Subgrade Material

Overview

Pavements are a conglomeration of materials. These materials, their associated properties, and
their interactions determine the properties of the resultant pavement.

Sub grade soil

Soil is an accumulation or deposit of earth material, derived naturally from the disintegration of
rocks or decay of vegetation, that can be excavated readily with power equipment in the eld or
disintegrated by gentle mechanical means in the laboratory.

Desirable properties

The desirable properties of sub grade soil as a highway material are

1. Stability
2. Incompressibility
3. Permanency of strength
4. Minimum changes in volume and stability
5. Good drainage
6. Ease of compaction

Soil Classification

Two commonly used systems for soil engineers based on particle distribution and atterberg
limits:

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) System (for
state/county highway dept.)

Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) (preferred by geotechnical engineers).

Soil particles

The description of the grain size distribution of soil particles according to their texture (particle
size, shape, and gradation).Major textural classes include, very roughly:

gravel (>2 mm);

sand (0.1 2 mm);
silt (0.01 0.1 mm);
clay (< 0.01 mm).
 Test of Soil

Overview

Sub grade soil is an integral part of the road pavement structure as it provides the support to the
pavement from beneath. The main function of the sub grade is to give adequate support to the
pavement and for this the sub grade should possess sucient stability under adverse climatic and
loading conditions. Therefore, it is very essential to evaluate the sub grade by conducting tests.
The tests used to evaluate the strength properties of soils may be broadly divided into three
groups:

1. Shear tests
2. Bearing tests
3. Penetration tests

Shear tests
Shear tests are usually carried out on relatively small soil samples in the laboratory. In order to
nd out the strength properties of soil, a number of representative samples from
dierent locations are tested. Some of the commonly known shear tests:

o Direct shear test,

o Triaxial compression test,
o Unconned compression test.

California Bearing Ratio (CBR)

This test was developed by the California Division of Highway as a method of classifying and
evaluating soil-sub grade and base course materials for exible pavements.

Fig 1 CBR Test

Plate Bearing Test

Plate bearing test is used to evaluate the support capability of sub-grades, bases and in some
cases, complete pavement. Data from the tests are applicable for the design of both exible and
rigid pavements. In plate bearing test, a compressive stress is applied to the soil or pavement
layer through rigid plates relatively large size and the deections are measured for various stress
values.

Fig.2 Plate load test

 Pavement materials

Overview

Aggregate is a collective term for the mineral materials such as sand, gravel, and crushed stone
that are used with a binding medium (such as water, bitumen, Portland cement, lime, etc.) to
form compound materials (such as bituminous concrete and Portland cement concrete). By
volume, aggregate generally accounts for 92 to 96 percent of Bituminous concrete and about 70
to 80 percent of Portland cement concrete. Aggregate is also used for base and sub-base courses
for both exible and rigid pavements. Aggregates can either be natural or manufactured.

Desirable properties

Strength

The aggregates used in top layers are subjected to

(i) Stress action due to traffic wheel load,
(ii) Wear and tear,
(iii) crushing.

Hardness

The aggregates used in the surface course are subjected to constant rubbing or abrasion due to
moving traffic. The aggregates should be hard enough to resist the abrasive action caused by the
movements of traffic. The abrasive action is severe when steel tyred vehicles moves over the
aggregates exposed at the top surface.

Toughness

Resistance of the aggregates to impact is termed as toughness. Aggregates used in the pavement
should be able to resist the effect caused by the jumping of the steel tyred wheels from one
particle to another at different levels causes severe impact on the aggregates.

Shape of aggregates

Aggregates which happen to fall in a particular size range may have rounded cubical, angular,
flaky or elongated particles. It is evident that the aky and elongated particles will have less
strength and durability when compared with cubical, angular or rounded particles of the same
aggregate. Hence too flaky and too much elongated aggregates should be avoided as far as
possible.
Adhesion with bitumen

The aggregates used in bituminous pavements should have less a nity with water when compared
with bituminous materials, otherwise the bituminous coating on the aggregate will be stripped o
in presence of water.

Durability

The property of aggregates to withstand adverse action of weather is called soundness. The
aggregates are subjected to the physical and chemical action of rain and bottom water, impurities
there-in and that of atmosphere, hence it is desirable that the road aggregates used in the
construction should be sound enough to withstand the weathering action

Freedom from deleterious particles

Specifications for aggregates used in bituminous mixes usually require the aggregates to be
clean, tough and durable in nature and free from excess amount of at or elongated pieces, dust,
clay balls and other objectionable material. Similarly aggregates used in Portland cement
concrete mixes must be clean and free from deleterious substances such as clay lumps, chert, silt
and other organic impurities.
 Aggregate tests

Overview

In order to decide the suitability of the aggregate for use in pavement construction, following
tests are carried out:

Crushing test
Abrasion test
Impact test
Soundness test
Shape test
Specific gravity and water absorption test
Bitumen adhesion test
Crushing test

One of the model in which pavement material can fail is by crushing under compressive stress. A test is
standardized by IS:2386 part-IV and used to determine the crushing strength of aggregates. The
aggregate crushing value provides a relative measure of resistance to crushing under gradually applied
crushing load.

Fig.3 Crushing test setup

Abrasion test

Abrasion test is carried out to test the hardness property of aggregates and to decide whether they are suitable for
different pavement construction works. Los Angeles abrasion test is a preferred one for carrying out the hardness
property and has been standardized in India (IS:2386 part-IV).
 Fig.4 Los Angeles abrasion test setup
Impact test
The aggregate impact test is carried out to evaluate the resistance to impact of aggregates.
Aggregates passing 12.5 mm sieve and retained on 10 mm sieve is lled in a cylindrical steel
cup of internal dia 10.2 mm and depth 5 cm which is attached to a metal base of impact testing
machine. The material is lled in 3 layers where each layer is tamped for 25 number of blows.

Soundness test
Soundness test is intended to study the resistance of aggregates to weathering action, by
conducting accelerated weathering test cycles. The Porous aggregates subjected to freezing and
thawing are likely to disintegrate prematurely. To ascertain the durability of such aggregates,
they are subjected to an accelerated soundness test as specied in IS:2386 part-V.

Fig.5 Impact test setup

Shape tests
The particle shape of the aggregate mass is determined by the percentage of aky and elongated
particles in it. Aggregates which are aky or elongated are detrimental to higher workability and
stability of mixes. The akiness index is dened as the percentage by weight of aggregate
particles whose least dimension is less than 0.6 times their mean size. Test procedure had been
standardized in India (IS:2386 part-I).

Fig.6 Flakiness gauge

Fig.7 Elongation gaugege

Specific Gravity and water absorption

The Specific gravity and water absorption of aggregates are important properties that are
required for the design of concrete and bituminous mixes. The Specific gravity of a solid is the
ratio of its mass to that of an equal volume of distilled water at a specied temperature.
Apparent Specic Gravity
Bulk Specic Gravity

Water absorption, The dierence between the apparent and bulk specic gravities is nothing but
the water- permeable voids of the aggregates.
The specic gravity of aggregates normally used in road construction ranges from about 2.5 to 2.9. Water
absorption values ranges from 0.1 to about 2.0 percent for aggregates normally used in road surfacing.

Bitumen adhesion test

Bitumen adheres well to all normal types of road aggregates provided they are dry and free from dust. In
the absence of water there is practically no adhesion problem of bituminous construction. Adhesion
problem occurs when the aggregate is wet and cold.

Table 1 Tests for Aggregates with IS codes

 Pavement materials: Bitumen

Overview

Bituminous materials or asphalts are extensively used for roadway construction, primarily
because of their excellent binding characteristics and water proofing properties and relatively
low cost.

Production of Bitumen

Bitumen is the residue or by-product when the crude petroleum is refined. A wide variety of
refinery processes, such as the straight distillation process, solvent extraction process etc. may be
used to produce bitumen of different consistency and other desirable properties.

Vacuum steam distillation of petroleum oils

In the vacuum-steam distillation process the crude oil is heated and is introduced into a large
cylindrical still. Steam is introduced into the still to aid in the vaporization of the more volatile
constituents of the petroleum and to minimize decomposition of the distillates and residues. The
volatile constituents are collected, condensed, and the various fractions stored for further
refining, if needed. The residues from this distillation are then fed into a vacuum distillation unit,
where residue pressure and steam will further separate out heavier gas oils. The bottom fraction
from this unit is the vacuum-steam-re ned asphalt cement.

Different forms of bitumen

Cutback bitumen

Normal practice is to heat bitumen to reduce its viscosity. In some situations preference is given
to use liquid binders such as cutback bitumen. In cutback bitumen suitable solvent is used to
lower the viscosity of the bitumen. From the environmental point of view also cutback bitumen
is preferred.
There are different types of cutback bitumen like rapid curing (RC), medium curing (MC), and
slow curing (SC).

Bitumen emulsion

Bitumen emulsion is a liquid product in which bitumen is suspended in a finely divided

condition in an aqueous medium and stabilized by suitable material. Three types of bituminous
emulsions are available, which are Rapid setting (RS), Medium setting (MS), and Slow setting
(SC). Bitumen emulsions are ideal binders for hill road construction.
Bituminous primers

In bituminous primer the distillate is absorbed by the road surface on which it is spread. The
absorption therefore depends on the porosity of the surface. Bitumen primers are useful on the
stabilized surfaces and water bound macadam base courses. Bituminous primers are generally
prepared on road sites by mixing penetration bitumen with petroleum distillate.

Modified Bitumen

Certain additives or blend of additives called as bitumen modifiers can improve properties of
Bitumen and bituminous mixes. Bitumen treated with these modifiers is known as modified
bitumen. Polymer modified bitumen (PMB)/ crumb rubber modified bitumen (CRMB) should be
used only in wearing course depending upon the requirements of extreme climatic variations.
The detailed specifications for modified bitumen have been issued by IRC: SP: 53-1999.

Requirements of Bitumen

The desirable properties of bitumen depend on the mix type and construction. In general,
Bitumen should posses following desirable properties.

o The bitumen should not be highly temperature susceptible: during the hottest weather the
mix should not become too soft or unstable, and during cold weather the mix should not
become too brittle causing cracks.

o The viscosity of the bitumen at the time of mixing and compaction should be adequate.
This can be achieved by use of cutbacks or emulsions of suitable grades or by heating the
bitumen and aggregates prior to mixing.

o There should be adequate affinity and adhesion between the bitumen and aggregates used
in the mix.
 Test of Bitumen

Tests on bitumen

There are a number of tests to assess the properties of bituminous materials. The following tests
are usually conducted to evaluate di erent properties of bituminous materials.

Penetration test
Ductility test
Softening point test
Specific gravity test
Viscosity test
Flash and Fire point test
Float test
Water content test
Loss on heating test

Penetration test

It measures the hardness or softness of bitumen by measuring the depth in tenths of a millimeter
to which a standard loaded needle will penetrate vertically in 5 seconds. BIS had standardized
the equipment and test procedure. The penetrometer consists of a needle assembly with a total
weight of 100g and a device for releasing and locking in any position.

Fig. Penetration Test Setup

Ductility test

Ductility is the property of bitumen that permits it to undergo great deformation or elongation.
Ductility is dened as the distance in cm, to which a standard sample or briquette of the material
will be elongated without breaking.
 Fig. Ductility Moulds

Softening point test

Softening point denotes the temperature at which the bitumen attains a particular degree of
softening under the specications of test. The test is conducted by using Ring and Ball apparatus.

Fig. Softening Point Test Setup

Specic gravity test

In paving jobs, to classify a binder, density property is of great use. In most cases bitumen is
weighed, but when used with aggregates, the bitumen is converted to volume using density
values. The density of bitumen is greatly inuenced by its chemical composition. Increase in
aromatic type mineral impurities cause an increase in specic gravity.

Viscosity test

Viscosity denotes the uid property of bituminous material and it is a measure of resistance to
ow. At the application temperature, this characteristic greatly inuences the strength of
resulting paving mixes. Low or high viscosity during compaction or mixing has been observed to
result in lower stability values. At high viscosity, it resist the compactive eort and thereby
resulting mix is heterogeneous, hence low stability values.

Fig. Viscosity apparatus

Flash and re point test

At high temperatures depending upon the grades of bitumen materials leave out volatiles. And
these volatiles catches re which is very hazardous and therefore it is essential to qualify this
temperature for each bitumen grade.

Float test

Normally the consistency of bituminous material can be measured either by penetration test or
viscosity test. But for certain range of consistencies, these tests are not applicable and Float test
is used.

Water content test

It is desirable that the bitumen contains minimum water content to prevent foaming of the
bitumen when it is heated above the boiling point of water. The water in a bitumen is determined
by mixing known weight of specimen in a pure petroleum distillate free from water, heating and
distilling of the water.

Loss on heating test

When the bitumen is heated it loses the volatility and gets hardened. About 50gm of the sample
is weighed and 0 heated to a temperature of 163 C for 5hours in a specied oven designed for
this test.
 Bituminous Mix Design-I

Overview

The bituminous mix design aims to determine the proportion of bitumen, ller, ne aggregates,
and coarse aggregates to produce a mix which is workable, strong, durable and economical. The
requirements of the mix design and the two major stages of the mix design, i.e dry mix design
and wet mix design.

Objectives of mix design

1. Sucient bitumen to ensure a durable pavement,
2. Sucient strength to resist shear deformation under trac at higher temperature,
3. Sucient air voids in the compacted bitumen to allow for additional compaction by trac,
4. Sucient workability to permit easy placement without segregation,
5. Sucient exibility to avoid premature cracking due to repeated bending by trac,and
6. Sucient exibility at low temperature to prevent shrinkage cracks.
Constituents of a mix

Coarse aggregates
Fine aggregates
Filler
Binder

Types of mix

Well-graded mix
Gap-graded mix
Open-graded mix
Unbounded
Dierent layers in a pavement
o Bituminous base course
o Bituminous binder course
o Asphaltic/Bituminous concrete
 Requirements of Bituminous mixes

Stability

Stability is dened as the resistance of the paving mix to deformation under trac load. Two
examples of failure are

(i) shoving - a transverse rigid deformation which occurs at areas subject to severe acceleration

(ii) grooving - longitudinal ridging due to channelization of trac. Stability depend on the inter-
particle friction, primarily of the aggregates and the cohesion oered by the bitumen.

Durability

Durability is dened as the resistance of the mix against weathering and abrasive actions.

(i) pot-holes, - deterioration of pavements locally and

(ii) stripping, lost of binder from the aggregates and aggregates are exposed.

Flexibility
Flexibility is a measure of the level of bending strength needed to counteract trac load and
prevent cracking of surface. Fracture is the cracks formed on the surface (hairline-cracks,
alligator cracks), main reasons are shrinkage and brittleness of the binder.

Skid resistance

It is the resistance of the nished pavement against skidding which depends on the surface
texture and bitumen content. It is an important factor in high speed trac.
Workability

Workability is the ease with which the mix can be laid and compacted, and formed to the
required condition and shape.

Desirable properties
From the above discussion, the desirable properties of a bituminous mix can be summarized as
follows:
Stability to meet trac demand
Bitumen content to ensure proper binding and water proong
Voids to accommodate compaction due to trac
Flexibility to meet trac loads, esp. in cold season
Sucient workability for construction Economical mix
 Dry Mix Design

Overview

The objective of dry mix design is to determine the amount of various sizes of mineral
aggregates to use to get a mix of maximum density. The dry mix design involves three important
steps, viz. selection of aggregates, aggregates gradation, and proportion of aggregates, which are
discussed below.

Selection of aggregates
The desirable qualities of a bituminous paving mixture are dependent to a considerable degree on
the nature of the aggregates used. Aggregates are classified as coarse, fine, and filler. The
function of the coarse aggregates in contributing to the stability of a bituminous paving mixture
is largely due to interlocking and frictional resistance of adjacent particles.

Aggregate gradation
The properties of the bituminous mix including the density and stability are very much
dependent on the aggregates and their grain size distribution.
However, some minimum amount of void space is necessary to:
o provide adequate volume for the binder to occupy,
o promote rapid drainage, and
o provide resistance to frost action for base and sub base courses.

Proportioning of aggregates
After selecting the aggregates and their gradation, proportioning of aggregates has to be done
and following are the common methods of proportioning of aggregates:
Trial and error procedure:
Graphical Methods:
Analytical Method:
 Marshall Mix Design

Overview

The mix design (wetmix) determines the optimum bitumen content. This is preceded by the dry
mix design.

Marshall mix design

The Marshall stability and ow test provides the performance prediction measure for the
Marshall mix design method. The stability portion of the test measures the maximum load
supported by the test specimen at a loading rate of 50.8 mm/minute.

Specimen preparation

Determine the properties of the mix

Fig. Marshall Mould

Fig. Marshall Mould

Theoretical specic gravity of the mix Gt

Bulk specic gravity of mix Gm

Air voids percent Vv

Voids in mineral aggregateVMA

Voids lled with bitumen VFB

Determine Marshall stability and ow

Marshall stability of a test specimen is the maximum load required to produce failure when the
specimen is preheated to a prescribed temperature placed in a special test head and the load is
applied at a constant strain (5 cm per minute).

Apply stability correction

 Prepare graphical plots
The average value of the above properties are determined for each mix with dierent bitumen
content and the following graphical plots are prepared:

1. Binder content versus corrected Marshall stability

2. Binder content versus Marshall ow

3. Binder content versus percentage of void in the total mix v

4. Binder content versus voids lled with bitumen (V F B) 5. Binder content versus unit weight
or bulk specic gravity

Determine optimum bitumen content

Determine the optimum binder content for the mix design by taking average value of the
following three bitumen contents found form the graphs obtained in the previous step.

1. Binder content corresponding to maximum stability

2. Binder content corresponding to maximum bulk specic gravity

3. Binder content corresponding to the median of designed limits of percent air voids in the total
mix v (i.e. 4%)

Fig. Marshal graphical plots

 Flexible pavement design

Overview

Flexible pavements are so named because the total pavement structure deects, or exes, under
loading. A exible pavement structure is typically composed of several layers of materials. Each
layer receives loads from the above layer, spreads them out, and passes on these loads to the next
layer below. Thus the stresses will be reduced, which are maximum at the top layer and
minimum on the top of subgrade.

Design procedures

Empirical design
Empirical design

Trac and Loading

Fixed trac
Fixed vehicle
Variable trac and vehicle
Equivalent single wheel load

To carry maximum load with in the specied limit and to carry greater load, dual wheel, or dual
tandem assembly is often used. Equivalent single wheel load (ESWL) is the single wheel load
having the same contact pressure, which produces same value of maximum stress, deection,
tensile stress or contact pressure at the desired depth.

Equivalent single wheel load To carry maximum load with in the specied limit and to carry
greater load, dual wheel, or dual tandem assembly is often used. Equivalent single wheel load
(ESWL) is the single wheel load having the same contact pressure, which produces same value
of maximum stress, deection, tensile stress or contact pressure at the desired depth.
 Fig. 31.1 ESWL-Equal stress concept

Equivalent single axle load

o Legal axle load

o Standard axle load

Repetition of axle loads

Equivalent axle load factor

Material characterization

It is well known that the pavement materials are not perfectly elastic but experiences some
permanent deformation after each load repetitions. It is well known that most paving materials
are not elastic but experience some permanent deformation after each load application.

Resilient modulus of soil

The elastic modulus based on the recoverable strain under repeated loads is called the resilient
modulus.

Fig. Recoverable strain under repeated loads Dynamic

complex modulus
This is one of the way of explaining the stress-strain relationship of visco-elastic materials.

Correlations with other tests

Determination of resiliant modulus is often cumbersome. Therefore, various empirical tests have
been used to determine the material properties for pavement design.

Mechanistic-empirical analysis

Mechanics is the science of motion and action of forces on bodies. In pavement design these
phenomena are stresses, strains, and deections within a pavement structure and the physical
causes are loads and material properties of the pavements structure.

Advantages
The basic advantages of the Mechanistic-Empirical pavement design method over a purely
empirical one are:

o It can be used for both existing pavement rehabilitation and new pavement construction
o It can accommodate changing load types
o It can better characterize materials allowing for better utilization of available materials
accommodation of new materials improved definition of existing layer proportion
o It uses material proportion that relates better with actual pavement performance
o It provides more reliable performance predictions
o It defines role of construction in a better way
o It accommodates environment and aging e ect of materials in the pavement

Mechanistic model
Mechanistic models are used to mathematically model pavement physics.

Inputs

A layered elastic model requires a minimum number of inputs to adequately characterize a

pavement structure and its response to loading. These inputs are:
Material properties of each layer, like modulus of elasticity (E), Poisson's ratio,
Pavement layer thicknesses, and
Loading conditions which include the total wheel load and load repetitions

Output

The outputs of the layered elastic model are the stresses, strains and de ections in the pavements.

Stress.
Strain.
Deflection.
 IRC Method of Flexible Pavement Design

Overview
Indian roads congress has specified the design procedures for exible pavements based on CBR
values. The Pavement designs given in the previous edition IRC:37-1984 were applicable to
design traffic upto only 30 million standard axles (msa).

Scope
These guidelines will apply to design of exible pavements for Expressway, National Highways,
State Highways, Major District Roads, and other categories of roads. Flexible pavements are
considered to include the pavements which have bituminous surfacing and granular base and
sub-base courses conforming to IRC/ MOST standards. These guidelines apply to new
pavements.

Design criteria

o Vertical compressive strain at the top of the sub-grade which can cause sub-grade
deformation resulting in permanent deformation at the pavement surface.

o Horizontal tensile strain or stress at the bottom of the bituminous layer which can cause
fracture of the bituminous layer.

o Pavement deformation within the bituminous layer.

Failure Criteria

Fatigue Criteria
Rutting Criteria

Fig. Critical Locations in Pavement

Design procedure

Based on the performance of existing designs and using analytical approach, simple design
charts and a catalogue of pavement designs are added in the code.

Using the following simple input parameters, appropriate designs could be chosen for the given
trac and soil strength:
Design trac in terms of cumulative number of standard axles; and
CBR value of subgrade.
Design trac
The method considers trac in terms of the cumulative number of standard axles (8160 kg) to be
carried by the pavement during the design life. This requires the following information:
Initial trac in terms of CVPD
Trac growth rate during the design life
Design life in number of years
Vehicle damage factor (VDF)
Distribution of commercial trac over the carriage way.
Pavement thickness design charts

For the design of pavements to carry trac in the range of 1 to 10 msa, use chart 1 and for trac
in the range 10 to 150 msa, use chart 2 of IRC:37 2001.

Pavement composition

o Sub-base
o Base
o Bituminous surfacing
 Stresses in Rigid Pavement

Overview

As the name implies, rigid pavements are rigid i.e, they do not ex much under loading like
exible 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).

Modulus of sub-grade reaction

Westergaard considered the rigid pavement slab as a thin elastic plate resting on soil sub-grade,
which is assumed as a dense liquid. The upward reaction is assumed to be proportional to the
deection.

Relative stiness of slab to sub-grade

A certain degree of resistance to slab deection is oered by the sub-grade. The sub-grade
deformation is same as the slab deection. Hence the slab deection is direct measurement of the
magnitude of the sub-grade pressure.

Critical load positions

There are three typical locations namely the interior, edge and corner, where diering conditions
of slab continuity exist. These locations are termed as critical load positions.

Fig. Critical stress locations

Temperature stresses

Temperature stresses are developed in cement concrete pavement due to variation in slab
temperature. This is caused by

(i) Daily variation resulting in a temperature gradient across the thickness of the slab and
 (ii) Seasonal variation resulting in overall change in the slab temperature.

Combination of stresses
The cumulative eect of the dierent stress give rise to the following thee critical cases
Summer, mid-day: The critical stress is for edge region
Winter, mid-day: The critical combination of stress is for the edge region given by
Mid-nights: The critical combination of stress is for the corner region given
 Design of joints

Expansion joints

The purpose of the expansion joint is to allow the expansion of the pavement due to rise in
temperature with respect to construction temperature.

Fig. Expansion joint

Contraction joints

Contraction Joint

Dowel bars
The purpose of the dowel bar is to eectively transfer the load between two concrete slabs and to keep
the
two slabs in same height.

Tie bars

In contrast to dowel bars, tie bars are not load transfer devices, but serve as a means to tie
two slabs. Hence tie bars must be deformed or hooked and must be rmly anchored into the
concrete to function properly.