MICRO PROJECT

HIGHWAY AND AIRPORT PAVEMENT DESIGN

(CE E13)
SESSION 2021-22

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

DR. B. R. AMBEDKAR INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, PORT BLAIR
SOUTH ANDAMAN.
JUNE, 2022

SUBMITTED BY:
SANIA HASHMI (18TA0325)
4TH YEAR, VIII SEMESTER
TOPIC: IRC 37 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DESIGN OF FLEXIBLE
PAVEMENTS

SUBMITTED TO:
MRS. RAJASHRI KULKARNI
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

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 CONTENTS:

1.1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................... 3

1.2. FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT DESIGN AS PER IRC GUIDELINES: .......................................... 3

1.2.1. DESIGN APPROACH............................................................................................................ 3

1.2.2. DESIGN FACTORS CONSIDERED.................................................................................... 5

1.2.3. PAVEMENT THICKNESS DESIGN CHARTS.................................................................. 7

1.2.4. PAVEMENT COMPOSITION ............................................................................................. 7

1.2.5. NUMERICAL EXAMPLE..................................................................................................... 8

1.3. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 9

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1.1. INTRODUCTION:

 Indian roads congress has specified the design procedures for flexible pavements
based on CBR values. The pavement designs given in the previous edition IRC: 37-
1984 were applicable to design traffic up to only 30 million standard axles (msa). The
earlier code is empirical in nature which has limitations regarding applicability and
extrapolation. This guideline follows analytical designs and developed new set of
designs up to 150 msa in IRC: 37-2001.

 These guidelines will apply to design of flexible 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.

1.2. FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT DESIGN AS PER IRC GUIDELINES:

1.2.1. DESIGN APPROACH:

 The thickness requirement of the flexible pavement structure, H is the designed using
the CBR design charts.

 The flexible pavements are represented as an elastic three layer system and the three
typical layers considered are:
(I) Layer 1- consisting of the relatively stiff bituminous layer of dense
bituminous macadam (DBM) binder course and the bituminous concrete (BC)
surface course of total thickness h1 and the elastic modulus of E1.
(II) Layer 2 – consisting of sub base course/ drainage layer and granular base
course of total thickness h2 and elastic modulus of E2.
(III) Layer 3 – consisting of the prepared sub grade soil of infinite depth and
elastic modulus of E3.

 The strain value are determined at the critical location:

1. Vertical compressive strain at the top of the sub-grade or layer 3 which can cause
sub-grade deformation resulting in permanent deformation at the pavement surface.

2. Horizontal tensile strain or stress at the bottom of the bituminous layer or layer 1
which can cause fracture of the bituminous layer.

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 Fig. No.: 1: Critical Location in Flexible Pavement

 Higher magnitude of vertical strain on the top of the sub grade may cause permanent
deformation leading to the rutting along the wheel path of the heavy vehicles.
Failure Criteria:

Rutting Criteria:
The allowable number of load repetitions to control permanent deformation can be
expressed as:
Nr = 4.1656 X 10-8 (∈ ) .
Nr is the number of cumulative standard axles to produce rutting of 20 mm.

 Higher magnitude of horizontal strain in the stiff bituminous layer could cause
fracture in the
he layers leading to the development of fatigue crack under the heavy
wheel load within the desired design life. Therefore limiting horizontal strain within
its permissible limit such that cracking of the bituminous pavement surface does not
exceeds the desired limits within the design life.
Failure criteria:

Fatigue Criteria:
The relation between the fatigue life of the pavement and the tensile strain in the
bottom of the bituminous layer was obtained using which,

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 . .
Nf = 2.21 X 10-4 (∈ ) X( )
Nf is the allowable number of load repetitions to control fatigue cracking and E is the Elastic
modulus of bituminous layer would result in fatigue cracking of 20% of the total area.

1.2.2. DESIGN FACTORS CONSIDERED:

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. The pavement designs are
given for sub grade CBR values ranging from 2% to 10% and design traffic ranging from 1
msa to 150 msa for an average annual pavement temperature of 35°C. The later thicknesses
obtained from the analysis have been slightly modified to adapt the designs to stage
construction. Using the following simple input parameters, appropriate designs could be
chosen for the given traffic and soil strength:

(i) Design traffic in terms of cumulative number of standard axles; and

(ii) CBR value of sub grade.

(i) DESIGN TRAFFIC:

The method considers traffic 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 traffic in terms of CVPD

 Traffic growth rate during the design life
 Design life in number of years
 Vehicle damage factor (VDF)
 Distribution of commercial traffic over the carriage way.

(a) INITIAL TRAFFIC:

 Initial traffic is determined in terms of commercial vehicles per day (CVPD).

 For the structural design of the pavement only commercial vehicles are considered
assuming laden weight of three tonnes or more and their axle loading will be
considered.

 Estimate of the initial daily average traffic for any road should normally be based on
7-day 24-hour classified traffic counts (ADT).

 In case of new roads, traffic estimates can be made on the basis of potential land use
and traffic on existing routes in the area.

(b) TRAFFIC GROWTH RATE:

Traffic growth rates can be estimated

(i) By studying the past trends of traffic growth, and

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(ii) By establishing econometric models. If adequate data is not available, it is recommended
that an average annual growth rate of 7.5 percent may be adopted.

(c) DESIGN LIFE:

For the purpose of the pavement design, the design life is designed in terms of the cumulative
number of standard axles that can be carried before strengthening of the pavement is
necessary.

It is recommended that pavements for arterial roads like

 NH, SH should be designed for a life of 15 years,

 EH and urban roads for 20 years and

 other categories of roads for 10 to 15 years.

(d) VEHICLE DAMAGE FACTOR:

 The vehicle damage factor (VDF) is a multiplier for converting the number of
commercial vehicles of different Axle loads and axle configurations to the number of
standard axle-load repetitions.

 It is designed as equivalent number of standard axles per commercial vehicle. The

VDF varies with the axle configuration, axle loading, terrain, type of road, and from
region to region.

 The axle load equivalency factors are used to convert different axle load repetitions
into equivalent standard axle load repetitions.

 For these equivalency factors refer IRC:37 2001. The exact VDF values are arrived
after extensive field surveys.

(e) VEHICLE DISTRIBUTION:

A realistic assessment of distribution of commercial traffic by direction and by lane is

necessary as it directly
aspects the total equivalent standard axle load application used in the design.

Until reliable data is available, the following distribution may be assumed.

 Single lane roads: Traffic tends to be more channelized on single roads than two lane
roads and to allow for this concentration of wheel load repetitions, the design should
be based on total number of commercial vehicles in both directions.

 Two-lane single carriageway roads: The design should be based on 75 % of the

commercial vehicles in both directions.

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  Four-lane single carriageway roads: The design should be based on 40 % of the
total number of commercial vehicles in both directions.
 Dual carriageway roads: For the design of dual two-lane carriageway roads should
be based on 75 % of the number of commercial vehicles in each direction.

For dual three-lane carriageway and dual four-lane carriageway the distribution
factor will be 60 % and 45 % respectively.

(ii) CBR VALUES FOR SUB GRADE SOIL:

 It is recommended that whether in embankment or in cutting sub grade should be
compacted to the highest possible dry density so as to utilize the full strength of the
soil and economize the pavement.
 In the construction of highways, major district roads expressways urban roads
top of 500 mm of sub grade is to be compacted to minimum of 97% of density
achieved by heavy compaction (modified proctor compaction.).
 Inferior soil with dry density value less than 1.75 g/cc should not be accepted for the
use as sub grade material.
 CBR test should be carried out at appropriate moisture content.
 Rainfall, water table from the formulation level, cross slopes, type of shoulder, depth
of road side drains, type of pavement surfacing should be considered before deciding
the testing moisture content.
 CBR test should be conducted on a number of test specimens on each soil type
selected and average of at least 3 consistent values taken as per design CBR value.

1.2.3. PAVEMENT THICKNESS DESIGN CHARTS:

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

 The design curves relate pavement thickness to the cumulative number of standard
axles to be carried over the design life for different sub-grade CBR values ranging
from 2 % to 10 %.

 The design charts will give the total thickness of the pavement for the above inputs.
The total thickness consists of granular sub-base, granular base and bituminous
surfacing.

 The individual layers are designed based on the the recommendations given below
and the subsequent tables.

1.2.4. PAVEMENT COMPOSITION:

(a) SUB-BASE

 Sub-base materials comprise natural sand, gravel, laterite, brick metal, crushed
stone or combinations thereof meeting the prescribed grading and physical
requirements.

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  The sub-base material should have a minimum CBR of 20 % and 30 % for traffic
up to 2 msa and traffic exceeding 2 msa respectively.

 Sub-base usually consist of granular or WBM and the thickness should not be less
than 150 mm for design tra_c less than 10 msa and 200 mm for design traffic of 10
msa and above.

(b) BASE

 The recommended designs are for unbounded granular bases which comprise
conventional water bound macadam (WBM) or wet mix macadam (WMM) or
equivalent confirming to MOST specifications.

 The materials should be of good quality with minimum thickness of 225 mm for
traffic up to 2 msa and 150 mm for traffic exceeding 2 msa.

(c) BITUMINOUS SURFACING

 The surfacing consists of a wearing course or a binder course plus wearing course.

 The most commonly used wearing courses are surface dressing, open graded
premix carpet, mix seal surfacing, semi-dense bituminous concrete and
bituminous concrete.

 For binder course, IRC specifies, it is desirable to use bituminous macadam (BM) for
traffic up to 5 msa and dense bituminous macadam (DBM) for traffic more than 5
msa.

1.2.5. NUMERICAL EXAMPLE:

Design the pavement for construction of a new bypass with the following data:

1. Two lane carriage way

2. Initial traffic in the year of completion of construction = 400 CVPD (sum of both
directions)
3. Traffic growth rate = 7.5 %
4. Design life = 15 years
5. Vehicle damage factor based on axle load survey = 2.5 standard axle per commercial
vehicle
6. Design CBR of sub grade soil = 4%.

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SOLUTION:
 GIVEN DATA:

1. Two lane carriage way (75% of the total commercial vehicle in both directions)
Distribution factor (D) = 0.75= 0.75

2. Initial traffic in the year of completion of construction (A) = 400 CVPD (sum of both
directions)

3. Traffic growth rate (r) = 7.5 % = 0.075

4. Design life (n) = 15 years

5. Vehicle damage factor based on axle load survey (F) = 2.5 standard axle per commercial
vehicle

6. Design CBR of sub grade soil = 4%.

 DESIGN TRAFFIC (CSA):

. . [ . ]
N= .
= 7200000 = 7.2 msa.

 Total pavement thickness for CBR 4% and traffic 7.2 msa from IRC:37 2001 chart1 =
700 mm.

 Pavement composition can be obtained from Pavement Design Catalogue (IRC:37

2001).

(a) Bituminous surfacing = 40 mm BC + 80 mm DBM

(b) Road-base = 250 mm WBM
(c) Sub-base = 330mm granular material of CBR not less than 30%.

1.3. CONCLUSION:

 The design procedure given by IRC makes use of the CBR value, million standard
axle concept, and vehicle damage factor.
 Traffic distribution along the lanes is taken into account. The design is meant for
design traffic which is arrived at using a growth rate.

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