2k18

Assignment no.2
Submitted to Prof. Naveed

Ss

2k18-MSC-PT-014-TRANS
SYED FAIZAN KHALID
 TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Evaluation for Pakistan Highway Infrastructure

The purpose of the Long-Term Pavement Performance evaluation in Pakistan is to increase

pavement life by investigation of various designs of pavement structures and rehabilitated
pavement structures, using different materials and under different loads, environments,
subgrade soil, and maintenance practices. The LTPP program officially began in 1987, after much
planning and preparation. Its purpose was simple gather high-quality data needed to
understand pavement performance and the variables affecting it and make the data available
for research and development of high-value products well into the future. The execution of this
mandate, however, has been exceedingly complex, involving dozens of organizations, hundreds
of participants, thousands of decisions, and volumes upon volumes of data and analysis.
Several decades later, the program continues to positively impact the highway community.
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Evaluation for Pakistan Highway Infrastructure

Road network is considered to be a major infrastructure that reflects the development status of
any country. It is the part and parcel of a transportation system that provides the mobility for
passengers and freight across the country at a larger scale. Pakistan has emerged as a
progressive country during the recent past. The advancements in the arena of industry, trade
and tourism are evidences, which cannot be possible without an efficient road network. The
construction of efficient roads is indispensable for the development and prosperity of the public.
Road engineering has become an important area among the discipline of civil engineering across
the globe. The efficient roads are considered to be the backbone of the economy of a country,
as an efficient network provides the mobility of goods and peoples in a safe and convenient way.
Goods brought to major distribution points by ship, rail or air, ultimately reach their destination
by roads.
Pavements experience heavy loads and environmental threats throughout their life. These
factors are responsible in deterioration of pavements with the passage of time, while the proper
maintenance of road can keep it in good condition. If the proper maintenance techniques are
not practiced at a regular interval, the pavement deteriorates without completing its design life
causing severe pavement distresses like rutting, alligator cracking, stripping etc. and loss of
riding quality or pavement structure.
During the last few decades, pavement maintenance and rehabilitation has become a serious
issue. Consequently, the road authorities are taking more interest in pavement maintenance
and rehabilitation. The bituminous pavement can be rehabilitated mainly by overlaying,
recycling or reconstructing. In recycling processes, material from the existing pavement is
recovered from a certain depth and is known as Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP). The RAP
comprises of aggregates and a thin film of bitumen around them. This RAP is mixed with some
strengthening agents and re-laid. RAP can be fully used as the aggregate portion or sometimes
mixed with some virgin aggregates.
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Distresses Developed in Highways/Motorways of Pakistan which is evaluated Due to

Movement of Traffic on New Constructed Road:

There are mainly two types of distress in pavements which are rutting and fatigue cracking.
These are the main concern in this research among different types of distress
1.3.1 Rutting
Technically, rutting is a longitudinal depression that forms on the wheel path in flexible
pavements. Rutting is being observed in various sections of highways and motorways in
Pakistan. It could be due to over loading, high temperature and unavailability of pavement
design guidelines suiting local conditions. This type of distress appears gradually with the
passage of time and due to repetition of heavy loads. Figure 1.2 and 1.3 depict the rutting on
Kashmir highway and Islamabad highway, respectively. It causes the hindrance in the following
ways;
 Hydroplaning by the accumulation of rain water in longitudinal depressions on the wheel
path.

 Riding discomfort and potential for the driver to lose the control of a vehicle.

 Economic loss and inconvenience to road users during long periods of reconstruction and
rehabilitation.
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Fatigue Cracking

These types of cracks have resemblance to alligator skin or chicken wire as shown in Figure 1.4
and 1.5. A number of parameters impart the fatigue cracking, like heavier repeated loads,
defective structural design, and poor workmanship. Fatigue cracks initiate from the bottom or
top of the pavement. In case of thin layers, it initiates from the bottom where the tensile stress
is maximum which further propagates to the surface resulting in one or more longitudinal
cracks. In case of thick layers, these cracks initiate from the top in the areas of high localized
tensile stresses due to tire’s and pavement contact or due to the asphalt binder aging. Fatigue
cracks subsequently cause moisture penetration, road roughness and formation of potholes.
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Need of Study

In Pakistan, the road transport contributes towards the major portion of the transportation
system. Most of passengers and goods are being transported through road traffic. It is a
common practice in Pakistan that 2-axle truck and recently introduced multi-axle load trucks are
overloaded as shown in Figure 1.6. Moreover, the tires are being inflated, resulting in high
concentrated load on pavement, even higher than its safe bearing capacity. When overloaded
trucks ply on flexible pavements having unbound bases, signs of distresses appears soon after
the facility is opened to traffic. This not only results in major distresses but also requires billions
of rupees on maintenance.
 TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

Those roads which are designed for 8.2 tons’ standard axle load are subjected to loads as high
as 24 tons while the gross truck weight is about 80 tons against a permissible weight of 40 tons.
Though, haulage cost is reduced and profit margin for transporters increases, it causes severe
damage to road as shown in Figure 1.7. The overloaded trucks result in the development of
major pavement distresses. These distresses ultimately lead towards functional and structural
failure. Approximately, the total incurred annual cost on maintenance of roads is about
Rs:20.961 billion in Pakistan (NHA, 2015). While Rs.14.774 billion rupees are utilized on
periodic maintenance (structural and functional overlay) and a sum Rs.6.187 billion for routine
maintenance, highway safety, and other maintenance schemes (NHA, 2015). It has been realized
that the conventional rehabilitation techniques are insufficient to meet up our budget demands,
mainly due to the following reasons,

 Labor effort for patch work maintenance

 Problems related to quality assurance

 Pre-mix asphalt overlays in small stretches, far-off from Asphalt plant.

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In Pakistan, recycling technique is not very common but is gaining attention day by day. The
recycling has been carrying out in Pakistan since 2006 and the cold recycling process has been
carried out successfully on Rawalpindi-Kharian section and Okara-Sahiwal section of N-5 during
2011 and 2012. Since the pavements are overstressed in Pakistan, therefore it is the need of the
day to study the mechanical behavior of cold recycled mix beforehand, in order to assess the
performance of cold recycled mix under over loaded trucks.

Potholes
In road surfaces where a portion of the same has broken away, cause a disruption by forming a
pothole. These are also called as a kettle. In the Western United States, these are known as
chuck hole. The pavement fatigue is the main reason behind the formation of potholes. The
occurrence of fatigue cracking will interlock to form alligator cracking. These chunks between
the cracks formed in the pavement will become loose and will be picked out under continuous
loading and stresses. This will leave a pothole on the pavement. In cold temperatures, the
water trapped in the pothole will carry out the freezing and thawing action that leads to
additional stresses and crack propagation. Once the pothole is formed, the distress grows
resulting in the continuous removal of pavement chunks. Water entrapped will increase this
rate of expansion of distress. The pothole can expand to several feet in width. They don’t
develop too much in depth. The vehicle tires are damaged due to large potholes
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Environmental Distresses
1. Bleeding in Flexible Pavements
The phenomenon of formation of a film of asphalt binder over the surface of the pavement
surface is called as bleeding. The occurrence of bleeding will give a shiny glass like reflecting
surface. The layer will have bubbles which are seen as blisters. The asphalt binder formed will
be sticky in nature. The filling of asphalt binder into the aggregate voids during hot weather
conditions and their expansion in later situations will result in bleeding. As the process of
bleeding cannot be reverted in cold temperatures, they remain on the top of the pavement as
such. The bleeding can be caused due to the following factors:

o Excessive asphalt binder in the mix

o Excessive application of the binder during surface treatment
o Lower air void content – no adequate voids for the bitumen to penetrate

2. Block Cracking in Flexible Pavements

This is also called as thermal cracking. The cracking is happening in the form of blocks. These
cracks are interconnected making the pavement to divide into rectangular pieces (almost
rectangular).

The size of each rectangle may vary from one foot by one foot to ten foot by ten foot. This is
spread over a wide pavement area. But these are observed in areas of no traffic. This is an
 TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
after effect of environmental exposure, hence it is called thermal cracking. The temperature
effects and aging are the possible reasons.

3. Bumps and Sags

Pavement surface that is localized, small in area that has undergone an upward displacement
will be named as bumps. These are caused due to the instability factor of pavement.

Several factors contribute to bumping formation. They can be caused even due to buckling or
the bulging of the concrete slabs. Areas, where an asphalt pavement is laid over a concrete
pavement, observes such failures.

Another contribution to bumps are the frost heaves that creates bumps due to expansion.
Oxidation will result in the spelling of the crack edges. Any plant roots growing under the
pavement too can cause bumps in the pavement.

The sags are mainly caused due to the settlement or the displacement of the pavement
surface. Sags are small, abrupt and localized. Large or long dips in the pavement can be
created by the sags.

4. Edge Cracking in Flexible Pavements

In unconfined asphalt pavements, edge cracking is found to occur. During the compaction
process of the pavement, the edges will start to yield, especially when there is no sort of
confinement like curbs or edge barriers.

The edges will yield with age, undergo oxidation and becomes brittle. The edge cracking is
observed in the shape of ‘C’ formed along the edges of the street, parking lot or the roads.

5. Joint Reflection Cracking

These are cracks that are observed in the flexible overlay over a rigid pavement. The rigid
pavement joints that are an underlying experience these cracks.

6. Raveling
The dislodgement of aggregate particles will result in the disintegration of the hot mixed
asphalt progressively from the surface to downward direction. This failure is called as raveling.
 TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
This dislodgement is the loss of bonding between the aggregate particles and the asphalt
binder.

The aggregates are sometimes coated with dust particles that result in lack of bonding. This
will make the aggregate to bind with the dust rather than the binder.

7. Cold Joints in Flexible Pavements

These are longitudinal joints which are formed in the asphalt pavement. This failure occurs
when a hot mix asphalt is poured adjacent to an existing pavement. This kind of failure is
mainly common in parking lots, inverted crowns and areas with lower traffic.

The difference in temperature and the plasticity variation will bring a different between the
two layers. This will cause a longitudinal joint to occur between the asphalt mats that are laid.

The longitudinal joint possesses a lesser density compared to other pavements. These
longitudinal joints called the cold joint, with time will let intrusion of water. It increases the
roughness and hence limits the life of the pavement.

Longitudinal and Transverse Cracking Distress

This distress can be considered as either a structural or an environmental distress. The
longitudinal cracks are formed parallel to the pavement alignment or the center line of the
pavement.

Fig.8: Longitudinal Cracks in Asphalt Flexible Pavement

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Fig.9: Transverse Cracking in Asphalt Flexible Pavement

This is a fatigue cracking. Here, the cracking occurs in the direction of traffic flow. The
transverse cracking is formed perpendicular to the pavement centerline. This is caused as a
thermal cracking.

Long term performance evaluation of flexible pavement on a

Section of GT Road, Pakistan.
GT Road from Taxila to Gujar Khan (Section of N-5) has been visited and found exhibiting
variety of distresses. The classification process included distress type, distress severity level
and options for repair. The system utilized the data collected by GPS and a PC-based vision
system in a GIS environment. GIS Arc view software was used for the purpose of data display,
query, manipulation and analysis. Said portion of GT Road consists of 70 Km between the
chainages of Km 1493+000 and Km 1563+000.
Climate of the selected section area:
The selected road portion passes through Rawalpindi and Islamabad which have a typical
version of humid subtropical climate, with hot summers accompanied by a monsoon season
followed by fairly cold winters. The hottest months are May and June, where average highs
routinely exceed 38 °C (100.4 °F). The monsoon season is from June to September, with heavy
rain falls and evening thunderstorms with the possibility of cloudburst. Winters are lasted from
November to March with temperatures variable by location
Geometry of road stretch
Geometric cross-section of the road has North Bound and South Bound Carriageways. Each
carriageway consists of standard size (3.65 m) two lanes with 1meter and 3 meter wide inners
and outer shoulders respectively. Both the carriageways are separated by New Jersy Barrier
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(NJB) in urban areas and median in rural areas. Inner shoulder and two lanes have 2% cross
slope and outer shoulder 4% cross slope. The road passes mostly through plain areas with zero
or very small longitudinal grade. At few locations in Rawalpindi City, there is 3-4 % longitudinal
grade.
Roadside population and traffic
The selected road portion passes through urban as well as rural areas. Urban areas occurring
along the selected road portion are Gujar Khan, Mandra, Rwat, Rawalpindi and Tarnoll. In-
between these urban areas are rural areas. Road is serving the fast moving vehicles i.e. motor
cycles, cars, wagons etc. and slow moving vehicles i.e. tractor trollies, passenger busses, trucks
and heavy logistic trailers.
IDENTIFICATION OF DISTRESSES IN SELECTED ROAD STRETCHES
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References:

Building Tips - Civil Engineeringtheconstructor.org

causes of failure of flexible pavement pdf - Google Searchwww.google.com

long term PAVEMENT EVALUATION IN PAKISTAN - Google Searchwww.google.com

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/infrastructure/pavements/ltpp/06068/06068.pdf

long term pavement performance - Google Searchwww.google.com

https://www.oecd.org/derec/adb/Pakistan-Road-Sector-Development-Program.pdfwww.oecd.org