Introduction to Pavement and

Types

Engr. Muhammad Imran

 PAVEMENT
The pavement is the structure which
separates the tyres of vehicles from the
underlying foundation material. The later is
generally the soil but it may be structural
concrete or a steel bridge deck.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

• A highway pavement is a structure consisting
of superimposed layers of processed materials
above the natural soil sub-grade, whose
primary function is to distribute the applied
vehicle loads to the sub-grade. The pavement
structure should be able to provide a surface
of acceptable riding quality, adequate skid
resistance, favorable light reflecting
characteristics, and low noise pollution.
Engr. Muhammad Imran
• The ultimate aim is to ensure that the
transmitted stresses due to wheel load are
sufficiently reduced, so that they will not
exceed bearing capacity of the sub-grade. Two
types of pavements are generally recognized
as serving this purpose, namely flexible
pavements and rigid pavements. 

Engr. Muhammad Imran

Requirements of a pavement
An ideal pavement should meet the following requirements:
• Sufficient thickness to distribute the wheel load stresses
to a safe value on the sub-grade soil,
• Structurally strong to withstand all types of stresses
imposed upon it,
• Adequate coefficient of friction to prevent skidding of
vehicles,
• Smooth surface to provide comfort to road users even at
high speed,

Engr. Muhammad Imran

• Produce least noise from moving vehicles,
• Dust proof surface so that traffic safety is not
impaired by reducing visibility,
• Impervious surface, so that sub-grade soil is
well protected, and
• Long design life with low maintenance cost.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

 Types of pavements
• The pavements can be classified based on the
structural performance into two,
• flexible pavements and
• rigid pavements.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

 FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS

Flexible Pavements are

constructed from bituminous
material and the stress is
transmitted to the sub-grade
through the lateral distribution of
the applied load with depth.
Engr. Muhammad Imran
Asphalt Concrete Aggregate Base Course

Natural Soil (Subgrade)

Aggregate Subbase Course

Engr. Muhammad Imran
Typical Load Distribution in Flexible Pavement

Wheel Load

Bituminous Layer

Sub-grade
Engr. Muhammad Imran
Typical Stress Distribution in Flexible Pavement.

Vertical stress

Foundation stress

Engr. Muhammad Imran

 flexible pavements
• In flexible pavements, wheel loads are
transferred by grain-to-grain contact of the
aggregate through the granular structure. The
flexible pavement, having less flexural
strength, acts like a flexible sheet (e.g.
bituminous road).

Engr. Muhammad Imran

Engr. Muhammad Imran
 Deflection on flexible pavement
• The wheel load acting on the pavement will be
distributed to a wider area, and the stresses
decreases with the depth. Taking advantage of
this stress distribution characteristic, flexible
pavements normally have many layers. Hence,
the design of flexible pavement uses the
concept of layered system.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

• Based on this, flexible pavement may be
constructed in a number of layers and the top
layer has to be of best quality to sustain
maximum compressive stress, in addition to
wear and tear.
• The lower layers will experience lesser
magnitude of stress and low quality material
can be used.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

• Flexible pavements are constructed using
bituminous materials. These can be either in
the form of surface treatments (such as
bituminous surface treatments generally
found on low volume roads) or, asphalt
concrete surface courses (generally used on
high volume roads such as national highways).

Engr. Muhammad Imran

• Flexible pavement layers reflect the
deformation of the lower layers on to the
surface layer (e.g., if there is any undulation in
sub-grade then it will be transferred to the
surface layer). In the case of flexible
pavement, the design is based on overall
performance of flexible pavement, and the
stresses produced should be kept well below
the allowable stresses of each pavement layer.
Engr. Muhammad Imran
 Flexible Pavement Types
1. Conventional flexible pavements.
2. Full-depth asphalt pavements.
3. Partial-depth Asphalt pavements
Conventional flexible Partial depth asphalt Full depth asphalt
pavement pavement pavement
 Conventional Flexible Pavements

• Are layered systems with better materials on

top where the intensity of stress is high and
inferior materials at the bottom where the
intensity is low.
• Adherence to this design principle makes the
use of local materials possible and usually
result in the most economical design.
Typical layers of a flexible pavement

Fig: Typical x-section of flexible pavement

Engr. Muhammad Imran

Typical layers of a conventional flexible pavement includes:
• seal coat
• surface course
• tack coat
• binder course
• prime coat
• base course
• sub-base course and
• sub-grade.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

Seal Coat:
Seal coat is a thin surface treatment used to water-
proof the surface and to provide skid resistance.

Tack Coat:
Tack coat is a very light application of asphalt, usually
asphalt emulsion diluted with water. It provides proper
bonding between two layers of binder course and must
be thin, uniformly cover the entire surface, and set
very fast.
Engr. Muhammad Imran
Prime Coat:
Prime coat is an application of low viscous
cutback bitumen to an absorbent surface like
granular bases on which binder layer is placed.
It provides bonding between two layers.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

Surface course
Surface course is the layer directly in contact
with traffic loads and generally contains
superior quality materials. They are usually
constructed with dense graded asphalt
concrete (AC). The functions and requirements
of this layer are:

Engr. Muhammad Imran

• It provides characteristics such as friction,
smoothness, drainage, etc. Also it will prevent the
entrance of excessive quantities of surface water
into the underlying base, sub-base and sub-grade,
• It must be tough to resist the distortion under traffic
and provide a smooth and skid- resistant riding
surface,
• It must be water proof to protect the entire base
and sub-grade from the weakening effect of water.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

Binder course
This layer provides the bulk of the asphalt
concrete structure. It's chief purpose is to
distribute load to the base course The binder
course generally consists of aggregates having
less asphalt and doesn't require quality as high
as the surface course, so replacing a part of the
surface course by the binder course results in
more economical design.
Engr. Muhammad Imran
Base course
The base course is the layer of material
immediately beneath the surface of binder
course and it provides additional load
distribution and contributes to the sub-surface
drainage it may be composed of crushed stone
and other untreated or stabilized materials.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

Sub-Base course
The sub-base course is the layer of material
beneath the base course and the primary
functions are to provide structural support,
improve drainage, and reduce the intrusion of
fines from the sub-grade in the pavement
structure If the base course is open graded, then
the sub-base course with more fines can serve as
a filler between sub-grade and the base course.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

A sub-base course is not always needed or
used. For example, a pavement constructed
over a high quality, stiff sub-grade may not
need the additional features offered by a sub-
base course. In such situations, sub-base
course may not be provided.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

Sub-grade
The top soil or sub-grade is a layer of natural
soil prepared to receive the stresses from the
layers above. It should be compacted to the
desirable density, near the optimum moisture
content.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

 Full-Depth Asphalt Pavements
• Full-Depth Asphalt Pavements:
Are constructed by placing one or more layers of
HMA directly on the subgrade or improved subgrade.
• Used for heavy traffic.
• Typical cross section: Asphalt surface, tack coat,
asphalt base, and prepared subgrade.
Full-Depth Asphalt Cross Section
Advantages of Full-depth Asphalt Pavements

1. Have no permeable granular layers to entrap water

and impair performance.
2. Reduced construction time.
3. Construction seasons may be extended.
4. Provide & retain uniformity in the pavement
structures.
5. Less affected by moisture or frost.
6. Little or no reduction in subgrade strength because
moisture do not build up in subgrade when full-
depth asphalt is used.
 Rigid pavements
• Rigid pavements have sufficient flexural
strength to transmit the wheel load stresses to
a wider area below. Compared to flexible
pavement, rigid pavements are placed either
directly on the prepared sub-grade or on a
single layer of granular or stabilized material.

Engr. Muhammad Imran

• Since there is only one layer of material
between the concrete and the sub-grade, this
layer can be called as base or sub-base course.
• In rigid pavement, load is distributed by the
slab action, and the pavement behaves like an
elastic plate resting on a viscous medium.
Rigid pavements are constructed by Portland
cement concrete (PCC).

Engr. Muhammad Imran

Rigid Pavement
Concrete Slab

Sub-grade

Engr. Muhammad Imran

 Rigid Pavements
• Rigid pavements are placed either directly on the prepared
subgrade or on a single layer of granular or stabilized
materials (called base course or subbase).
• Use of base course in rigid pavements:
1. Control of pumping (ejection of water and subgrade soil through
joints, cracks, and along the edges. stabilized base are less erodible).
2. Control of frost action.
3. Improvement of drainage (raise pavement from water table).
4. Control of shrinkage and swell (work as waterproof and as
surcharge load).
5. Expedition of construction (working platform).
Rigid Pavement Cross Section
 Types of Rigid Pavements
1. Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCP).
2. Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavements (JRCP).
3. Continuous Reinforced Concrete pavements
(CRCP).
4. Prestressed Concrete Pavements (PCP).
 Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements
(JPCP).
• Constructed with closely spaced contraction
joints.
• Dowels or aggregates interlock may be used
for load transfer across the joints.
• Joint spacing ( 15 to 30 ft)
• Tie bars are used for longitudinal joints.
JPCP
JPCP
 Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavements
(JRCP).
• Steel reinforcement in the form of wire mesh or
deformed bars are installed.
• Allow the use of longer joint spacing.
• Joint spacing (30- 100 ft).
• Dowels are required for load transfer across the
joints.
• The amount of distributed steel increase with the
increase in joint spacing and is designed to hold the
slab together after cracking.
JRCP
 JRCP

Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement (JRCP):

Continuous Reinforced Concrete pavements
(CRCP).
• It has no joints.
• Joints are the weak spots in rigid pavements.
• Eliminating joints reduced thickness of
pavement by 1 to 2”.
• Most frequent distress is punchout at the
pavement edge.
CRCP
 CRCP

Continuous Reinforced Concrete Pavement(CRCP)

Engr. Muhammad Imran
 CRCP

Continuous Reinforced Concrete Pavement(CRCP)

 Prestressed Concrete Pavements (PCP).
• The pre application of a compressive stress to the
concrete greatly reduces the tensile stresses caused
by traffic and thus decrease the thickness of concrete
required.
• Has less probability of cracking and fewer transverse
joints and therefore results in less maintenance and
longer pavement life.
• Used more frequently for airport pavements than for
highway pavements because the saving of thickness
for airport pavements is much greater than for
highways.
PCP
PCP
 Composite Pavements
• Composed of both HMA & PCC.
• Using PCC bottom layer & HMA top layer results in an
ideal pavement with most desirable characteristics.
• PCC provide strong base
• HMA provides a smooth non-reflective surface.
• Very expensive and rarely used.
• A longitudinal joint should be installed
between the two traffic lanes to prevent
longitudinal cracking.

• Some more figures about flexible & Rigid

Pavements

Engr. Muhammad Imran

Engr. Muhammad Imran
Engr. Muhammad Imran
Engr. Muhammad Imran
Engr. Muhammad Imran
• http://www.pavementinteractive.org/article/l
oad-transfer/

Engr. Muhammad Imran