8. Determine if the total damage
is less than 1.
Nfi
9. Determine design thickness by trial and error.

IRC Chart for critical stresses

Sample calculations

Sample calculations (cont.)

Sample calculations (cont.)

Sample calculations (cont.)

Sample calculations (cont.)

Sample calculations (cont.)

Class Problem
A particular highway section requires a new concrete pavement.
The daily truck traffic at the start of the design period is 1100
trucks and is expected to grow at 5% per annum. Traffic is
completely composed of single axles and composition is as shown
in the table below:
Load (tons)
7-9
9-11
11-13
13-15
15-17
17-19
19-21

Percentage
60.5
19.8
11.7
6.3
1.2
0.47
0.03

The modulus of rupture of the concrete is 45 kg/cm2 . The modulus

of subgrade reaction of the subgrade is 10 kg/cm2 . Use a load

Class Problem (cont.)

safety factor of 1.2. Design the thickness of the concrete

pavement.

Class Problem (cont.)

70
6 tons
8 tons
10 tons
12 tons
14 tons
16 tons
18 tons
20 tons
22 tons
24 tons

60

Flexural stress (kg/cm2 )

50

40

30

20

10

15

20

25
Slab thickness (cm)

30

35

Outline

Introduction

Thickness design

Joints, Reinforcement and Tie bar design

Dowel bar design

Reinforcements

Reinforcement is provided to the concrete slab to take tensile

stresses due to contraction.

Reinforcements are not for increasing structural capacity of

slab. (They do not assist in flexure)

They are provided at mid-depth of the slab.

Contraction causes tensile stresses in concrete due to friction

in the concrete-subgrade interface.

Total tensile force per unit width due to contraction is

c Lhfa
2

where c is the unit weight of concrete, L and h are the length

and thickness of the slab, respectively, and fa is the coefficient
of friction.

Reinforcements (cont.)

Assuming the diameter of the steel bars (usually in the range

of 6mm to 12 mm), the number of bars required per unit
length is calculated.

If the cross-sectional area of one bar is As , the number of

steel bars required per unit length is:
nbars =

c Lhfa
2As fs

(5)

where fs is the allowable stress in steel

The number of bars required along the width of the slab per
c Whfa
, where W is the width of the slab.
unit length is
2As fs
fa is usually taken as 1.5 and allowable stress is usually 66%
of yield strength.
If reinforcements are not provided, as with JPCP, concrete
should resist tensile stress.

Reinforcements (cont.)

Tensile stress in concrete, in the absence of reinforcement is

c =

c Lfa
2

(6)

Tie-bars

Tie-bars are provided along the longitudinal joint to hold the

slabs together.

Forces trying to separate the slabs are again the forces due to
contraction

The number of steel bars required per unit width if the

cross-sectional area of one bar is Ast is
Ast =

c Whfa
fs

since total force due to contraction actin on the tie bars is

c Whfa .

(7)

Tie-bars (cont.)

Tie-bars should be of adequate length to ensure sufficient

bonding between the tie-bar and concrete. (To prevent
pull-out failure)

Length of tie-bar is
t = 2(

At fs

)=

fs d
2

where At is the cross-sectional area of one tie-bar, is the

allowable bond stress, O is the bar perimeter and d is the
diameter of the bar.

Allowable bond stress is usually taken as 2.4MPa

(8)

IRC recommendations for tie-bars

Joints
Types of Joints

Contraction joint

Relieves tensile stresses caused by contraction

Expansion joint

Leaves room for concrete slabs to expand

Longitudinal joint

Separates slabs along the transverse direction

Construction joint

Point of separation between old and new slab

constructions

Contraction Joint Spacing

Joint spacing depends on

Tensile stresses due to contraction

Extent of increase in joint width
Presence of reinforcements

Change in joint width depends on slab length as well as

thermal and shrinkage properties:

L = L(e T + )
where e is the coefficient of thermal expansion, T is the
temperature decrease and  is the shrinkage strain.

(9)

Contraction Joint Spacing (cont.)

Tensile force due to contraction is

length of the slab

c Lhfa
2

; it depends on the

Tensile force should be resisted by either the concrete or the

reinforcement

Spacing for JPCP is about 3 to 10 m and for JRCP, it is about

10 to 30 m.

Joint spacing is decided based on experience

IRC recommendations for joint spacing in JPCP

Contraction Joint Construction

A steel plate is placed upto a certain depth at the joint location

during construction and removed later.

Otherwise, concrete slab is sawed after construction to a

certain depth.

The gap is then sealed with a bituminous or polymer sealant

Cracks form over the rest of the depth due to vehicle loading
resulting in the formation of joint.

The cracked surfaces provide aggregate interlock for load

transfer.

Dowels are provided during construction; they cannot prevent

cracking and thus, cannot prevent joint formation

Contraction Joint before and after cracking

Source:pavementinteractive.org

Expansion Joints

Expansion Joints are provided to leave room for concrete

expansion

These joints prevent blow-up failure

Expansion joints are no longer used except on bridges

A good choice of aggregate, with low coefficient of thermal

expansion, makes expansion joints unnecessary

Outline

Introduction

Thickness design

Joints, Reinforcement and Tie bar design

Dowel bar design

Dowel Bars

Dowels are provided for transfer of load from one slab to

another

In the absence of dowels and aggregate interlock, corner

stress will be higher than edge stress

Dowel bar design is mostly based on experience

Primary mode of failure of dowel arrangement is by failure of

concrete below dowel due to excessive bearing stress.

IRC Recommended Dowel Size and Length

Recommended diamater is one-eighth the thickness of

pavement

Allowable Bearing Stress

The allowable bearing stress of concrete is

Fb = (

10.16 b
) fck
9.525

(10)

where b is the diameter of dowel bar in cm and fck is the

characteristic compressive strength of concrete. Fb and fck both
have the same units ([NL2 ])

Actual Bearing Stress due to load transfer by dowel bars

Maximum bearing stress due to a load on a dowel bar was

found by Friberg.

Bearing stress is determined by treating the dowel bar as a

beam and the concrete as a liquid (Winkler) foundation.
Pt

y0

d
2

Actual Bearing Stress due to load transfer by dowel bars

(cont.)

Maximum deflection of the concrete below the dowel is at the

edge of the slab. It is
y0 =

Pt (2 + z )
4 3 Ed Id

(11)

where Pt is the load on the dowel bar, z is the joint width, Ed

and Id are the elastic modulus and moment of inertia of the
dowel bar.

is the relative stiffness of dowel bar, similar to radius of

relative stiffness:

Kd
4Ed Id

(12)

where K is the modulus of dowel support (similar to modulus

of subgrade reaction)

The range of K is between 80 to 400 GN/m3

Actual Bearing Stress due to load transfer by dowel bars

(cont.)

Maximum bearing stress is

b = Ky0 =

KPt (2 + z )
4 3 Ed Id

Maximum bearing stress depends on Pt , the load on the

dowel bar.

Pt depends on the manner of transfer of load by dowels

(13)

Dowel Group Action

W

W
2

W
2

Role of dowels is to transfer axle load from one slab to another

Dowels, together, will maximum transfer half the axle load,

when they are fully efficent.

Usual number is around 40% of the load.

Dowel Group Action (cont.)

Friberg found that the dowels over 1.8l distance from the point
of loading act together to transfer the load

Heinrichs has suggested a distance of 1.0l instead, which is

now used everywhere.
1.0l

1.0l

The maximum load on one dowel bar depends on the

distribution

Dowel Group Action (cont.)

Load on dowel bar is assumed to linearly decrease with

distance from load, being zero at 1.0l from the point of load.

If multiple loads are acting at the transverse joint, for each

one, the distribution must be determined.

The total force on a dowel bar is the sum of the forces due to
each load.

Dowel Design Procedure

Pick dowel diameter and length from table.

Assume a trial spacing

Calculate the maximum force on a dowel bar by considering

the most critical loading condition

The 85 percentile single axle load is taken as the critical load.

The critical loading condition is when the single axle is placed
flush with the edge of the pavement.

Determine maximum bearing stress corresponding to the

maximum dowel load

If bearing stress exceeds allowable bearing stress, reduce

spacing

If spacing is already too small, increase dowel diameter