9/2/2019 What is Road Camber - Types of Camber

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 April 22, 2016  Saujanya Nepal  Transportation 0

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We have seen almost all highways being raised in the middle portion of the road surface with respect
to the edges. This cross slope in the transverse direction is called as the Camber (or Cant). It is
generally provided with the sole purpose of draining the rain water from the road surface towards
the edges.

Other objectives of providing camber are:

Protection of the road surface, especially for gravel and bituminous roads by draining the
unwanted water as quickly as possible.
Protection of the subgrade by providing good drainage conditions.
For safety considerations, as wet pavement conditions are quite undesirable from safe driving
point of view.

The cross-section shape of the transverse or cross slope can be curved, straight or a combination of
both. The central part of the road which is raised is called the crown.

The cross slopes can be expressed in slope as 1 in n or in percentages as n% (for example, 1 in 50 or

2%). The design values of cambers mainly depend upon the type of the pavement and also on the
average amount of the rainfall in the area. Steep cambers are e ective in quick removal of surface
water but are undesirable as they will erode the surface. Generally, cambers of slope 2 to 3% are
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provided. On straight sections of roads, shoulders are provided withWhat is Road Camber - Types of Camber
higher cross fall than that of the
carriageway by 0.5%.

Values of cambers depending upon the type of pavement

Pavement type Cement Bituminous Gravelled Earthen

concrete

Camber, % 1.5 to 2% 2 to 3 % 4% 5%

Excessive camber should not be provided unnecessarily because of the following reasons:

Due to steep cross slope, most of the vehicles will have the tendency to move along the centre
line of the road, thus a ecting the road capacity.
Major accidents can be caused due to instability of highly loaded vehicles.
The edges will wear out faster than the central part.
Cross rots are formed.

Types of camber
There are generally three types of cambers provided along the road surface, namely straight line,
parabolic and composite cambers.

Straight line camber

These are provided with two equal uniform straight line slopes at both sides of the crown and are
also known as Plane cross slopes. They are generally adopted for very at slopes such as PCC or RCC
Pavement.

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 9/2/2019 What is Road Camber - Types of Camber

If w is the width of the pavement, n is the camber and R is the di erence of level between edge and
crown,

Also,

or,

Hence,

Parabolic Camber

In parabolic camber, the cross slope is in the shape of simple quadratic parabola. In this case, the
ordinate Y varies as the square of abscissa X (simple parabola equation).

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Parabolic cambers are designed for fast moving highways. A favourable condition for overtaking
operation is provided due to the curved cross slope. As the slope increases outward to the road edge,
the ow of surface water away from the pavement is enhanced. One disadvantage of parabolic
cambers is that they are very di cult to construct.

Composite camber

Composite camber may be composed of partly parabola and partly straight line or two straight lines
having di erent slopes. Generally central part of the road is made parabolic and provided with
straight slopes near edges. This helps to decrease in intensity of pressure by increasing the contact
area of the wheel.

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