HIGHWAY

CONSTRUCTION
IRC: 58 - 2002, Guidelines for the
design of Plain Jointed Rigid
Pavements for Highways IRC: 15 2002, Code of practice for
Construction of Cement Concrete
Roads
IRC: 44 - 2008, Guidelines
for
cement
concretemix design for pavements

IRC:SP 62 2004, Guidelines for

design of CC roads for Rural Roads

Types of Pavements

HIGHWAY
CONSTRUCTIONS
Pavement Design

Pavement means surfacing

layer only.
In terms of highway design,
it
means the total thickness of road
including surfacing , base &
subbase, if any.

 Thus pavement includes all the

structural layers of road structure
lying on subgrade of the road

Parameters for Design of

Pavements
Design of
mainly
two
aspects

pavements
consists

1.Design mix of materials

2.pavement thickness

of

Factors for Design of

Pavements
Following factors are responsible for pavement
design
1. Climate : rainfall, Temp, Frost action
2. Environment : Ht of embankment, foundation
cutting
3. Geometry:
4. Pavement
materials: they
have
to
resist
climatic
conditions ,durability, maintenance.
5. Subgrade Soil : decides thickness of pavement

6. Traffic : Repetitions,
Speed,
Wheel
Loads , contact pressure, volume of traffic ,
no of vehicles/day .

Design Approach for rigid

Pavements
Variables for design
1. Wheel Loads
2. Traffic
3. Climate
4. Terrain
5. Subgrade conditions
6. Properties of Cement Concrete

Flexible

Rigid

Longitudinal joint

Surface smoothness
or rideabili

Thickness Design

Transverse joi
Surface T xture

Concrete materials
Dowel bars

Tiebar
Subgrad
Subbase or ba

Properties
Design
Principle
Material

Flexible
Empirical method
Based on load distribution
characteristics
of
the
components
Granular material

Flexural
Strength

Low or negligible flexible

strength

Normal
Loading
Excessive
Loading
Stress

Elastic deformation

Made of Cement Concrete either

plan, reinforced or prestressed
concrete
Associated
with rigidity or flexural
strength or slab action so the load is
distributed over a wide area of subgrade
soil. as beam or cantilever
Acts

Local depression

Causes Cracks

Transmits vertical and

compressive stresses to the
lower layers

Tensile Stress and Temperature Increases

Design
Practice

Constructed in number of
layers.

Laid in slabs with steel reinforcement.

Temperature
Force of
Friction

No stress is produced
Less. Deformation in the
sub grade is not transferred
to the upper layers.
Road can be used for traffic
within 24 hours
Rolling of the surfacing is
needed

Stress is produced
Friction force is High

Opening to
Traffic
Surfacing

Rigid
Designed and analyzed by using the
elastic theory

Road cannot be used until 14 days of curing

Rolling of the surfacing in not needed.

Components of CC
pavement

Types of Rigid
Pavements

1. Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP)

No temperature steel
2. Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement (JRCP)
Temperature steel placed at mid height and
discontinued at the joints
3. Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement
(CRCP)
Not popular in India very costly
4. Prestressed Concrete Pavement (PCP)
Not popular

Design Approach for rigid

Pavements
Cement Concrete roads provides a highly

rigid surface and hence for the success

of such roads, following two conditions
should be satisfied
1. They should rest on non- rigid surface
having uniform bearing capacity.
2. The total thickness or depth of the
concrete pavement & the non rigid base
should be sufficient to distribute the
wheel load on a sufficient area of
subbase so that the pressure on unit

Design Approach for rigid

area remains with the permissible SBC
Pavements
of the soil.

 Concrete slab has high modulus of

elasticity, high rigidity & flexural
strength,
so
wheel
loads
are
distributed
over
large
areas
of
Subgrade . This leads to small
deflections and also leads compressive
stresses imposed on the Subgrade.
This leads to fatigue damage in concrete
slab in form of development of micro
cracks, due to repeated application of
traffic loads.

 This is arrested by
limiting
flexural stresses and
increasing the Concrete mix grade.

Design Steps (
parameters )
1.

2.

3.
4.
5.
6.

Traffic parameters : Design Wheel load,

Traffic intensity
Environmental parameters : temp
differential ( CRRI
table)
Foundation strength k ( modulus of subgrade
reaction )
Foundation surface characteristics ( As per
IRC )
Concrete characteristics ( IRC :58-1988 )
Modulus of elasticity

7. Coefficient of thermal expansion.

8. Design slab thickness

Purpose of joints in
Concrete Roads
1. To absorb expansion & contraction due to
variation in temperature. ( horizontal
movements of slabs)
2. To avoid warping of slab edges
3. To grant facility in construction .

TYPES OF JOINTS
Concrete pavements are provided s
with Joint in Transverse &
Longitudinal directions whic are
h
classified as
a) CONTRACTION JOINTS
b) EXPANSION JOINTS
d) CONSTRUCTION JOINTS

CONTRACTION JOINTS
These are purposely
made
weakened
planes which relieve
the tensile stresses in the concrete
Caused dueto changes in the
moisture
content
(Drying shrinkage) and/or temperature
and
Prevent the formation of
irregular
cracks
due
to
restraint in free contraction of concrete .
They are also provided to
1))Relieve stresses due to warping
2)To permit the contraction of the slab

Details of the contraction joints are

given in
IRC:SP 62
They are formed initially by sawing a groove
of 3-5 mm with up to about one-fourth to
one-third the slab Details of the contraction
joints are given in IRC:SP 62. They are
formed initially by sawing a groove of 3-5
mm with up to about one-fourth to one-third
the slab thicknesses. This facilitates the
formation of a natural crack at this location
extending to the full depth.
In order to seal
the joint, the top 10-20
mm of this
groove is widened to 610 mm.
Spacing of contraction joints may be kept at
2.50m to 3.75m.

 Length of panel
than width of
panel.

shall

not

be

more

LONGITUDINAL JOINTS

Lanes are jointed together by joint known as Longitudinal joint

Longitudinal joints are provided in multilane pavements and

also when the pavement is more than 4.5 m wide.

They are provided normally at 3.5m c/c to

1) Relieve stresses due to warping.

2) To allow differential shrinkage & swelling due to changes

of sub grade moisture

3) To prevent longitudinal cracking

Procedure of construction

Initially joint is cut to a depth 1/3rd slab Initially joint is cut to a

depth 1/3rd slab thick 5mm. Tie bars are provided at the
joints not for load transference but for keeping the adjoining
slabs together. The details of such joints are given in IRC:SP
62.

The top 15-20 mm of the joint is sawn to a width of 6-8 mm for

sealing

Expansion joints

There are full-depth joints provided transversely into which

pavement can expand, thus relieving compressive stresses
due to expansion of concrete slabs, and preventing any
tendency towards distortion, buckling, blow-up and spalling.
The current practice is to provide these joints only when
concrete slab
abuts with bridge or culvert.
They allow expansion of slabs due to temperature
They permit contraction of slabs Normal Details of these joints
are given in
IRC:SP62.
They are about 20 mm in width
A joint filler board of compressible material conforming to
IRC:SP:62 is used to fill the gap between the adjacent slabs
at the
joint.

The height of the filler board is such thatits top is 23-25mm

below the surface of the pavement.
The joint groove is filled by a sealant .

I'.xpansitn Joint
lJowls: 25icicdia., 500nini long and spad at
250irm 'c
nGW, L CAP FILLEO WITH

EXPANSION J/3tNf WITH BOWEL

Filler

h/2

No bond

Ful bond

Construction joints
The need for such joint arises when construction
work is required to be stopped at a place other
than the location of contraction or an expansion
joint, due to some breakdown of the machinery or
any other reason.
Such jointsare of butt type and extend to the
full depth of the pavement.
The sealing of such joints shall be done in the
same manner as for contraction joints, by cutting
a groove 10-12 mm wide and 20-25 mm deep.
Generally, such joints are avoided in
highways. The work is normally terminated at a
contraction or expansion joint

e de d Te perature

Re

ihere

a S pe RC 5 62

aS

5 abs

Or

Onrete

04

Tem perature Differential,

in Slabs of Thickness

Zone

15

Stages
Punjab, U.P. Ra jasthan, Haryana and Noah |

20
|

25

30

M.P. excluding hilly regions and coastal | 12.5 | 13.1 | 14.3 | 15.8

areas

Bihar,WestBengalAssamandEastern |
|
|
2] Orrisa excluding hilly regions and coastal | 15.6 |16.4 |16.6|16.8
shtra

Pradesh, Western
Naduexcludingh

re

Kerala

Ta
asta

re

th M Andhra
North Tamil 7.3
1
and coastal
udi

hill
y

I alal arta bvndt y hills

I eaaaI area nbevnde y hills

5.0

19.0

20.3

2 0

16.4

17.

18 1

| 14.6 | 15.8 | 16.2 | 17.0

| 15.5 | 17.0 | 19.0 | 19.2

JOINT
FILLER
Joint spaces are first filled with
compressible filler materials and top
of the joints are sealed using sealer
Joint filler should possess following
properties o Compressibility
o Elasticity i.e they should be capable of
regaining
their shape when compression is
released

o Durability

Load Transfer at Transverse

Joints
IRC:58-2001

had
adopted
equations
developed by Friberg for analyzing long
beam on elastic foundation (bar embedded in
concrete) , for computation of maximum
bending stress in the dowel bar & max
bearing stress in concrete .
High bearing stress on the concrete
surrounding the dowel bar can fracture the
same, leading to the looseness of the dowel
bar and the deterioration of the transfer
system leading to faulting of the slab.
The dowel bars are installed at a suitable
spacing across the joints and the system is
assumed to transfer 40% of the wheel load.

TYPES OF SEALANTS
Hot
poured
rubberized
Asphalts (Thermoplastic type)
Cold applied poly sulphide sealants
Cold silicone Sealants

Cleaning of Longitudinal
Joint

Fixing of Back up Rod after

Initial Cut

Widened Groove after 14

days

Finished PQC surface with

Sealed Joints

Desirable Properties of Soil as

Subgrade Material

Stability
Incompressibility
Permanency of strength
Minimum changes in volume and
stability under adverse condition
of weather and ground water
Good drainage
Ease of compaction

Cements that can be used as per

IRC: 44-2008
Any of the following types of cements
capable of achieving the design strength
and durability may be used with the
prior approval of the Engineer.
1.Ordinary Portland Cement, 33 grade, IS:
269
2.Ordinary Portland Cement, 43 grade, IS:
8112
3.Ordinary Portland Cement, 53 grade, IS:
12269

4.Portland Pozzalona
Cement
(fly
ash
based, IS: 1489, part1
5.Portland Slag Cement, IS: 455

Physica terc
ara

requireme

ay

43

600

ess

ma

of cemen

Req rements 0f ne Ag regate pe Tabe 1000 0f

as
383
0RT&H 0 table 4
0f
IS
Sieve

Grading

10mm

75mlo0n S sle
85 100

8m

sand.
It shall not be

case of crushed
sand.

Fly ash can be as a partial

replacement of
cement (OPC) up to an extent of
35%.
Fly ash for blending shall satisfy the
following
Properties conforming to IS:38122004

Advantages in adding
Fly Ash
a)Increases CSH ( Calcium Silicate
Hydrate) volume
b)Denser CSH formed by secondary
reaction
c) Better Pore structure and composition
d)Low heat of hydration
e)Resistance to adverse exposure
conditions

Reaction when Fly Ash is

added: CS + H CSH +
CaOH
CaOH + Fly Ash CSH (cementing gel)

Design Approach for Flexible

Pavements
Traffic is considered in terms of the
cumulative number of standard axles
(8160 kg) to be carried by the
pavement during the design life
For estimating the design traffic, the
following Information is needed:
1. Initial traffic after construction (CVPD)
2. Traffic growth rate during the design
life

3. By studying the past trends of traffic

growth
4. As per the econometric procedure
outlined in
IRC:108

Design Approach for Flexible

Bituminous paving mixes.
Following factors are involved in
design of
bituminous paving mixes
1. Durability
2. fatigue resistance
3. flexibility
4. fracture or tensile strength
5. permeability
6. Skid resistance
7. Thermal characteristics

Mix Design Methods

1. Marshall method of Mix Design
2. Hveem method of Mix design

Design Approach for Flexible

Marshall method of Mix Design

Stability Flow Test

Max load resistance that a Std specimen will develop

Flow is measured as a deformation or total amount in unit

 Marshall method of Mix Design

criteria
Test Property

Category of traffic
Heavy

Stability kg Min 340

Flow value
(0.25 mm)

8 to 16

Medium

Light

230

230

8 to 16

8 to 20

3 to 5

3 to 5

% Voids
a) For surfacing 3 to 5

b) For base
course

3 to 5

3 to 8

3 to 8

Design Approach for Flexible

Hveem method of Mix
design
This method of mix design starts
with obtaining an estimate of
optimum bitumen content by use of
Centrifuge Kerosene equivalent (
C.K.E)
The % of kerosene retained in the
aggregate after being soaked and
centrifuged as a specified is called
C.K.E value & charts are available to

Design Approach for Flexible

find out the optimum
content from C.K.E value

bitumen

Design Approach for Flexible

Hveem method of Mix design
It consists of 3 tests on bituminous samples of 100
mm diameter &
63.50 mm ht. Each specimen is tested for subsequent
tests
Following tests are conducted
1. Swell Test
100 mm dia
2. Stabilometer Test
3. Cohesive meter Test

Swell should not be < 0.76 mm

63.50
mm
Stabilometer values for light, medium, heavy should
be 30,35 & 67 respectively
Cohesive meter value should not be more than 50

Design Approach for Flexible

Air voids % should have minimum value of 4%

Design Approach for Flexible

Pavements

Methods of Design

Group Index Method ( G I )

California Bearing ratio ( C B R ) Method

Design Approach for Flexible

Group Index Method
GI is a arbitrary index given to the
type of soil and is based on % of
fines ,liquid limit, and plasticity index
of the soils
GI values range from 0 to 20
Greater GI value, poorer the soil

Group Index Method

Volume of traffic is divided as
below

Very light

Less than 50 vehicles per day

Light

50-250 vehicles per day

Medium

250-500 vehicles per day

Heavy

500-750 vehicles per day

Very heavy

750-1000 vehicles per day

Group Index Method

Depending upon G I grading of soil ,
daily volume of the traffic, thickness
of surface, base, & subbase are
designed as per the chart below

California Bearing Ratio

Method
GI method does not take in
account
characteristics of the pavement
material , So
I.R.C has recommended
CBR
method
for design of
flexible pavements

California Bearing Ratio Method

CBR test : It is a property of a grade soil which is measured by an
test designed by California State highways USA. It has been
standardized by IS also.

It is made on the sample of subgrade soil in a standard loading

device which measures the load required to cause 2.5 mm
penetration of the plunger having cross section area 1690 Sq.mm
The plunger is made to penetrate the sample, at a rate of
1.25mm/min unit a penetration of 2.5 mm is obtained.
This pressure at 2.5 mm penetration is worked out and it is
expressed as a % of unit standard pressure. This % is known as
CBR
The test is repeated for 5 mm penetration & the CBR is worked out.
Generally 2.5 mm value is higher
Standard loads
2.5 mm
70 kg/cm2
5 mm
105 kg/cm2

CBR
Test

Load Penetration Curve (

CBR
Test
)

Relation Between CBR

and E
Subgrade
E (MPa) = 10 * CBR if CBR<5% and
= 176 *(CBR)0.64 for CBR > 5%
Granular subbase and base
E2 = E3*0.2*h0.45
E2 = Composite modulus of sub-base
and base
(MPa)
E3 = Modulus of subgrade (MPa)

 h = Thickness of granular layers

(mm)

Typical pavement
section

Steps in design of flexible

pavements
The following
steps
are
used in
design of
flexible pavements for
stage construction.
i)Provide design thicknesses of subbase and
base courses
for 20 years.
ii)Provide bituminous surfacing course for
traffic of msa.
iii) Provide a shoulder of thickness equal to
that of the sum of the layers in steps (i) and
(ii) on both sides.

iv)
Provide bituminous
surfacing
course for
traffic of
msa after 10
years.
v)
Provide shoulder thickness
equal
to
the
thickness
calculated in step (iv) at the same time

Modulus values for Bituminous

materials

Penetration
value
Penetration value is a measure of hardness or
consistency of bituminous material.
It is the vertical distance traversed or penetrated
by the point of a standard needle in to the
bituminous material under specific conditions of
load, time and temperature.
This distance is measured in one tenths of a
millimeter.
AIM:
(i)To determine the consistency of bituminous
material

(ii) To assess the suitability of bitumen for use

under different
climatic conditions and various types of
construction.
This test is used for evaluating consistency of
bitumen.

Penetration
value
Penetration test is a commonly adopted test on
bitumen to grade the material in terms of its
hardness.
A 80/100 grade bitumen indicates that its
penetration value lies between 80 & 100.
Grading of bitumen helps to assess its suitability
in different climatic conditions and types of
construction.
For bituminous
macadam
and
penetration macadam, IRC
suggests bitumen grades 30/40, 60/70, 80/100.
In warmer regions, lower penetration grades are
preferred to avoid softening whereas higher

penetration grades like 180/200 are used in

colder regions to prevent the occurrence of
excessive brittleness. High penetration grade is
used in spray application works.

SPECIFICATION OF PENETRATION GRADE

BITUMEN

Default Values of Poissons

Ratio ()
(as suggested in IRC:372001)

Subgrade and unbound granular

layers
Default value of = 0.4
Bituminous Layers
Default value of at 35/45 degree
C = 0.5

Default value of at 20 - 30
degree C = 0.35
: Poisson's ratio

Tra
ffic

1. Design life in number of years

NH & SH 15 years
Expressways & Urban Roads 20 years
Other roads 10 to 15
years 2.Vehicle damage
factor (VDF)
Need to be worked out from axle load
survey 3.Distribution of commercial
traffic over the
carriageway. (D & L Factors)

Computation of
design traffic

D = Lane distribution factor

F = Vehicle damage factor
n= Design life in years
R= Annual growth rate of
commercial vehicles

Traffic in the year of

completion
A= P(1+r)

P = Number of commercial
vehicles as per day last count
x = Number of years between the
last count and the year of the
completion of construction

Subgr
ade
The subgrade should
be compacted to
97% of the dry density achieved with
heavy
compaction (modified proctor density)
a per IS:2720 (Part 8).
For Expressways, National Highways and
State Highways, the material used for
subgrade construction should have the dry
density of not less than 1.75 gm/cc.

 For determining the CBR value, the

standard test procedure described
in IS:2720 (Part 16) should be
strictly adhered to.
The test must always be performed
on
remoulded samples of soils in the
laboratory

 It is recommended that the samples

be soaked in water for four days prior
to testing
In situ CBR test is not recommended

Pavement Composition (Subbase course)

Granular Sub-base (GSB) materials

conforming to clause 401 of MORT&H
specifications for road and bridge
works is recommended
The sub-base material should have
minimum CBR of 20% for cumulative
traffic up to 2 msa and 30% for
traffic exceeding 2 msa.
The thickness of sub-base should not
be less than 150 mm for design
traffic less than 10 msa and 200 mm
for design traffic of 10 msa and
above.

 Preferably the subgrade soil should have

a CBR of 2%
If the CBR<2%, the design should be
based on
a CBR of 2% and a capping layer of 150
mm thickness of material with a
minimum CBR of 10% shall be provided
in addition to the subbase
Where stage construction is adopted, the
thickness of sub-base shall be provided

for ultimate pavement section for the full

design life

Pavement Composition
(Base course)
The recommended minimum thickness
of granular base is 225 mm for traffic
up to 2 msa and 250 mm for traffic
exceeding 2 msa.
For heavily trafficked roads, use of WMM
base
laid by paver finisher or motor grader is
recommended.
Where WBM construction should be adopted
in

the base course for roads carrying traffic

more than 10 msa, the thickness of WBM
shall be increased from 250 mm to 300 mm.

Bituminous Surfacing
Shall consists of either a wearing
course or a binder course with a
wearing course depending upon the
traffic to be carried.
The selection criteria for the grade of
bitumen to be used for bituminous
courses are given in the table shown
Where the wearing course adopted is
premix carpet of thickness up to 25
mm, the thickness of surfacing should

not be counted towards the total

thickness of the pavement

Criteria for
Grade of Bitumen for
courses

selection of
Bituminous

Pavement Thickness Design Chart for

Traffic 1-10 msa

Pavement
Composition

Pavement Thickness Design

Chart for Traffic 10150 msa

Life Cycle Cost Analysis of rigid &

Flexible
Pavements
According to a rough estimate
,the
physical
& financial
needs of highway sector for the next
20 years indicates an average annual
outlay of Rs 250000 Crores in the
next 10 years & Rs 37500 Crores in
the next subsequent period.
In addition to this, Rs 10000 Crores
per year would be required for

maintenance with a steady

increase of 5 to 6 %

Comparative Study of Rigid &

flexible pavements

Flexible pavements are widely used

despite some doubts regarding their
economics under different conditions
Two most important parameters that
govern the pavement design are
soil sub-grade and traffic loading
The Indian guidelines for the design of
flexible pavements use soil sub-grade
strength in terms of California Bearing
Ratio (CBR) and traffic loading in
terms of million standard axles (msa).

Comparative Study of Rigid & flexible

pavements