Transportation Engineering-II

Prepared By:
Engr. Khalid Mehmood

CED, MUST Mirpur 1

 ESALs

• Pavement damage depends on weight distribution.

• Weight distribution depends on:
– Number of axles
– Weight on each axle
– Spacing of axles
• AASHTO developed a method to convert various
truck axles configurations & weights to one standard
• Standard = ESAL (Equivalent Single Axle Load)
• One ESAL is equivalent to an18,000 lbs, 18 Kips,
80KN, 8.16 ton weight on a single axle with dual
tires.
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 AXLE LOADS
• One of the primary functions of a pavement is its load
distribution.
• Therefore, in order to adequately design a pavement
something must be known about the expected loads it
will carry during its design life.
• Loads, the vehicle forces exerted on the pavement
(e.g., by trucks, heavy machinery, airplanes), can be
characterized by the following parameters:
– Tyre loads
– Number of Axels
– Repetition of loads
– Distribution of traffic across the pavement
– Vehicle speed
 STANDARD AXLE LOAD

• Different tests were performed to calculate the

thickness of pavement, in relation to the no. of
vehicles passing over various portions of roads.
• Statistical analysis of the data collected
showed that relative damaging effect of an axle
was approximately proportional to the fourth
power of the load which it carries, irrespective
of the type or thickness of the pavement.
 Generalized Fourth Power
Law
• A rule-of-thumb, the damage caused by a
particular load is roughly related to the load by
a power of four (for reasonably strong
pavement surfaces). For example,

• A 18,000 lb (80 kN) single axle, LEF =1.0

• A 30,000 lb (133 kN) single axle, LEF = ?
• Using the fourth power rule-of-thumb:
 STANDARD AXLE LOAD

• An axle carrying a load of 18,000 lbs (8160 kg)

was defined in the AASHO road test as a
Standard Axle, with a damaging effect of unity.
• The damaging effects of lighter and heavier
axles were expressed as equivalence factors as
shown in Table.
• The equivalence factor of .0002 for the 910-kg
(2000lb) axle load means that 5000 a passes of
such an axle would do the same damaging
effect as one pass of standard axle.
STANDARD AXLE LOAD
DAMAGING EFFECT OF DIFFERENT AXLE LOADS (AASHO ROAD TEST)

AXLE LOAD AXLE LOAD

EQUIVALENCE EQUIVALENCE
KG LBS FACTOR KG LBS FACTOR

910 2000 0.0002 9980 22000 2.3

1810 4000 0.0025 10890 24000 3.2

2720 6000 0.01 11790 26000 4.4

3630 8000 0.03 12700 28000 5.8

4540 10000 0.095 13610 30000 7.6

5440 12000 0.19 14520 32000 9.7

6350 14000 0.35 15420 34000 12.1

7260 16000 0.61 16320 36000 15

8160 18000 1* 17230 38000 18.6

9070 20000 1.5 18140 40000 22.8

*Standard axle
EQUIVALENT STANDARD AXLE
LOAD (ESAL)
• This approach converts wheel loads of various
magnitudes and repetitions ("mixed traffic") to an
equivalent number of "standard" or "equivalent" loads
based on the amount of damage they do to the
pavement.
• The commonly used standard load is the 18,000 lb.
Equivalent Single Axle load.
• Using the ESAL method, all loads (including multi-
axle loads) are converted to an equivalent number of
18,000 lb. single axle loads, which is then used for
design.
• A "load equivalency factor" represents the equivalent
number of ESAL’s for the given weight-axle
combination.
Traffic Loads Characterization

Pavement Thickness Design Are Developed

To Account For The Entire
Spectrum Of Traffic Loads

Cars Pickups Buses Trucks Trailers

 Traffic Loads Characterization
13.6 Tons
Failure = 10,000 Repetitions
7.3 Tons
Failure = 100,000 Repetitions

4.5 Tons
Failure = 1,000,000 Repetitions
2.3 Tons
Failure = 10,000,000 Repetitions
4.5
13.6 Tons Tons
Failure = Repetitions ?
11.3 Tons 2.3 Tons
 In the AASHTO flexible pavement design, traffic is
considered in terms of ESAL for the terminal SI
 RELATIVE DAMAGE CONCEPT

Equivalent
18000 - Ibs Damage per
Standard ESAL Pass = 1
(8.2 tons)
Axle Load

• Axle loads bigger than 8.2 tons cause damage greater than
one per pass
• Axle loads smaller than 8.2 tons cause damage less than
one per pass
• Load Equivalency Factor (L.E.F) = (Tons/8.2 tons)4
 Consider two single axles A and B where:

A-Axle = 16.4 tons

 Damage caused per pass by A -Axle = (16.4/8.2)4 =
16
 This means that A-Axle causes same amount of
damage per pass as caused by 16 passes of standard
8.2 tons axle i.e,

=
16.4 Tons
8.2 Tons
Axle
Axle
Consider two single axles A and B where:

B-Axle = 4.1 tons

 Damage caused per pass by B-Axle = (4.1/8.2)4 = 0.0625
 This means that B-Axle causes only 0.0625 times damage
per pass as caused by 1 pass of standard 8.2 tons axle.
 In other works, 16 passes (1/0.0625) of B-Axle cause same
amount of damage as caused by 1 pass of standard 8.2 tons
axle i.e.,

=
4.1 Tons 8.2 Tons
Axle Axle
AXLE LOAD & RELATIVE DAMAGE

75.2
80

63.4
70
DAMAGE PER PASS

53.1
60

44.1
50

36.3
29.5
40

23.8
18.9
30

14.9
11.5
20
8.7
6.5
4.7
3.3
2.3

10
1.1
1.0

0
8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
SINGLE AXLE LOAD (Tons)
 Traffic Analysis

1. Estimate the number of vehicles of

different types (Passenger cars, single
unit trucks, multi unit trucks of various
sizes) expected to use the pavement
over the design period.
2. Add traffic growth using historical
record
 Traffic Analysis

• Goal: To predict the number of repetitions of

each axle load group during design period.
• The initial daily traffic is in two directions over
all traffic lanes.
• Must be multiplied by direction distribution &
Lane distribution to obtain initial traffic on
design lane.
• Traffic to be used in design is the average
traffic during design period (i.e. multiply by
growth factor).
 Traffic Analysis
ESAL = (AADT) (Gf) (365) (Ni) (L) (D) (LEF)
Where
ESAL: Equivalent Single Axel Load
AADT: Average Annual daily traffic at the start of the
design period.
Gf: Growth factor
Ni = Number of axel
L: Lane Dist. Factor
D: Directional dist. Factor
(LEF): Load Equivalency Factor ( depend on Pt and SN)

Gf = [(1+g)^n – 1] / g
g= Growth in percentage
n= No of year
 Traffic Analysis

No. of Lanes Lane Distribution Factor

a/t AASHTO
1 100%
2 80 % - 100%
3 70% - 90%
4 50% - 80%

Directional distribution factor is 505

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TWO SERVICEABILITY INDICES

1. Initial Serviceability Index (pi)

2. Terminal Serviceability Index (pt)

Initial Serviceability Index (pi)

 Serviceability index immediately after the
construction of the pavement
 pi = 4.2 (4.5 for good condition)
(based on existing condition)
TWO SERVICEABILITY INDICES

Terminal Serviceable Index (pt)

 Based on class of highway

 Pt = 2.5 or 3 (for major highway)

 Pt= 2.0 (for lower class highway)

 Pt = 1.5 (for economic constraints

performance period
may be reduced)
 Structural Number (SN)

The Structural Number is an abstract number

expressing the structural strength of a pavement
required for given combinations of soil support
(MR), total traffic expressed in ESALs, terminal
serviceability and environment. The Structural
Number is converted to actual layer thicknesses
(e.g., 150 mm (6 inches) of HMA) using a layer
coefficient (a) that represents the relative
strength of the construction materials in that
layer.

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 Example

A six lane divided highway is to be constructed on a new

alignment. The average annual daily traffic in both direction
during the first year will be 12000 with the following
vehicle mix and axel loads
• Passenger car 4000 lb/axel = 50%
• 2-axel unit truck 12000 lb/axel = 33%
• 3-axel unit truck 32,000 lb/axel = 17%
Steering axel for all vehicle are 2000lb. The vehicle mix is
expected to remain same through out design life. If the
traffic growth rate is 4 % for all vehicle, determine the
design ESAL for a design period of 20 years. Pavement has
terminal serviceability Index of 2.5 and SN of 5.
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 Assignment # 02
Q.No Description Marks CLO

Q.No A four lane two way highway is to be constructed on a CLO-2

05
1: new alignment. The average annual daily traffic in both
direction during the first year will be 16000 with the
following vehicle mix and axel loads
• Passenger car 2000 lb/axel = 60%
• 2-axel unit truck 14000 lb/axel = 27%
• 3-axel unit truck 28,000 lb/axel = 13%
Steering axel for car is 2000lb and 4000lb for all other
vehicles. for The vehicle mix is expected to remain
same through out design life. If the traffic growth rate is
4% for passenger cars, 3% for all other vehicles,
Determine the design ESAL for a design period of 15
years. Pavement has terminal serviceability Index of 2.
and assume SN of 4.

Submission Date: 22/01/2019 25

 Assignment # 02

Q.No Description Marks CLO

Q.No From the given cross section of flexible pavement CLO-2

05
2: Analyze the pavement using KENPAVE software.
Calculate how many standard axle repetition will the
pavement survive ?
Use Asphalt institute equations.

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