IRC: 37-2012

TENTATIVE GUIDELINES FOR THE DESIGN OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS

 Traffic consideration
1. Assessment of the present day average traffic is determined based on a seven-
day 24-hour count.

2. Traffic growth rate (r): Project traffic at the end of design life
• Past trends of traffic growth
• Macro-economic parameters (like GDP or SDP).
• Assume 5 percent in absence of data.

3. Design life:
1. National Highways and State Highways: minimum life of 15 years.
2. Expressways and Urban Roads: 20 years or higher.
3. Other categories of roads: 10 to 15 years

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

4. Vehicle Damage Factor (VDF)
• Vehicles of different axle loads and axle configuration are converted to a
repetitions of standard axle load of magnitude 80 kN.
• Axle load survey is carried out to determine the VDF

𝑎𝑥𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝑁 4
• Single axle with single wheel on either side = ( )
65
𝑎𝑥𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝑁 4
• Single axle with dual wheel on either side = ( )
80
𝑎𝑥𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝑁 4
• Tandem axle with dual wheel on either side = ( )
148
𝑎𝑥𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑘𝑁 4
• Tridem axles with dual wheel on either side = ( )
224

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

Example:

No. of No. of
Axle load, Kg Load equivalency factor (80kN)
axle vehicle
Total load
Vehicle
equivalency VDF
type
factor (EF)
Single
Single
axle
No. of No. of axle with 𝒂𝒙𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒌𝑵 𝟒 𝒂𝒙𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒌𝑵 𝟒
with ( ) ( )
axle vehicle dual 𝟔𝟓 𝟖𝟎
single
wheel
wheel

Buses 2 12 6080 6480 0.765 0.43 1.195

𝟏. 𝟏𝟗𝟓 × 𝟏𝟐 + (𝟏. 𝟎𝟕 × 𝟐𝟖𝟕𝟗)
= 𝟏. 𝟎𝟕
(𝟏𝟐 + 𝟐𝟖𝟕𝟗)
Truck 2 2879 5950 6250 0.702 0.37 1.07

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

• In absence of sufficient information on axle loads and small project the following
indicative values of VDF can be used.

Initial Traffic Volume in Terms of Terrain

Commercial Vehicles Per Day Roiling/Plain Hilly

0-150 1.5 0.5

150-1500 3.5 1.5
More than 1500 4.5 2.5

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

5. Lane Distribution Factor (LDF):

• Single-lane roads: total number of commercial vehicles in both directions.

• Two-lane single carriageway roads: 50 per cent of the total number of
commercial vehicles in both directions.
• Four-lane single carriageway roads: 40 per cent of the total number of
commercial vehicles in both directions.
• Dual carriageway roads: 75 per cent of the number of commercial vehicles
in each direction. For three-lane and four lane carriageway, the distribution
factor will be 60 per cent and 45 per cent respectively.

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

Example:

• For Two-lane single carriageway roads with 4000 CVPD (Sum of both directions) the
design traffic will be?

50
Soln: ∗ 4000
100

• For four-lane single carriageway with 6000 CVPD (Sum of both directions) the design
traffic will be?
40
Soln: ∗ 6000
100

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

6. Computation of Design Traffic
365 × [(1+𝑟)𝑛 −1]
𝑁= ×𝐴×𝐷×F
𝑟
Where,
N = Cumulative number of standard axles to be catered for in the design, msa
A = Initial traffic in the year of completion of construction, CVPD
D = Lane distribution factor
F = Vehicle Damage Factor
n = Design life in years
r = Annual growth rate of commercial vehicles in decimal.

Initial traffic in the year of completion, 𝐴 = 𝑃(1 + 𝑟)𝑋

Where,
P = Number of commercial vehicles as per last count
X = Number of years between the last count and the year of completion of construction

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

Example: If Number of commercial vehicles as per last count is 2518 CVPD and
project will take 3 yr to complete and the annual growth rate of commercial
vehicles is 6.0%, calculate the design traffic for design traffic of 20 years considering
LDF as 0.5 and VDF as 4.8.

Soln: Initial traffic in the year of completion, 𝐴 = 𝑃(1 + 𝑟)𝑋

=2518(1 + 0.06)3
=3000 CVPD
365 × [(1+0.06)20 −1]
𝑁= × 3000 × 0.5 × 4.8
0.06

= 96672534 or 96 msa

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

Requirement of subgrade

• Subgrade shall be compacted to a minimum of 97 percent of laboratory dry

density achieved with heavy compaction
• The select soil forming the subgrade should have a minimum CBR of 8 percent
for roads having traffic of 450 commercial vehicles per day or higher.
• 90th percentile of a minimum of six to eight average CBR values is used as
design CBR value for high volume roads such as Expressways, National Highways
and State Highways. For other categories of roads, design is based on 80th
percentile of laboratory CBR values.
• If the difference between the CBR of the select subgrade and embankment soils is
significantly different then effective CBR is used for design.

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

Example: CBR values for a highway alignment are as follows:

3.5, 5.2, 8.0, 6.8, 8.8, 4.2, 6.4, 4.6, 9.0, 5.7, 8.4, 8.2, 7.3, 8.6, 8.9, 7.6
Calculate the design CBR?

Soln: After arranging: 3.5, 4.2, 4.6, 5.2, 5.7, 6.4, 6.8, 7.3, 7.6, 8.0, 8.2, 8.4, 8.6, 8.8, 8.9, 9.0

Percentile CBR
16
For CBR of 3.5, ∗ 100 = 100%
16
15
For CBR of 4.2, ∗ 100 = 93.75%;
16
14
For CBR of 4.6, ∗ 100 = 87.57%
16

From the plot of percentile values and CBR

The 90th percentile CBR value is 4.7

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

 Effective CBR of Subgrade

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

Example: CBR of soil below the 500 mm of
the subgrade = 5 %
CBR of the 500 mm of the subgrade from
borrow pits = 8%
Calculate effective CBR of Subgrade?

7.5
Soln: 7.5%

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

Determination of resilient modulus subgrade soil
The relation between resilient modulus and the effective CBR is given as:
𝑀𝑅 = 10 ∗ 𝐶𝐵𝑅, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝐵𝑅 5
𝑀𝑅 = 17.6 ∗ 𝐶𝐵𝑅 0.64 , for CBR > 5

Where, 𝑀𝑅 = Resilient modulus of subgrade soil, MPa.

Example : Calculate the 𝑀𝑅 for a subgrade soil with effective CBE of 12%

Soln: 𝑀𝑅 = 17.6 ∗ 12 0.64

= 86 MPa

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

Determination of modulus of unbound granular (subbase+ base) layer

Unbound granular layer

𝑀𝑅_𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 = 0.2ℎ0.45 𝑀𝑅 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑒
Where,
𝑀𝑅_𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 = Resilient modulus of the granular layer, MPa
h = thickness of granular layer, mm
Poisson's ratio = 0.35.

Example: calculate the modulus of 400 mm thick granular layer over a subgrade of 10
% CBR.
Soln: 227.7 MPa

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

Determination of modulus of bituminous layer
Recommended resilient modulus values of the bituminous materials:

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

PRINCIPLES OF PAVEMENT DESIGN
Flexible pavement is modelled as an elastic multilayer structure.
Stress and strains at two critical locations are calculated:
1. Tensile strain (∈𝑡 ) at the bottom of bituminous layer (fatigue failure)
2. Compressive strain (∈𝑉 ) at the top of subgrade (rutting failure)

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

The limiting values of (∈𝑡 ) and (∈𝑣 ) for design traffic and layer configuration can
be calculated using the fatigue and rutting equations as follows
Fatigue Equation
1. 𝑁𝑓 = 2.21 × 10−4 ×[1 ∈𝑡]3.89 ×[1 𝑀𝑅]0.854 (80 percent reliability)
2. 𝑁𝑓 = 0.711 × 10−4 ×[1 ∈𝑡]3.89 ×[1 𝑀𝑅]0.854 (90 percent reliability)

Rutting Equation
1. 𝑁𝑟 = 4.1656 × 10−8 ×[1 ∈𝑉]4.5337 (80 percent reliability)
2. 𝑁𝑟 = 1.41 × 10−8 × [ 1 ∈𝑉]4.5337 (90 percent reliability)

Where,
𝑁𝑓 or 𝑁𝑟 = allowable number of standard axles, msa
∈𝑡 = Maximum tensile strain at the bottom of the bituminous layer, and
𝑀𝑅 = resilient modulus of the bituminous layer
∈𝑉 = Vertical strain in the subgrade

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012

Pavement design using design catalogue
For a given combinations of traffic, layer configuration and assumed material properties
the pavement composition can be adopted from design catalogue available in IRC: 37-2012
provided the assumed layer properties can be achieved in the field or CAN BE
COMPUTED USING LAYER PROGRAMS.

Pavement design as per IRC: 37-2012