Pavement Design

IRC:37-2018
Dr Veena Venudharan
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Palakkad

Short-term Course on Roadway Materials, Design and Construction, 27 - 30 Jan 2020

 IRC:37
Guidelines for the Design
of Flexible Pavements

2
IRC:37 - Over the years…
• 1970 - First set of guidelines
➢Based on CBR of subgrade and traffic in terms of commercial vehicles
• 1984 – 1st Revision
➢Concept of ESAL of 80 kN was introduced for estimating design traffic in millions of standard
axles (msa)
➢Design charts were provided up to 30 msa using an empirical approach
• 2001 - 2nd Revision
➢Used semi-mechanistic approach based on MORTH research scheme R-56
➢Multilayer elastic theory was adopted for stress analysis
➢Software program FPAVE was developed for analysis of flexible pavements
➢Development of fatigue & rutting criteria from field performance data based on various
research programs undertaken by Ministry

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IRC:37 - Over the years…
• 2012 - 3rd Revision
➢Alternate materials including cementitious and reclaimed asphalt pavement included
➢Pavement analysis using software IITPAVE
➢Distresses considered are: Rutting, Bottom-up Cracking, Top-down Cracking, Fatigue
Cracking in cementitious layers
➢Terminal conditions for rutting and fatigue cracking is narrower
➢Concept of perpetual pavements
• 2018 - 4th Revision
➢Better performing bituminous mixes & binders for surface & base/binder courses
➢Selection of appropriate elastic moduli for bituminous mixes
➢Estimation of the effective resilient modulus/CBR of subgrade
➢Use of geo-synthetics
➢Rationalization of design approach for stage construction
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Principle
• Safe & serviceable
• Capable of carrying loads coming on it
during the life period without unacceptable
levels of failures
• Failure in pavements is not sudden but
usually by gradual deterioration over time
• When the deterioration renders it
unserviceable to the users, the pavement is
assumed as failed
• Safety criteria in pavement design are
defined by serviceability thresholds
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Performance Criteria
• Subgrade rutting

• Fatigue cracking of bituminous layer

• Fatigue performance of Cement Treated Base

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Subgrade Rutting Criteria
• Critical rutting failure - Average rut depth of 20 mm or more along the
wheel path

𝑁𝑅 = 4.1656 × 10−8 1Τ𝜀𝑣 4.5337 (80% reliability)

𝑁𝑅 = 1.4100 × 10−8 1Τ𝜀𝑣 4.5337 (90% reliability)

Where,
NR = Subgrade rutting life
εv = Vertical compressive strain
Based on the MoRTH R-6 and R-56 research scheme
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Fatigue Cracking Criteria
• Critical fatigue failure - 20 % or more than the paved surface area
−4 1Τ 3.89 1 0.854
𝑁𝑓 = 1.6064 × 𝐶 × 10 ε𝑡 ൗ𝑀𝑅𝑚 (80% reliability)
−4 1 3.89 1 0.854
𝑁𝑓 = 0.5161 × 𝐶 × 10 Τε𝑡 ൗ𝑀𝑅𝑚 (90% reliability)
Where,
𝑉𝑏𝑒
𝐶= 10𝑀 , and 𝑀 = 4.84 − 0.69
𝑉𝑎 +𝑉𝑏𝑒
Va = Percent volume of air voids
Vbe = Percent volume of effective bitumen in the mix
Nf = Fatigue life of bituminous layer
MRm = Resilient modulus (MPa) of bituminous mix
Based on the MoRTH R-6 and R-56 research scheme
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Fatigue performance models for CTB
12
113000
0.804 + 191
𝑁 = 𝑅𝐹 𝐸
𝜀𝑡
Where,
RF = reliability factor for cementitious materials for failure against fatigue
= 1 for roads if the design traffic is more than 10 msa
= 2 for all other cases
N = number of standard axle load repetitions which the CTB can sustain
E = elastic modulus of CTB material (MPa)
εt = tensile strain at the bottom of the CTB layer (microstrain)

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Cumulative Fatigue Damage of CTB
𝜎𝑡
0.972 − ൗ𝑀
𝑅𝑢𝑝
log10 𝑁𝑓𝑖 =
0.0825
Where,
Nfi = Fatigue life of CTB material which is the maximum repetitions of axle
load class ‘i’
σt = tensile stress at the bottom of CTB layer for the given axle load class
MRup = 28-day flexural strength of the cementitious base
σt/MRup = Stress Ratio
𝑛𝑖
𝐶𝐹𝐷 = ෍
𝑁𝑓𝑖
ni = expected repetitions of axle load of class 'i'
Nfi = fatigue life or maximum number of load repetitions the CTB layer would sustain
if only axle load of class 'i' were to be applied

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Reliability of Performance Criteria
• 90% reliability performance equations for subgrade rutting & fatigue

cracking of bottom bituminous layer for Expressways, National Highways,

State Highways & Urban Roads

• For other categories of roads:

• 90 % reliability for design traffic ≥ 20 msa

• 80 % reliability for design traffic < 20 msa

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Standard Conditions for Pavement Analysis

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Critical Locations

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Critical Locations

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Design Traffic
• Traffic Growth Rate, r
• Design Period, n
• Vehicle Damage Factor, F
• Lateral Distribution Factor, D
365 × 1 + 𝑟 𝑛 − 1
𝑁𝐷𝑒𝑠 = ×𝐴×𝐷×𝐹
𝑟
Where,
𝐴 =𝑃 1+𝑟 𝑥
P = number of commercial vehicles per day as per last count
x = number of years between the last count and the year of completion of
construction

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Pavement Composition
• Three functional layers above subgrade:
• Sub-base
• Base
• Bituminous layers
• Sub-base & base can be (a) granular, (b) cement treated or (c) a
combination of both
• Base layer may be foam bitumen or emulsion treated granular/RAP or
combination of RAP & aggregate layer
• CTB is used, a crack relief layer is to be mandatorily provided

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Subgrade
• Top 500 mm of the prepared foundation layer immediately below
pavement
• Compacted to attain a minimum of 97 per cent of the laboratory maximum
dry density obtained corresponding to heavy compaction
𝑀𝑅𝑆 = 10 × 𝐶𝐵𝑅
𝑀𝑅𝑆 = 17.6 × 𝐶𝐵𝑅 0.64
Where,
MRS = Resilient modulus of subgrade soil (in MPa)
CBR = California bearing ratio of subgrade soil (%)

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Effective CBR for Design
• Effective CBR is equivalent CBR of a single layer to the combination of the
subgrade layer(s) and/or embankment layer

2 1 − 𝜇2 𝑝𝑎
𝑀𝑅𝑆 =
𝛿
Where,
p = contact pressure = 0.56 MPa
a = radius of circular contact area = 150.8 mm, (for Load = 40 kN & contact
pressure = 0.56 MPa)
μ = Poisson's ratio = 0.35
• 90th percentile CBR - traffic > 20 msa
• 80th percentile CBR - traffic < 20 msa

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Sub-base
• Functions:
• to provide a strong support for the compaction of the granular base
• to protect the subgrade from overstressing
• To serve as drainage and filter layers
• Minimum thickness:
• Drainage as well as filter layer shall be 100 mm
• filter-cum-drainage layer shall be 150 mm
𝑀𝑅𝐺𝑅𝐴𝑁 = 0.2ℎ0.45 𝑀𝑅𝑆𝑈𝑃𝑃𝑂𝑅𝑇
Where,
h = thickness of granular layer in mm
MRGRAN = resilient modulus of the granular layer (MPa)
MRSUPPORT = (effective) resilient modulus of the supporting layer (MPa)

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Base
• Combined resilient modulus of GSB & granular base - IITPAVE
• Cement Treated Base
• minimum UCS of 4.5 to 7 MPa in 7/28 days
• maximum flexural strength: (i) Cementitious stabilized aggregates - 1.40 MPa, (ii) Lime-
flyash-soil - 1.05 MPa, & (iii) Soil-cement - 0.70 MPa
• Crack Relief Layer
• dense-graded crushed aggregates of 100 mm thickness
• SAMI - elastomeric modified binder applied at rate of 10 - 12 kg/10 m2 covered with 0.1 m3
of 11.2 mm aggregates
• Bitumen Emulsion/Foamed Bitumen Treated RAP Base
• minimum thickness of 100 mm
• resilient modulus ~ 800 MPa

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Bituminous Layers

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Resilient Modulus of Bituminous Mixes

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Design Procedure
1. Selecting a trial composition
2. Bituminous mix design and the mix resilient modulus
3. Selecting layer thickness
4. Structural analysis of the selected pavement structure
5. Computing the allowable strains/stresses
6. Doing the iterations
7. Check for cumulative fatigue damage for CTB

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Design Procedure
MR calculations for
Traffic Reliability
Base & Subbase

Geotextile is used -
Modulus calculation
as per IRC SP 59
Assume Pavement
thickness for each MR of BT layer for Binder selection for
layer following min Temperature given traffic
thickness criteria

Check for Adequacy Change Thickness if

Design Thickness
for GSB & CTB if any, not adequate &
Check for Rutting &
for Construction Change Moduli
Fatigue in BT Layer
traffic accordingly

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