Pavement Design A rigid pavement structure may consist of two

layers, designated as the pavement slab and sub-

Introduction base course. When the roadbed soils are the of
The pavement is defined as that portion of the sub-base quality the sub-base course is often
road or highway, placed above the subgrade omitted. The design procedure includes the
specifically for the support of and to provide a determination of thickness of the Portland cement
running surface for vehicular traffic. It may concrete pavement slab and the design of joints
extend to and include the shoulders on higher and of the steel reinforcement.
category roads and highways Expansion Joints – the primary function of an
Pavement design is the process of determining expansion joint is to prevent the development of
the thickness and strength of a pavement laid on a damaging compressive stresses due to volume
soil foundation (subgrade) for the purpose of changes in the pavement slab, and to prevent
providing an even non-skid, stable, and desirable excessive pressure being transmitted to adjacent
surface, permitting efficient, rapid and safe flow structures.
of traffic in accordance with specified loads.
Pavement Slab Contraction Joints – the purpose of
Pavement Slab may be constructed with or contraction joints is to provide for an orderly
without reinforcement. They may be designed as arrangement of the cracking that occurs. If the
continuous structural elements or jointed joints are properly designed and spaced, a
structural elements where relatively shorter slab minimum of cracking outside the joint would be
lengths are joined together in a systematic way to expected.
maintain good ride quality. The basic materials in Longitudinal Joints – longitudinal joints are
the pavement slab are Portland cement concrete, used to prevent the formation of irregular
dowel bars or steel reinforcement, load transfer longitudinal cracks and may be keyed butt joints
devices (e.g. dowel bars), and joint sealing or mechanically formed or sawed grooves.
materials. Adjacent lanes should be kept from separating
Sub-base Course and faulting by steel/tie bars or connectors. The
depth of formed or sawed grooves should not be
The structural support provided by the sub-base less than 25% of the thickness of the pavement
layer is insignificant as the major portion of the slab.
structural capacity is taken by the concrete base.
Notwithstanding this, sub-base layer is generally Tie Bars – tie bars, either deformed steel bars or
provided for rigid pavements to: connectors, are designed to hold the faces of
abutting slabs in firm contact. The bars are
 Provide a stable ‘working platform’ on designed to withstand the maximum tensile
which to operate construction equipment forces required to overcome subgrade drag.
during construction.
 Facilitate the provision of a uniform Roadbed Soil (Subgrade)
bearing surface under the pavement. A pavement structure is a layered system
 Reduce deflection at joints. designed to distribute concentrated traffic loads to
 Assist in the control of excessive shrink the subgrade. The preparation of subgrade
and swell of high-volume change includes grading and compaction of the roadbed
subgrade soils. soils and may include other means of providing
 Prevent ‘pumping’ at joints and slabs. optimum support for the pavement structure like
Rigid Pavements drainage control and soil stabilization by
mechanical means of by the use of soil stabilizers
 such as cement, asphalt-based binders, lime and
water repellents.
Resilient Modules of Subgrade Reaction
Resilient modulus is a measure of the elastic
property of soil recognizing certain nonlinear
characteristics. The resilient modulus can be used
directly for the design of flexible pavements but
must be converted to a modulus of subgrade
reaction for the design of rigid or composite
pavements.
Axle Loading
Axle load is the portion of the total vehicle load
transmitted to the road through a single axle. The
distribution of axle loading should be determined
as per Annex B, DWPH Order No. 22, Series
2011.

Load Equivalence Factor (LEF or

sometimes abbreviated as EF)
The LEF is a representation of the damaging
effect per pass to a pavement by a type of axle
relative to the damage per pass of a standard axle
load (usually the 8,200 kg (80kN) single-axle
load). LEF is expressed using the following
formula.

Designed Traffic Load (ESAL)

DPWH Order No. 22 dated 08 April 2011 on the
subject of ‘Minimum Pavement Thickness and
Width of National Roads’ includes an ‘Annex A:
Procedure in Computing the Cumulative
Equivalent Single Axle Load (CESAL)’ as shown
below:
1. Determine the Design Traffic for each
vehicle type.

Where:
P = annual average daily traffic
i = traffic growth rate
n = design life period (20 years for PCCP and 10
years for ACP)

2.Determine the LEF for each vehicle type

 shown in Annex B ‘Axle Load Distribution A traffic growth rate of 4% and a design period of
Factors’ 20 years are assumed.

The damaging effect per pass to a II. SOLUTION

pavement by a type of axle relative to the
 Determine the Design Traffic for each
damage per pass of a standard axle load
truck type.
(usually the 8,200 kg single-axle load) is
expressed as load equivalence factor
(LEF). The LEF for each axle is calculated
using the following formula.

Then determine the LEF for each vehicle

type.
 Determine the equivalence factor (EF) for
each axle and truck type. The table on
3. Compute the Cumulative Equivalent GVW and maximum allowable axle load
Single Axle Load (CESAL) for each prescribed under RA 8794 as shown will
vehicle type. be used in calculating the EF of each
truck type.

Where:
DD = directional distribution factor,
which is generally 50% for a two-way
traffic and 100% for one-way traffic
DL = lane distribution factor. The DL
factor may be calculated using the Lane
Distribution Factor in table below.

Example
I. DATA
Given the AADT of a road for one direction as
follows:
Maximum allowable axle load = 13,500 kg
In a 2 - axle truck, the load distribution for each
axle is as shown in the figure below.

The EF for a 2 - axle truck is then computed as

follows:

In a 3 - axle truck, the load distribution for each

axle is as shown in the figure below.

The EF for a 3 - axle truck is then computed as

follows:

In a 4 - axle truck, the load distribution for each

axle is as shown in the figure below.

The EF for a 4 - axle truck is then computed as

follows:

 Compute for CESAL for all vehicle types.

In the example shown, if a PCCP is used, the

thickness of the pavement may be less than 280 The critical section Is at the edge of a
cm since the calculated CESAL is less than 7.0 contraction joint. it will crack
x 106 . The actual thickness shall be computed approximately 45' with the edges.
based on AASHTO guidelines, but should not
be less than 230 mm.

 With Dowels or tie bars

The purpose of dowel is to transmit the
stresses due to the load from the
adjacent pavement.

Flexible Pavement

Rigid Pavement (Older’s Theory)

 Without Dowels or tie bars

Example

A flexible pavement carries a static wheel load

of 53.5kN. The circular contact area of the tire
Is 85806 mm2 the transmitted load is
distributed across a wide area of the subgrade at
an angle of 45 degrees. The subgrade bearing
value is 0.14 MPa, while that of the base Is 0.41
MPa. Design the thickness of pavement and that
of the base.
Determine the thickness of a rigid pavement of the
proposed Nagtahan road to carry a maximum
wheel load of 60 kN. Neglect the effect of dowels.
fc’ = 20 MPa. Allowable tensile stress of concrete
pavement is 0.06fc’.

A rigid pavement is to be used to carry a wheel

load of 53.5 kN. Design the thickness of the
pavement. The allowable tensile stress of
concrete is 1.38 Mpa. Sufficient dowels are used
across the joints.