Pavement Design

CE 453 Lecture 28

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Objectives
Understand and complete ESAL
calculation
Know variables involved in and be
able to calculate required thickness
of rigid and flexible pavements

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AASHTO Pavement Design
Method Considerations

Pavement Performance
Traffic
Roadbed Soil
Materials of Construction
Environment
Drainage
Reliability
Life-Cycle Costs
Shoulder Design
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 Two Categories of Roadway Pavements

Rigid Pavement
Flexible Pavement

Rigid Pavement Typical Applications

High volume traffic lanes

Freeway to freeway connections

Exit ramps with heavy traffic

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 Advantages of Rigid Pavement

Good durability
Long service life
Withstand repeated flooding and
subsurface water without deterioration

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 Disadvantages of Rigid Pavement

May lose non-skid surface with time

Needs even sub-grade with uniform
settling
May fault at transverse joints

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Flexible Pavement Typical
Applications
Traffic lanes
Auxiliary lanes
Ramps
Parking areas
Frontage roads
Shoulders

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 Advantages to Flexible Pavement

Adjusts to limited differential

settlement
Easily repaired
Additional thickness added any time
Non-skid properties do not deteriorate
Quieter and smoother
Tolerates a greater range of
temperatures
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 Disadvantages of Flexible Pavement

Loses some flexibility and cohesion with

time
Needs resurfacing sooner than PC
concrete
Not normally chosen where water is
expected

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Basic AASHTO Flexible
Pavement Design Method

Determine the desired terminal

serviceability, pt
Convert traffic volumes to number of
equivalent 18-kip single axle loads (ESAL)
Determine the structural number, SN
Determine the layer coefficients, ai
Solve layer thickness equations for
individual layer thickness
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Basic AASHTO Rigid Pavement
Design Method

Select terminal serviceability

Determine number of ESALs
Determine the modulus of sub-grade
reaction
Determine the slab thickness

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Variables included in
Nomographs
Reliability, R
Incorporates a degree of certainty into
design process
Ensures various design alternatives will
last the analysis period
Resilient Modulus for Roadbed Soil,
MR
Generally obtained from laboratory
testing
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Variables included in
Nomographs
Effective Modulus of Sub-Grade Reaction,
k
Considers:
1. Sub-base type
2. Sub-base thickness
3. Loss of support
4. Depth to rigid foundation
Drainage Coefficient, mi
Use in layer thickness determination
Applies only to base and sub-base
See Tables 20.15 (flexible) and 21.9 (rigid)
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Flexible Pavement Design
Pavement structure is a multi-layered elastic
system, material is characterized by certain
properties
Modulus of elasticity
Resilient modulus
Poisson ratio
Wheel load causes stress distribution (fig 20.2)
Horizontal: tensile or compressive
Vertical: maximum are compressive, decrease with
depth
Temperature distribution: affects magnitude of
stresses

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Components

Sub-grade (roadbed) course: natural material that

serves as the foundation of the pavement structure
Sub-base course: above the sub-grade, superior to
sub-grade course
Base course: above the sub base, granular materials
such as crushed stone, crushed or uncrushed slag,
gravel, and sand
Surface course: upper course of the road pavement,
should withstand tire pressures, resistant to abrasive
forces of traffic, provide skid-resistant driving 27
Economic Analysis

Different treatments results in

different designs
Evaluate cost of different
alternatives

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Sensitivity Analysis

Input different values of traffic

volume
Compare resulting differences in
pavement
Fairly significant differences in ADT
do not yield equally significant
differences in pavement thickness

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OTHER ISSUES
Drainage
Joints
Grooving (noise vs. hydroplaning)
Rumble strips
Climate
Level and type of usage

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FAILURE EXAMPLES
Primarily related to design or life-
cycle, not construction
All images from Distress
Identification Manual for the Long-
Term Pavement Performance
Program, Publication No. FHWA-RD-
03-031, June 2003

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FATIGUE CRACKING

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RUTTING

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SHOVING

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PUMPING

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