Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
OF PAVEMENTS
FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS
Requirements of Road Users
The road pavements have to be constructed and maintained in such a way that
they fulfil the functional requirements of the road users, to provide safe,
comfortable and fast movement in their vehicles at reasonably low vehicle
operation cost. The common road users, judge the functional requirements of a
road pavement in terms of riding comfort; they may also recognise the
importance of fast movement and ability to stop the vehicles on applying brakes,
without undue skidding; however majority of the road users may not be aware of
the increase in the vehicle operation cost due to pavement undulations.
Therefore the functional requirements of the road pavements from road users
point of view may be summed up as:
The pavement surface should not become too slippery during service life
or in other words the surface should retain sufficiently high skid resistance
value for safe operation at design speed including stopping requirements,
under adverse surface conditions.
The pavement surface should be even along the longitudinal path to
provide good riding quality for vehicles moving at the design speed. The
unevenness and longitudinal undulations cause vertical oscillations in
moving vehicles, resulting in poor riding comfort.
The transverse profile of the pavement should be retained with
appropriate camber or super elevation during the design life, without too
much o permanent deformation of pavement surface along the wheel path
in the form of ruts. In other words, the rut depth should not be excessive,
as this could affect the riding quality, especially in the case of fast moving
operations.
The pavement surface should not be permitted to develop cracks as this is
a clear indication of the pavement distress that has started developing.
These cracks permit easy flow of water from the surface in to the
pavement layers and the subgrade, resulting in the rapid deterioration of
pavement due to the combined effects of traffic loads and environmental
effects.
The pavement surface should not be permitted to develop pot holes. If the
pot holes are properly patched as soon as they start developing, the
pavement life could be prolonged considerably. If the potholes left
unattended, they become larger in size and depth, resulting in the
breaking up of pavement with the need to take up rehabilitation measures.
The riding quality of pavement surface should not be affected by the other
types of surface disintegration in the form of spalling, ravelling or stripping.
Skid Resistance
In order to allow for safe speed reduction and stopping, or to provide safe traffic
operation, the road surface should have sufficient skid resistance under the
adverse pavement surface conditions. Therefore from safety requirements, the
skid resistance of pavement surface should be uniformly high and the variation in
the skid resistance across and along the pavement should be minimum.
Longitudinal Surface Profile
If the longitudinal profile of the pavement surface is undulated or uneven, when
automobiles travel at high speed, the vehicles are subjected to vertical
oscillations of varying magnitude and frequency, causing increase in fuel
consumption in vehicles, increase in wear and tear of all moving parts and in the
tyres, increase in discomfort to the passengers and higher rate of fatigue to the
drivers and other occupants of the vehicles. Therefore it is desirable to provide
an even or plane surface with least undulations or unevenness.
Rutting
Excessive rutting causes discomfort to fast moving vehicles, particularly during
lane change and in overtaking operations. Excessive rutting also indicates
deterioration of structural condition of the pavement. Therefore the rutting of
pavement surface may be limited to a desirable limit.
Other Surface Defects
The fine hair cracks that develop on bituminous pavement surface should be
taken as a caution signal indicating the start of pavement distress and
deterioration. It is desirable to investigate the actual type of cracking and possible
remedial measures.
Various other types of failures or pavement distress such as ravelling, stripping,
etc., may occur; all of these decrease the riding comfort and the riding comfort
and performance assessment by the road user.
EVALUATION OF PAVEMENT SURFACE CONDITION
Skid Resistance
When vehicles moving at high speeds apply brakes to slow down or to stop, the
friction between the tyre and the pavement surface is called in to play. If attempt
is made to partially or fully lock the wheels by applying brakes, the wheels would
correspondingly skid along the pavement surface and maximum possible friction
is developed. If the coefficient of friction or the skid resistance of the pavement
surface is low, the braking distance required will be high, thus resulting in less
safety or more risk at any speed. Therefore one of the important components of
the road user related pavement evaluation is evaluation of road safety in terms of
skid resistance measurement.
Factors Affecting Skid Resistance
Type of pavement Surface
Different types of pavement surfaces such as WBM, bituminous surface, cement
concrete surface, etc., and their surface finish affect the skid resistance. The
properties of the mix such as gradation, (open graded or dense graded), bitumen
content etc. affect the macro texture of the pavement surface, which in turn
affects the skid resistance. The type of the aggregates and the characteristics
such as micro texture, aggregate-polishing value, shape etc. also are some of
the important factors.
Pavement Surface Condition
The skid resistance of a pavement surface varies depending on wheather the
surface is dry or is clean and wet or there is snow or ice or mud or oil or dry sand
on pavement surface . The presence of these materials on pavement surface
could cause reduction in skid resistance to different degrees depending on
several factors including the macro texture of the pavement surface, speed,
degree of brake application, etc.
Tyre Characteristics
As the friction depends on the tyre pavement interface, the factors such as the
tyre surface characteristics ( treaded or smoothened /bald ), tyre pressure and
load on the tyre could affect the skid resistance, particularly on the wet
pavement. However the tread pattern and type of tyre may not have significant
influence on skid resistance of pavement.
Speed
Speed of the vehicle and braking efficiency or extent of locking affects the skid
speed. Usually the skid resistance is found to decrease with skid speed; this
decrease is prominently seen pavement surface.
Other Factors
The other factors which affect the skid resistance of pavement are temperture,
age of pavement, traffic and its smoothening effect on pavement surface along
the wheel path, construction and maintenance practices, etc
Methods of Measuring Skid Resistance
The method of measurement of skid resistance may be divided in to three
groups: i) Laboratory methods ii) Methods using portable equipment iii) Semi
field model tests using mounted vehicle test iv) Dynamic test methods on actual
pavement surface and v Test vehicle method. Of the various test methods, a few
of the most commonly used methods are given below:
Portable Pendulum Type Tester
This is a very simple portable test method which can be used for testing
specimens in the laboratory or for conducting in situ tests over existing
pavements. When the pendulum arm with the test rubber fixed on the shoe of the
pendulum is released, it slides through specified length of the test surface, loses
some energy due to the frictional resistance and hence swings and rises to a
lower height on the other side. From this loss in weight, measured in terms of
angle, it is possible to determine the skid resistance tester working on a slightly
different principle has been designed and fabricated at the Department of Civil
Engineering, Bangalore University.
Dynamic Trailer Type Skid Resistance tester is a very useful equipment for high
speed testing of pavement surface. The dynamic Fifth wheel Type Skid
Resistance Tester has several advantages over trailer type and this equipment
has also been designed and developed at Department of civil Engg., along with
other necessary instrumentation.
Pavement Unevenness (Roughness)
The serviceability of a pavement is largely a function of its unevenness. Studies
made at the AASHO road test have shown that 95% of the information about
serviceability of a pavement s contributed by the unevenness of its surface
profile. The pavement undulations imparts acceleration to the vehicles and the
passengers, resulting in oscillations, increase in fuel consumption wear and tear
of the tyres and moving parts of the vehicle and discomfort to the passengers.
The increase in the cost may be due to a) increase vehicle operation cost b)
increase in the travel time and consequent increase in time cost of vehicle and
time cost of passengers. c) increase in the intangible costs such as early fatigue
of drivers, discomfort of passengers and higher accident rates.
The road User Cost study (RUCS) conducted in India has revealed that there is a
large wastage in the form of increased road user costs in the country due to bad
and uneven / undulated pavement surface on most of the highways. It was
estimated by RUCS that based on 1982 price level, the losses due to uneven
pavements of National Highways in India in terms of increased vehicle operation
cost is in the order of Rs 200 crores per year.
Types of Undulations
The undulations or unevenness of pavement surface may be classified in to three
categories: i) rough surface profile with minor corrugation which cause some
discomfort and vibrations, especially in light vehicles ii) uneven surface with small
depressions and humps resulting in considerable discomfort due to oscillations
which depend on the vehicle type, its weight, tyre size, suspension details and
speed. On stretches with the above type of pavement surface, the small vehicles
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are subjected to considerable discomfort even at low speeds. iii) uneven surface
with large scale depressions, particularly due to settlement of embankment or its
foundation. There may not be noticeable minor undulations in such cases and
hence under a straight edge of 3.0 m length, the depressions could be negligibly
small. However such profiles will be of very great importance for high speed
movement of vehicles such as on high speed highways and runways.
Factors on Affecting Unevenness (Roughness)
The formation of unevenness on pavement surface is due to the combination of
reasons which include defects and short comings in the design, construction and
quality control in road construction, drainage and environmental factor, subgrade
soil type and traffic loading. The development of corrugations on the surface may
be due to defective materials or construction of top layers. But the common large
scale undulations in pavement surface in the form of unevenness due
depressions and humps of larger magnitudes causing increase in vehicle
operation cost and considerable discomfort to passengers of automobiles may be
due to the problems at the subgrade level. The size of the undulation (magnitude
and amplitude) could give an indication regarding the depth at which the problem
has started. The common defective practices prevalent in India such as subgrade
not being adequately compacted during initial construction and the use of boulder
stone or bricks on edge as soling or foundation course (which results in non
uniform settlement of this lower sub base layer because of lack of interlocking
between the stones or bricks) are the primary causes for such undulations. The
formations of large waves may be generally due to the differential settlement of
the embankment fill material or the embankment foundation itself.
Causes and Remedial Measures
Often the major contributing causes for unevenness in pavement are poor or
inadequate sub surface drainage, inferior subgrade soil, in adequate pavement
thickness unscientific construction practices ( such as improper compaction of
subgrade, use of boulder or brick soling etc.) and excessive magnitude of load
and their repetitions with reference to the pavement structure. The first step
before trying any remedial measure to deal with the undulations of pavement
surface is to carry out investigations and identifications of the actual causes for
the situation. If the defect is limited to the problem in top layers ( in the form of
surface corrugations), the remedy is also relatively simple, as a levelling course
followed by a resurfacing layer of appropriate specification is likely to provide a
fairly satisfactory pavement surface.
Methods of Evaluation of Unevenness
The evaluation of undulations or unevenness in the pavements may be divided in
to three broad classifications:
By physical Techniques
By Indirect Techniques
Straight edge
Spot Levels
Unevenness indicator
Profilograph
Unevenness Integrator or Bump Integrator
Some of the other sophisticated equipment available in other countries
are:
K.J. Law Model 690 Digital Non Contact Profilometer
French APL Longitudinal Profile Analyser
South Dakota DOT Profilometer
The plain sliding straight edge is probably the oldest and simplest method. When
the straight edge is placed on the pavement surface, it rests over the high spots
along the line ( in the longitudinal or transverse direction of the pavement) and
the undulations measured are in the form of depth of depressed portion of the
pavement surface below the bottom of the straight edge which is taken as the
reference line or the temporary datum.The datum line does not represent an
absolute datum or reference line as the depth of certain depression at a spot of
pavement depends both on the length of the straight edge used and its relative
location on placement over the spot under consideration. In India a 3.0 m long
straight edge has been recommended by the IRC; for checking the surface of
the new pavement layers in general and 4.5 m straight edge in some cases, soon
after construction as part of quality control measures. However, the field work
and the method of measurement by the straight edge is tedious and time
consuming.
Spot Level Method
Spot level measurements ( using a levelling instrument and levelling staff) along
the desired line on the pavement surface at known distance intervals could br
used to evaluate the undulations of pavement surface. Since the spot level
observations are with reference to a bench mark, the references datum line is at
a fixed level and therefore the undulations noted are absolute values with
reference to the fixed datum, and the actual surface profile of the pavement could
be plotted. Except minor corrugations of the surface, it is possible to obtain all the
types of undulations of the pavement surface, including very large size waves
which can not be measured by ordinary methods using 3.0 or 4.5 metres straight
edge or other moving datum type of instrument. Using the spot level values and
distances, it is possible to represent the undulations in terms of slope variance as
one of the parameters required to evaluate the riding quality of two pavement.
Unevenness Indicator
Developed at CRRI has a moving datum resting on two sets of datum wheels 3.0
metres apart and the probe wheel placed in between the datum wheels moves
up and down relative to the temporary datum. The vertical movement of the
probe wheel ( both humps and depressions) could be measured with the help of
the pointer and calibrated dial. This is very convenient and rapid method
especially for locating or for making the spots having undulations more than the
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stretch. Hence it is necessary to convert the readings obtained from the field in to
cm/km or mm/km. The following relation may be used:
UI= ( B/W) x R x 2.54
Where UI= Unevenness Index, cm/km
B= Bump readings from the field ( after initial setting to zero)
R= Number of revolutions per km ( 460)
W= Number of wheel revolutions from the field.
Applications
The bump integrator provides a measure of the work done by a vehicle
suspension in traversing a road and hence is an indication of the extra energy
required or the extra cost to the travelling community caused by unevenness. It
also provides a measure of riding quality or passenger comfort, although this is
not / absolute value as the instrument tends to show high response on those
irregularities that are ironed out by its springs ( large spring movement) and low
response on those not ironed out by its springs ( small spring movement). The
device offers a rapid means of measuring unevenness or riding quality, so that
the field work can be completed quite fast without any hindrance to the
movement of traffic like other slower devices. Consistent results can be obtained
if unit is operated correctly, and the simple numerical output is easy to handle for
long lengths of road where a graphic record is tedious to evaluate.
Limitations of Equipment
Variation in results are likely due to the following reasons
Suspension of trailer unit: The stiffness and condition of the spring and dash pots
in the suspension affect the measured values.
Dash pot fluid: The viscosity of the dash pot fluid causes variations damping
effects and therefore variation in results. Also the performance of the dashpots is
very sensitive to the fluid level. Variation in fluid level in the dashpots causes
variations in the measured values of unevenness index
Load: If the standard weight of the unit gets altered, the unevenness readings are
also likely to be affected.
Road Wheel: If the radius of the working wheel gets altered due to wear and tear
of the tyres, there is a possible variation in unevenness index values as well as in
the calculation of length of stretch from the number of revolutions.
Integrator: Some inherent problem are associated with the integrator unit namely,
change in tension or snapping of the cord, internal slipping and run on, wear, reset to zero not functioning, etc. Due to any such defects, erroneous results are
likely to occur in the unit. Therefore it is necessary to have sufficient knowledge
about the unit such that the defects could be checked and rectified in time.
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Response to motion as characterised by the particular pavement vehiclehuman interaction for particular speed.
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13
0.4
17
0.5
11
0.6
8
0.7
6
0.8
4
0.9
3
1.0
3
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The optimum size of rating panel for any combination of E and P can be
obtained from the above table.
Orientation of Rating Panels
An initial orientation program is to be conducted for the raters or the subjects, for
assessing the pavement surface by both visual and riding rating techniques. The
subjects are to be trained to rate the pavement surface of the typical road
stretches by walking along the road, visually observing the pavement surface
condition including the degree of deterioration of surface based on undulations /
unevenness, rutting, cracking, patching, and other surface distress. For the rating
by riding technique, the subjects are to be taken in test vehicle driven at a
standard uniform speed of 30 km along the test stretches and are trained to
assess the present serviceability rating value according to comfort condition.
After the subjects are trained, formation of panel size and number of panels, the
raters are asked to evaluate the pavements of selected stretches by both visual
and riding rating techniques.
Analysis of Rating Data
After collecting the data on each selected stretch the data sheets are collected
from the raters. The data collected from the test stretches are to be
mathematically analysed to get the PSR values. The rating values given by the
individual raters is termed as IPSR. The mean value of a panel is termed as
PSR. The most probable rating is the average of ratings of all rating panels taken
together for each test stretch.As pointed out by Guilford and Huchinson several
systematic errors must be removed from the raw judgements, to get the true
rating values of the pavement.
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SERVICEABILITY MODELS
To obviate the necessity of frequent service rating sessions and to enable
smaller test sections to be assessed with reasonable accuracy, mathematical
models were developed correlating the PSR values as obtained by the Rating
Panel, and the physical measurements of various ground parameters affecting
the pavement serviceability ratings in the opinion of Rating Panel members. The
ground parameters considered are :
change in pavement profile, both longitudinal and transverse i.e., unevenness
index values obtained from different mechanical instrument or slope variance
and rut depth
Extent of surface distress is in the form of cracking and patching etc. To develop
the mathematical models, Carey and Irick established five fundamental
assumption which can be refered in the literature.
With these parameters and assumptions the mathematical models were
developed both for flexible and rigid pavements, which could predict the PSR
values, obtained from panel ratings with good accuracy in terms of Present
Serviceability Index (PSI). The PSI equations developed are in the form :
For flexible pavement:
PSI = 5.03 1.91 log ( 1+ SV) 1.38 RD2 0.01 ( C + P ) 1/2
For Rigid Pavements
PSI = 5.41 1.8 log ( 1+ SV ) 0.09 C+ P
Where,
SV = Average slope variance of left and right wheel paths
RD = Average rut depth in wheel path in inches
C = Cracked area of pavement in Sq. ft / 1000 sq. ft of pavement sections
Similar studies were conducted by different other Highway agencies like
Minnesota and Virginia State Highways Departments of the USA.
But the Materials Division of the Washington Department of Highway has
developed a different type of mathematical model which is in form :
R R = GR x G D
Where
R R = Final Rating
GR = Ride Rating = 100 (10 x ride score)
GD = Defect Rating = 100 (Defects values for pavement defects)
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