Road Pavement

Cement Concrete Road Construction Procedure
Cement Concrete Road
Road having their wearing surface consisting of cement concrete slab are called as cement
concrete road. Cement concrete roads are considered as most serviceable and rigid
pavements.
Structural components of concrete pavement
Starting from bottom such roads consist of following components:
 Sub-grade
 Sub-base
 Concrete Slab
Advantages of Cement Concrete Road
 Life span of such road is more.
 Such roads provide an impervious layer. Cement
 Cement concrete roads are strong and durable and are unaffected much by
weathering agencies.
 They give good visibility at night.
 Cement concrete roads provide dustless and sanitary surface.
 Cement concrete roads does not develop corrugations and hence it grants noiseless
surface.
 It can be designed more accurately for load distribution.
 Cement concrete roads is practically unaffected by weather and temperature.
 It is possible to make use of old concrete road as foundation for new concrete road or
for bituminous road.
Disadvantages of Cement Concrete Road
Following are the disadvantages of a cement concrete road:
 Initial cost of construction is high especially when suitable aggregate is not locally
available.
 It is liable to crack, warp and twist.
 Skilled supervision as well as skilled workmanship is required for their construction.
 It became noisy under iron tyred traffic.
 Cement concrete roads cannot be opened to traffic earlier as it require long time
curing.
 In case of such pavements, it is very difficult to locate and repair sewers and water
mains, which are lying under it.
 They are less resilient than W.B.M road or bituminous road.
Also Read : Road Drainage System (Highway Engineering)
Also Read : Maintenance of Roads & Its Classification
Method of Construction of Cement Concrete Roads

 Alternate Bay Method
 Continuous Bay Method
 Expansion Joint and Strip Method
Alternate Bay Method :
Case 1 : For Single Lane
If the road is single lane, it is divided into suitable bays of 6 m to 8 m length. The
construction is then carried out in alternate bays.
Case 2 : For Double Lane :
The construction work is carried out in old bays of one lane and even bays of the other lane
as shown in fig. The construction of the next bay is commenced after the concrete laid earlier
bays dries out.
Advantages of Alternate Bay Method
 Joints can be constructed easily and its width can be kept as desired.
 The bays which have been cured can serve as additional working platform.
Disadvantages of Alternate Bay Method
 During rains, the water collects on the surface of the bays which are not constructed.
 More time is required to complete the work.
 It requires large number of transverse joints.
 The construction is spread over the full width of road pavement and due to which the
traffic will have to be completely diverted.
Continuous Bay Method
This is also known as strip method or full width method. In this method of construction, all
the slabs or bay (as shown in fig) of a strip are constructed continuously without any break
from one end to other.
In continuous bay method construction joints are provided when the day’s work is not ended
at the specified joint.
Moreover in addition to construction joints dummy joints are also provided at 5 m intervals
in transverse direction. They are provided to check the planes of weakness and to control
cracking.
Construction of Cement Concrete Road
The construction of cement concrete road involves following operations :
1. Preparation of Sub-grade :
 Sub-grade is natural soil on which concrete slab is laid.
 It is cleaned, shaped and levelled.
 After cleaning, it is prepared to the required grade and profile.
 It should be seen that sub-grade has uniform strength over its entire width.
 If any local weak spots are found, they should be removed and strengthened by
placing new material which is compacted.
 When concrete is to be directly placed on sub-grade, the surface should be saturated
with water for 6 to 20 hrs in advance of placing the concrete.
 This is done to ensure that sub-grade does not absorb water from the concrete.
2. Provision of Sub-base :
 When natural sub-grade is not very firm, a sub-base over the sub-grade is provided.
 Depending upon the type of soil, design load, intensity of traffic and economic
consideration, the decision for providing the sub-base is taken.
The sub-base serves the following three purposes :
 It provides a capillary cut-off and the damage caused by mud pumping is prevented.
 Provides a strong supporting layers.
 It reduces the thickness of concrete slab and thus leads to lower cost of construction.
The sub-base may consist of any one of the following layers:
 A layer of well graded soil-gravel mixture of maximum thickness 15 cm.
 Brick soling with one layer of W.B.M. of maximum total thickness 10 cm.
 Two layers of W.B.M. of maximum total thickness 15 cm.
 A layer of lean cement concrete of maximum thickness 10 cm.
When sub-grade soil is very poor, the sub-base should be placed over a blanket of some
granular material or stabilized soil.
Also Read : Earth Road : Types and Construction Procedure

3. Placing the Forms in Cement Concrete Road:
 The forms may be made up of steel or timber.
 The steel forms are of mild steel channel sections and their depth is equal to the
thickness of the pavement.
 Forms are properly braced and fixed to the ground by means of stakes.
 Forms are fixed in position by 3 stakes at back of each 3 m length.
 When the forms are fixed, they must be checked for their trueness.
 The maximum deviations permissible in the vertical plane is 3 mm and in horizontal
plane 5 mm in 3 m length of the form.
 The forms are oiled before placing concrete in them.
4. Watering the Prepared Sub-grade or Sub-base :
 After the forms are fixed, the prepared surface to receive concrete is made moist.
 If the sub-grade is dry, it should be sprinkled with as much quantity of water as it can
absorb.
 It is advisable to wet the surface at least 12 hrs in advance of placing the concrete.
 When insulating layer of water-poof paper is provided, the moistening of the surface
prior to placing the concrete is not required.
5. Batching of Materials and Mixing:
 After determining the proportions of ingredients for the Concrete mix, the fine and
course aggregates are properly proportioned by weight in weight-batching plant.
 They are then fed into the hopper along with necessary quantity of cement which is
also measured by weight.
 The ingredients of concrete are mixed in proper proportions in dry state. The mixing
should preferably be done in a concrete mixer.
 The measured quantity of water is added so that the desired water cement ratio is
obtained.
6. Transporting and Placing of Concrete :

 After mixing, the concrete is transported to the site in wheel burrows or in pans which
are manually carried.
 The mixed concrete is deposited rapidly on the sub-grade in layer of thickness not
more than 50 mm to 80 mm or about two or three times the size of aggregates.
 The concrete should be placed over the entire width of bay in successive batches as a
continuous operation and topmost layer is laid about 10 mm higher than the actual
profile for further tamping.
 The top layer should also be laid to the required camber and gradient, while placing
the concrete it is roded with suitable tool to eliminate voids.
 Segregation of concrete is avoided during transportation and placing. When
reinforcement has been specified in road slab, concrete is placed in two stages.
 In first stage, concrete is placed and compacted to the depth corresponding to the
level of reinforcement shown on the drawings.
 Reinforcement is then placed on top of compacted concrete and remaining thickness
of slab is then completed in second stage.
7. Compaction of Cement Concrete Road :
 After the concrete is placed in its position, it should brought in its proper position by
heavy screed or tamper fitted with suitable handles.
 The wooden tamper is at least 75 mm wide and its underside is shaped to the finished
cross-section of the slab.
 Its weight is about 10 kg/m.
 It should have sufficient strength to retain its shape under all the working conditions
 Its length is equal to length of bay plus 60 mm.
 The underside of tamper is provided by a metal plate of 5 mm thickness as shown in
Fig. 4.14.4.
 The tamper is placed on the side form and its handles are griped by the men who use
the tamper.
 Concrete is also compacted by means of a power driven finishing machine or by
vibrating hand screed.
 Upto 12.5 cm thickness of slabs screed vibrators alone can be used for compaction.
 For greater thickness, immersion vibrator is used.
8. Floating :
 After compaction, the entire slab surface is floated longitudinally with a wooden float
board.
 The purpose of floating is to provide an even surface free from corrugations.
9. Belting:
 After floating, the surface is further finished by belting just before the concrete
become hard.
 The purpose of belting is to make the road surface non-slippery and skid resistant.
This operation is sometimes omitted.
10. Brooming :
 After belting, brooming is done by drawing brushes at right angles to the center line
of road from edge to edge.
 Brooming is done just before the concrete becomes non- plastic.
 This operation is also sometimes omitted.
11. Edging:
 After brooming, the edges of the slab are carefully finished with an edging tool before
the concrete is finally set.
12. Curing Process of Cement Concrete Road :
 Curing consist of checking the loss of water from the concrete slab, and keeping the
fresh concrete slab moist during hardening period.
 Initial curing is done for 24 hrs.
 By this time, the concrete becomes hard enough to walk upon and then wet mats are
removed and final curing done for 2 to 3 weeks.
 Final curing is done by any one of the following methods :
1. Ponding Method.
2. By covering the slab with 4 to 8 cm thick layer of wet sand or earth.
3. Spraying a suitable chemical such as sodium or calcium chloride on concrete surface.
13. Fillings of Joints and Edging :
 After curing, the surface is cleaned and washed.
 The joints are then properly filled-in attains with a suitable sealing compound.
14. Opening to Traffic :
Concrete road is opened to traffic when it attains the required strength or after 28 days of
curing.

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Cement Concrete Road Construction Procedure

Cement Concrete Road

Method of Construction of Cement Concrete Roads

Also Read : Earth Road : Types and Construction Procedure

6. Transporting and Placing of Concrete :

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