Road Pavements

Design, Types, Comparison

Primary Role of Road

Pavement
Provide friction
Distribute stresses to underlying soils

Thickness of Road depends

on
Vehicle wheel load or axle load.
Configuration of vehicle wheels or tracks.
Volume of traffic during the design life of
pavement.
Soil strength.
Modulus of rupture (flexural strength) for
concrete pavements.

Design Process
Foundation Design
Thickness Design

Different kinds of
Pavements

Flexible

Different kinds of
Pavements

Perpetual Pavement

Different kinds of
Pavements

Rigid

Different kinds of
Pavements

Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement

(CRCP)

Different kinds of
Pavements

Concrete Pavement Contraction Design

(CPCD)

Different kinds of
Pavements

Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement

(JRCP)

Post-tensioned Concrete Pavements

(Prestressed Concrete)

Composite Pavement

Flexible & Rigid Pavements Characteristic

Different manner in distributing traffic loads

over the subgrade
Rigid Pavement is very high in stiffness and
distributes loads over a relatively wide area
of subgrade
Flexible Pavement is less in stiffness and
absorbs the loads effectively but with
narrow distribution of load in subgrade

The fundamental difference

between a flexible, semi-rigid,
andrigid pavement

load distribution over the subgrade

The rigid and semi-rigid pavement has a higher
composite modulus of elasticity than a flexible
pavement and begins to resemble the rigid
structure in terms of how the traffic loads are
distributed over the subgrade.

Flexible Pavement
Made from several layer of materials that
receives loads from above layer, spreads
and passes the loads to the bottom layer to
reduce the stress
Hot Mixed Asphalt (HMA) is the specific
material used by flexible or semi-rigid
pavements

Types of Hot Mix Asphalt-Surfaced Pavements

These pavements may generally be placed into one of the

following categories:
surface-treatment on a granular base
thin hot mix asphalt concrete (< 2 in.) on a granular base
intermediate hot mix asphalt concrete (2 - 5 in.) on a granular
base
thick hot mix asphalt concrete (> 5 in.) (semi-rigid)
thin hot mix asphalt concrete on a chemically stabilized base
or subbase (semi-rigid)
thin hot mix asphalt on an asphaltic bound base (semi-rigid).
Stabilization of the subgrade layer can apply to any of the
above pavement types. Typical stabilizers include asphalt
cement (for base only), lime,cement, fly ash, or lime-fly ash
combinations.

Primary composition of Flexible

Pavement

Surface course -This is the top layer and the

layer that comes in contact with traffic. It
may be composed of one or several different
HMA sublayers.
Base course -This is the layer directly below
the HMA layer and generally consists
ofaggregate(either stabilized or
unstabilized).
Subbase course -This is the layer (or layers)
under the base layer. A subbase is not always
needed.

Flexible Pavement

Layers are arranged in the order of

descending load bearing capacity with the
highest load bearing capacity material (and
most expensive) on the top and the lowest
load bearing capacity material (and least
expensive) on the bottom.

Flexible Pavement

Progressively better materials are used in

the upper structure to resist higher nearsurface stress conditions caused by traffic
wheel loads including, all-weather surface
that is resistant to erosion by the
environment and traffic action.

Flexible Pavement
The bituminous surface layer is also
resistant to fatigue damage and stable
under traffic loads
whenpavementtemperatures are in excess
of 150F (65.56C).
Flexible pavement is commonly used in
freeway and runway due to its high
maintenance and low life span.

The elements contributing to

the higher modulus:
1. Increased thickness in asphalt concrete
2. Chemical stabilization of the base,
subbase, and/or subgrade layers.
3. Asphalt stabilization of the base course.

The higher modulus adds to the structural

capacity of the pavement layers.As a
result, the load is distributed over a wider
area of the subgrade

Rigid Pavement

Rigid pavements are rigid, they do not flex

much under loading like flexible pavements.
They are constructed using cement
concrete. In this case, the load carrying
capacity is mainly due to the rigidity ad
high modulus of elasticity of the slab (slab
action).

Rigid Pavement

Different rigid pavement types use different

types of joints and reinforcement to control
the forces acting on the concrete pavement.
These forces include curing shrinkage of the
concrete, environment changes and traffic
loads. Forces in the concrete pavement will
cause cracks to form without traffic.

Continuously Reinforced
Concreted Pavement (CRCP)

Two types of concrete

pavements commonly used
b. Jointed concrete pavement (JCP) - has
transverse joints spaced at regular intervals
The transverse joints are used to control
temperature induced contraction and
expansion in the concrete.
Smooth dowel bars are used at the
transverse joints for load transfer.
The transverse joints are spaced at 15 ft

Continuously Reinforced
Concreted Pavement (CRCP)

Longitudinal joints are used to control

random longitudinal cracking. Longitudinal
joints are tied together with tie bars.

Selection of Rigid Pavement Type

for roadways controlled and maintained by
another government entity
for aesthetic reasons where pedestrian
traffic might interpret the randomly spaced
cracks of CRCP with premature failure
for parking areas or roadways with
crosswalks, adjacent parking, or sidewalks

Selection of Rigid Pavement

Type

for railroad crossings, approaches to structures

or to widen existing jointed pavement
for intersections and approaches in flexible
pavement roadways that are associated with
vehicle braking and acceleration which could
cause shoving and rutting of an asphalt
pavement
for other situations approved by the
Administration, after submittal of request and
justification to the Materials & Pavements
Section of the Construction Division (CST-M&P).

Performance Period
The initial pavement structure shall be
designed and analyzed for a performance
period of 30 yr.
A performance period other than 30 yr. may
be utilized with justifications. For example,
an existing pavement to be widened will be
completely reconstructed within 15 yr. In
this case, a selection of a 15-yr.
performance period is more reasonable and
justifiable for the widening.

Design
Many pavement design procedures use an
empirical approach. This means that the
relationship between design inputs (e.g., loads,
materials, layer configurations and environment)
and pavement failure were arrived at through
experience, experimentation or a combination of
both.
Empirical design methods can range from
extremely simple to quite complex. The simplest
approaches specify pavement structural designs
based on what has worked in the past.

Runway Design
Types, Dimensions,
Marking, Section, Lightings

Airport Layout And Design

Runway Design
Runway Length and Width
Runway Shoulders
Safety areas
Taxiway Design
Taxiway Width
Shoulders
Wing Tip Clearance / Safety Areas
Location of Hold Bars

Airport Layout And Design

Three types of runways

Visual runways
Non-precision instrument runways
Precision instrument runways

Visual runways

used at small airstrips and are usually just a

strip of grass, gravel, asphalt or concrete
there are usually no markings on a visual
runway, they may have threshold markings,
designators, and centerlines
do not provide an instrument-based landing
procedure; pilots must be able to see the
runway to use it. Also, radio communication
may not be available and pilots must be
self-reliant

Non-precision instrument
runways
often used at small- to medium-size airports
may be marked with threshold markings,
designators, centerlines, and sometimes a
1,000ft (305m) mark, known as an aiming
point, sometimes installed at 1,500ft
(457m).
provide horizontal position guidance to planes
on instrument approach viaNon-directional
beacon(NDB),VHF omnidirectional
range(VOR),Global Positioning System, etc.

Precision instrument
runways
found at medium- and large-size airports
consist of a blast pad/stopway (optional, for
airports handling jets), threshold,
designator, centerline, aiming point, and
500ft (152m), 1,000ft (305m)/1,500ft
(457m), 2,000ft (610m), 2,500ft (762m),
and 3,000ft (914m) touchdown zone marks
Precision runways provide both horizontal
and vertical guidance for instrument
approaches.

Graded Runway

Each runway is bounded on the sides and

ends by a prepared graded area
provided to prevent catastrophic damage to
aircraft leaving the runway sides and to
protect aircraft that overfly the runway at
very low altitudes during a balked approach
to landing

Graded Runway

The graded area at the end of the runway is

not considered as normal stopway for
accelerate-to-stop calculations except
where it has been declared as such, and is
properly surfaced and kept free of snow

Runway Pavement Design

Pavement - surfaced area designed to carry

aircraft traffic and includes the entire
pavement system structure above the
subgrade. All slabs on grade required to
support aircraft loadings, whether interior
(hangar floors) or exterior, are to be
considered airfield pavements.

Pavement
prepared and maintained to maximize
friction for wheel braking
pavement surface is usually grooved so that
the surface water film flows into the
grooves and the peaks between grooves will
still be in contact with the aircraft tires to
minimize hydroplaning following heavy rain

Pavement

Pavement
choice of material used to construct the
runway depends on the use and the local
ground conditions
major airport where the ground conditions
permit, the most satisfactory type of
pavement for long-term minimum
maintenance isconcrete

Pavement

airports have used reinforcement in

concrete pavements, this is generally found
to be unnecessary, with the exception of
expansionacross the runway where
adowelassembly, which permits relative
movement of the concrete slabs, is placed
in the concrete

Pavement

For pavement designs, borings are taken to

determine the subgrade condition, and
based on the relativebearing capacityof
the subgrade, the specifications are
established. For heavy-duty commercial
aircraft, the pavement thickness, no matter
what the top surface, varies from 10in
(250mm) to 4ft (1m), including subgrade.

Types of Runway Pavement

Flexible Pavement
Rigid Pavement

Flexible Pavement
designated due to their flexibility under load
and their ability to withstand small degrees
of deformation
on the requirement to limit the deflections
under load and to reduce the stresses
transmitted to the natural subsoil

Flexible Pavement

The principal components of the pavement

include a bituminous concrete surface,
graded crushed aggregate base course,
stabilized material, drainage layer,
separation layer, and subbase courses

Flexible Pavement
Flexible pavement must be limited to those
pavement areas not subjected to
detrimental effects of fuel spillage, severe
jet blast, or parked aircraft
Jet blast damages bituminous pavements
when the intense heat is allowed to impinge
in one area long enough to burn or soften
the bitumen so that the blast erodes the
pavement

Flexible Pavement

Flexible pavements are generally

satisfactory for runway interiors, secondary
taxiways, shoulders, paved portions of
overruns, or other areas not specifically
required to have a rigid pavement surfacing

Rigid Pavement
Considered to be any pavement system that
contains portland cement concrete as one
element
Transfer the load to the subgrade by
bending or slab action through tensile
forces as opposed to shear forces

Rigid Pavement

Types of Rigid Pavement

Plain concrete pavement - nonreinforced

jointed rigid pavement

Reinforced concrete pavement - jointed

rigid pavement that has been strengthened
with deformed bars or welded wire fabric

Types of Rigid Pavement

Continuously reinforced concrete pavement

- constructed without joints and uses
reinforcing steel to maintain structural
integrity across contraction cracks that form
in the pavement

Prestressed concrete pavement as been

strengthened by the application of a
significant horizontally applied compressive
stress during construction

Plain concrete pavement

Continuously reinforced
concrete pavement

Prestressed concrete
pavement

Rigid Pavements in parts of the

runway
all paved areas on which aircraft or
helicopters are regularly parked,
maintained, serviced, or preflight checked
hangar floors and access aprons
on runway ends of a Class B runway
primary taxiways for Class B runways
hazardous cargo, power check, compass
calibration, warmup, alert, arm/disarm,
holding, and washrack pads

Rigid Pavements in parts of the

runway
Pavement intersection (where sustained
operations of aircraft/vehicles with tire
pressures in excess of 2.06 MPa (300 psi)
occur)
Any area where it can be documented that
flexible pavement will be damaged by jet
blast or by spillage of fuel or hydraulic fluid
The type of pavement to be used on all
other paved areas will be selected on the
basis of life cycle costs

Runway Pavement Surface Type

Description from Boeing
Macadam
Gravel runway
Flexible Pavement
Rigid Pavement
Seal Coat
Slurry Seal

Soil Stabilization
Soils used in pavements may be stabilized
or modified through the addition of
chemicals or bitumens
Improved load-carrying and durability
characteristics through the addition of
admixtures

Soil Stabilization
Reduction in pavement thickness, provision
of a construction platform, decreased swell
potential, and reduction of the susceptibility
to pumping as well as the susceptibility to
strength loss due to moisture
Lime, cement, and fly ash, or any
combination of these, and bitumen are the
commonly used additives

Dimension Estimation Procedures

Runway is dimensioned to accommodate

the aircraft considered to be the most
critical aircraft that is anticipated to utilize
the runways most frequently
The runway width is increased to a
maximum of 200ftas a function of length.

Thickness of the Runway

The development of thepavement
designproceeds along a number of paths
Exploratory borings are taken to determine
thesubgradecondition, and based upon
relative bearing capacity of the subgrade,
different pavement specifications are
established

Thickness of the Runway

For heavy-duty commercial aircraft,

thepavement thickness, no matter what
the top surface, varies from as little as 10
inches (25 centimetres) to as much as 4 ft
(1 m), including subgrade

Width of the Runway

There really is no standard width, it is based
on the critical aircraft (the largest aircraft
that will regularly use the airport)
Most international airports have a runway
60m wide

Lenght of the Runaway

Length is based on physical constraints
and/or length required for the critical
aircraft
Typical runway lengths can vary from 6,000'
to over 11,000. Smaller airports are usually
5,000' or less.

Runway Markings

Runway Markings
Each runway is labelled with seemingly
random combination of alphanumeric
Main runways are usually oriented to line up
with the prevailing wind patterns so that
airplanes can take-off into the wind and
land with it

Air Traffic Controller

Runway Markings

Larger runways have a distance remaining

sign (black box with white numbers). This
sign uses a single number to indicate the
thousands of feet remaining, so 7 will
indicate 7,000ft (2,134m) remaining. The
runway threshold is marked by a line of
green lights.

Runway Sections

The area marked with yellow chevrons (V

shapes) are the blast pads, also referred to
as overrun areas or stopways

Runway Sections

Blast pads (overrun areas or stopways) constructed before the start of a runway to
reduce the erosion of earth by the jet blast
produced by large planes when they power
up for take-off. (theGE90-115Bfound on all
Boeing 777-300ERs produces over 115,000
lbs of force at full power)

Runway Sections
The threshold is essentially the start or end
of the actual runway itself.
The touchdown zone is the target area for
pilots to stick the wheels of their aircraft on
to the runway.

Runway Sections
A displaced threshold is a runway threshold
located at a point other than the physical
beginning or end of the runway.
Displaced thresholds are marked with V
head arrow marks before the threshold of
the runway.

Empirical Formula
PSI

4.2 1.5

Z R S o 9.36 log 10 SN 1 0.20

2.32 log 10 M R 8.07
1094
0.40
SN 1 5.19

log 10 W18

log 10

W18 = Predicted number of 80 kN (18,000 lb.) ESALs

ZR = standard normal deviate
So = combined standard error of the traffic prediction and performance prediction
SN = Structural Number (an index that is indicative of the total pavement thickness required) (SN = a 1D1
+ a2D2m2 + a3D3m3+...)
ai = ith layer coefficient

Di = ith layer thickness (inches)

mi = ith layer drainage coefficient

DPSI = difference between the initial design serviceability index, po, and the design terminal
serviceability index, pt
MR = subgrade resilient modulus (in psi)

Boussinesq Method

By Joseph Valentin
Boussinesq

March 13, 1842

February 19, 1929

Was a French
mathematician and
physicist

From 1872 to 1886, he was appointed professor at

Faculty of Sciences of Lille, lecturing differential and integral
calculus atInstitut industriel du Nord(cole centrale de Lille).

From 1896 to his retirement in 1918, he was professor of

mechanics atFaculty of Sciences of Paris.

In 1871, Boussinesq published the first mathematical theory

to support Russell's experimental observation.

In 1876,Lord Rayleighpublished his mathematical theory to

support Russell's experimental observation.

In 1897 he publishedThorie de l' coulement tourbillonnant

et tumultueux des liquides,a work that greatly contributed to
the study of turbulence and hydrodynamics.

78

Stresses in a Soil Mass

When soil is subjected to a vertical load, such as
a foundation, stresses are created in the soil
The stresses spread laterally with depth
As you go deeper, the stress decreases but
affects a larger plan area
For example a 5 x 5 footing at z=0 exerts a
stress of 2000 psf over the 5x5 area
At z=5, the stress is may only be 1000psf, but
over an area of 10x10
(numbers only an example, actual calculated stresses will be different)
79

Stresses in a Soil Mass

In simpler terms:
Load P over area A results in stress q
With depth
P stays the same
A increases
q decreases
P

Area A
P/A=q (psf)

A increases, P stays
the same, q decreases

80

Stresses in a Soil Mass

Boussinesq Case
Boussinesq developed an equation to model stress
distribution with depth for a homogeneous, isotropic
material (modulus of elasticity and poissons ratio
constant in all directions)
For point load Q, stress at A at depth z
and lateral distance r from Q is:

Q (load)
z

v = Change in vertical stress

v = (Q/z2) * 3 /( 2[1+(r/z)2]5/2)
Max at r = 0
81

Stresses in a Soil Mass

A point load is never encountered in practice
The Boussinesq equation for a point load must
be converted to a load over an area:
Isolated footing
Perimeter footing
Slab
Using the following:
m = B/z (B is always the short dimension)
n = L/z (L is always the long dimension)
IR vertical stress under a uniformly loaded
rectangular area
82

Stresses in a Soil Mass

Example:
A load of 125,000 lbs is placed on a footing
The footing is 5 x 5
Find the stress below the center of the
footing at z = 5
q = Q/A = 125,000/25 = 5000psf
m = L/z = 5/5 = 1
n = B/z = 5/5 = 1
IR = 0.1752
v = 0.1752 * 5000 = 876 psf

83

84

1.

CIRCULAR AREA

v on the axis of a circular area loaded by a uniform vertical loading q

is given by

v
85

Washington State Tire and Axle Load

Limits
Item

Limit

Tire Load

105 N/mm (600 lb/inch)

of tire width

Single Axle

89 kN
(20,000 lbs)

Tandem Axle

151 kN
(34,000 lbs)

Gross Vehicle Weight

469 kN
(105,500 lbs)

86

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