Pavement Engineering

Design of Rigid Pavements

Rigid Pavement Design 1

 Background
• IRC:58-2015; “Guidelines for the design of
plain jointed rigid pavements for Highways”
• The guidelines cover the design of plain
jointed cement concrete pavement.
• The guidelines are applicable for roads
having a daily commercial vehicles more
than 450 with laden weight exceeding 3T.
• They are not applicable to low volume rural
roads.
Rigid Pavement Design 2
 Typical Cross Sections

• PQC-Pavement Quality Concrete

• DLC- Dry Lean Concrete
• BC- Bituminous Concrete
Rigid Pavement Design 3
Typical Cross Sections….

Rigid Pavement Design 4

 Factors Governing Design
• Design period
• Design commercial traffic volume
• Composition of commercial vehicles in terms of
single, tandem and tridem axles
• Axle load spectrum
• Tyre pressure
• Lateral placement characteristics
• Directional distribution
• Strength of foundation
• Climatic considerations

Rigid Pavement Design 5

 Design Period
• Cement concrete pavement may be designed
to have a life span of 30 years or more.
• However, the Design Engineer should use his
judgment about the design life taking into
consideration the factors like, traffic volume,
the traffic growth rate, the capacity of the
road and possibly of growth of capacity by
widening.

Rigid Pavement Design 6

 Traffic Consideration
Design lane
• The lane carrying the maximum number
of heavy commercial vehicles is termed
as design lane.
• Each lane of a two-way two-lane
highway and the outer lane of multi-lane
highways can be considered as design
lanes.
Rigid Pavement Design 7
 Traffic Consideration…
Design traffic
• Traffic volume should normally be analyzed on
seven-day 24-hour count.
• Actual growth rate for heavy commercial vehicles
should be determined after the analysis of previous
traffic-count records.
• However, minimum growth rate may be taken as 5
percent and maximum of 7.5percent depending upon
the economic development of the region.
• Night time and day traffic analysis is important for
the analysis of top-down and bottom-up cracking
analysis respectively.
Rigid Pavement Design 8
 Traffic Consideration…
• The edge flexural stress caused by axle loads
for bottom up cracking is the maximum when
the tyre imprint of the outer wheel touches
the longitudinal edge.
• When the tyre position is away even by 150
mm from the longitudinal edge, stress in the
edge region is reduced substantially

Rigid Pavement Design 9

 Traffic Consideration…
• It is recommended that 25% of the total two-
way commercial traffic may be considered as
design traffic for two lane two way roads for
the analysis of fatigue damage.
• the case of four lane and other multi-lane
divided highways, 25% of the total traffic in
the direction of predominant traffic may be
considered for design of pavement.

Rigid Pavement Design 10

 Traffic Consideration…
• In the case of analyzing top-down cracking, the
design traffic will be a portion of the design traffic
considered for bottom-up cracking analysis.
• Commercial vehicles with the spacing between the
front axle and the first rear axle less than the spacing
of transverse joints should be considered for top-
down cracking analysis.
• This percentage will be established from the axle
load/ traffic survey.
• A default value of fifty percent of the design traffic
used for bottom-up cracking analysis may be
considered for the analysis of top down cracking.
Rigid Pavement Design 11
 Traffic….
• The cumulative number of repetitions of axle during the
design period may be computed from the formula:

• C = cumulative number of repetitions of axles during the

design period
• r = Annual rate of growth of commercial traffic (expressed in
decimals),
• A = Initial number of standard axle per day in the year when
the road is open to traffic,
• n = Design period in years

Rigid Pavement Design 12

 Axle load
Axle Load Characteristics
• The permissible axle loads is taken as 10.2
tonnes, 19 tonnes and 24 tonnes for single
axles, tandem axles and tridem axles
respectively.
• However, most of freight vehicles along the
National Highways as well as Feeders Roads
carry much more than these legal axle load
limits.
Rigid Pavement Design 13
 Axle load ..
• The pattern of axle load distribution of
commercial vehicles is necessary for the
purpose of computation of number of
repetitions of single and tandem axles of
different weights expected during the
design period.
• Axle load survey is necessary to conduct
for the continuous for 48 hours

Rigid Pavement Design 14

 Axle load ..
Minimum percentage of Commercial
vehicles to be weighed:
• 20 % sample size: for CVPD is less
than 3000
• 15 % sample size: for CVPD is 3000-
6000
• 10 % sample size: for CVPD is more
than 6000
Rigid Pavement Design 15
 Axle load ..
• The intervals at which axle load groups
should be classified for fatigue damage
analysis are:
• Single Axle 10 kN
• Tandem Axle 20 kN
• Tridem Axle 30 kN

Rigid Pavement Design 16

 Tyre Pressure
• For the most of commercial vehicles, the
commonly used tyre inflation pressures range
from about 0.7 MPa to 1.0 MPa.
• It is found that stresses in concrete pavements
having thickness of 200 mm or higher are not
affected significantly by the variation of tyre
pressure.
• A pressure of 0.8MPa is adopted for design
in these guidelines.
Rigid Pavement Design 17
 Temperature Consideration
Temperature Differential
• Temperature difference between top and bottom of
the concrete pavements causes the concrete slab to
warp.
• The temperature differential is a function of a solar
radiation received by the pavement surface at
location, losses due to wind velocity etc. and thermal
diffusivity and concrete, and is thus affected by
geographical features of the pavement location.
• As far as possible, values of actually anticipated
temperature differentials at the location using relevant
geographical features and material characteristics
should be used for analysis.

Rigid Pavement Design 18

 Temperature Differentials
Temperature differential,
oC/thickness of slab
Zone States
150 200 250 300-400
mm mm mm mm
I Hilly region… 12.5 13.1 14.3 15.8
II Punjab, U.P….. 12.5 13.1 14.3 15.8
III Bihar, West bengal… 15.6 16.4 16.6 16.8
IV Maharashtra… 17.3 19.0 20.3 21.0
V Kerala and Tamil Nadu 15.0 16.4 17.6 18.1
Coastal area bounded by 14.6 15.8 16.2 17.0
VI
hills
Coastal area unbounded 15.5 17.0 19.0 19.2
VII
by hills Rigid Pavement Design 19
 Temperature Consideration….
• Temperature differentials are positive when the slab
has the tendency to have a convex shape during the
day hours and negative with a concave shape during
the night.
• The axle load stresses should be computed for fatigue
analysis when the slab is in a curled state due to the
temperature differential during day as well as night
hours.
• During night hours, the total effective negative
temperature differential can be taken as (for TDC)
= day time temperature differential /2 +5 0C

Rigid Pavement Design 20

 Characteristics of Sub-grade soil
and Sub-base
CBR
• California Bearing Ratio (CBR) of
embankment soil placed below the 500
mm selected sub-grade should be
determined for estimating the effective
CBR of sub-grade and its 'k' value for
design.

Rigid Pavement Design 21

 Characteristics….
Sub-grade
• The strength of sub-grade is expressed in
terms of modulus of sub-grade reaction k,
which is defined as pressure per unit
deflection of the foundation as determined by
plate bearing tests.
• As limiting design deflection for cement
concrete pavements is taken as 1.25 mm, the
k-value is determined from the pressure
sustained at the deflection at this deflection.
Rigid Pavement Design 22
 Relationship between k-Value and
CBR Value
• The plate load test is time consuming and
expensive and therefore , the design k-value is
often estimated from soaked CBR value:
Soaked CBR 2 3 4 5 7 10 15 20 50 100
Value, %
k-value, MPa/m 21 28 35 42 48 55 62 69 140 220

• Note: 100 pci = 2.77kg/cm3 = 27.2 MPa/m

Rigid Pavement Design 23

 Effective CBR
• If the CBR of the 500 mm thick compacted sub-grade is
significantly larger than that of the embankment below it, the
effective CBR of the sub-grade can be estimated from Figure:

Rigid Pavement Design 24

 CBR…
• Minimum sub-grade CBR of 8 percent is
recommended for design.
• The in-situ CBR of the sub-grade soil can also
be determined quickly from the Dynamic Cone
Penetrometer (60° cone) tests using the
following relationship:

log10CBR=2.465-1.12 log10 N

N-rate of cone penetration (mm/blow)

Rigid Pavement Design 25
 Sub-base
• The main purpose of the sub-base is to provide a
uniform, stable and permanent support to the concrete
slab laid over it.
• It must have sufficient strength so that it is not
subjected to disintegration and erosion under heavy
traffic and adverse environmental conditions such as
excessive moisture, freezing and thawing.
• In the light of these requirements, sub-base of Dry
Lean Concrete (DLC) having a 7-day average
compressive strength of 10 MPa is recommended.
• Minimum recommended thickness of DLC for major
highways is 150 mm.
Rigid Pavement Design 26
 Sub base….
• In the light of international experience
cement treated sub base of minimum
characteristics 28 day compressive
strength of 7 MPa is recommended.

Rigid Pavement Design 27

 Sub-base
• Effective k-values of different combinations of
subgrade and sub-base (untreated granular and
cement treated granular) can be estimated from Table:
K-value of Effective k (MPa/m) of untreated Effective k (MPa/m) of Cement
sub-grade, Granular layer sub-base of thickness in treated sub-base of thickness in mm
(MPa/m) mm
150 225 300 100 150 200
28 39 44 53 76 108 141
56 63 75 88 127 173 225
84 92 102 119 - - -

Rigid Pavement Design 28

 Sub-base
• K-value for different combinations of DLC
sub-base thicknesses laid over granular sub-
base consisting of filter and drainage layers
can be adopted from table:
k-value of sub-grade k 21 28 42 48 55 62
(Mpa/m)
Effective k over 100 mm 56 97 166 208 278 300
DLC (MPa/m)
Effective k over 150 mm 97 138 208 277 300 300
DLC (Mpa/m)
Rigid Pavement Design 29
 Concrete Strength
• Flexural strength of concrete is required
for the design of concrete slab.
• Flexural strength of concrete can be
obtained after testing the concrete beam
as per procedure (IS: 516).

Rigid Pavement Design 30

 Concrete Strength..
• Alternatively, it can be derived from the characteristic
compressive strength using following relationship.

Where;
-flexural strength (modulus of rupture),N/mm2;

- characteristic compressive cube strength of concrete,

N/mm2

Rigid Pavement Design 31

 Concrete…
Modulus of Elasticity and Poisson’s Ratio
of Concrete
• The modulus of elasticity (E) and the
Poisson’s ratio ) of cement concrete vary
with concrete materials and strength.
• The elastic modulus increases with the
increase in strength, and Poisson’s ratio
decrease with the increase in modulus of
elasticity.
Rigid Pavement Design 32
 Concrete…
• It is suggested that for design purpose, the
following values may be adopted for concrete
for the flexural strength of 4.5 MPa.
– Modulus of elasticity of the concrete E =
30,000 MPa (3x105 kg/cm2)
– Poisson’s ratio = 0.15
– The coefficient of thermal expansion of
concrete , =10 x 10-6 / oC
Rigid Pavement Design 33
 Stress Ratio
• Due to repeated application of flexural stresses by the
traffic loads, progressive fatigue damage takes place
in the cement concrete slab in the form of gradual
development of micro-cracks especially when the
ratio between the applied flexural stress and the
flexural strength of concrete is high.
• The ratio between is termed as Stress Ratio (SR).
• If the SR is less than 0.45, the concrete is expected to
sustain infinite number of repetitions.
• As the SR increases, the number of repetitions
required to cause cracking decreases.

Rigid Pavement Design 34

 Relation Between Fatigue Life and
Stress Ratio
• N = unlimited for SR < 0.45

• when 0.45 <SR< 0.55

• when SR> 0.55

Where:
– N-fatigue life
– SR-Stress Ratio
Rigid Pavement Design 35
 Design of Slab Thickness
• Cement concrete pavements are subjected to stresses due to
the variety of factors, acting simultaneously.
• The severest combinations of different factors that induce
the maximum stress in the pavement will give the critical
stress conditions.
• The factors commonly considered for design of pavement
thickness are:
– flexural stress due to traffic loads and
– temperature differentials between top and bottom of
concrete slab,
as the two assumed to be additive under critical condition.

Rigid Pavement Design 36

 Calculation of Flexural Stress
• For bottom-up cracking case, the
combination of load and positive
temperature differential has been
considered.
• For top-down cracking analysis, the
combination of load and negative
temperature differential has been taken.

Rigid Pavement Design 37

 Bottom-Up Cracking
• The flexural stress at the bottom layer of
the concrete slab is the maximum during
the day hour; when the axle loads act
midway on the pavement slab while there
is a positive temperature gradient.
• This condition is likely to produce
bottom-up cracking (BUC).

Rigid Pavement Design 38

 Bottom-Up Cracking

Wheel Load

Location of Maximum tensile

Stress

Concrete Slab

Foundation

• Axle load placed in the middle of the slab

during mid day
Rigid Pavement Design 39
Location of Maximum Tensile Stress

Rigid Pavement Design 40

 Calculation….
• For bottom-up cracking analysis, single/tandem
axles have been placed on the slab in the
positions indicated in figure (see slide 40).

• Since the stresses due to tridem axles are

small, they were not considered for stress
analysis for bottom-up cracking case

• In bottom-up cracking case, single axle load

causes the largest edge stress followed by
tandem and tridem axles.
Rigid Pavement Design 41
 Top Down Cracking

• Placement of two axles of a Commercial Vehicle

on a slab curled during night hours.
Rigid Pavement Design 42
 Top Down Cracking
• During the night time, the top surface is cooler than
the bottom surface and the ends of the slab curl up
resulting in loss of support for the slab.
• Due to the restraint provided by the self-weight of
concrete and by the dowel connections, temperature
tensile stresses are caused at the top.
• The placement of axle loads close to transverse joints
when there is negative temperature gradient during
night period causing high flexural stresses in the top
layer leading to top-down cracking.

Rigid Pavement Design 43

Different Axle Load Positions

Rigid Pavement Design 44

 Calculation….
• For top-down cracking analysis, the load
position considered for analysis is as shown
in Figure (slide 44).
• As indicated in the figure, only one axle of
single/ tandem/ tridem axle units has been
considered for analysis in combination with
front axle.
• Front axle weight has been assumed to be 50
percent of the weight of one axle of the rear
axle unit (single/tandem/tridem) for analysis
Rigid Pavement Design 45
 Calculation…
• For heavy traffic conditions, dowel bars are
usually provided across transverse joints for
load transfer.
• Tied concrete shoulders are also necessary
for high volume roads.
• For traffic volumes smaller than 450
commercial vehicles per day tied concrete
shoulders and dowel bars are not generally
warranted
Rigid Pavement Design 46
 Calculation…
• The results of finite element analysis of a large
number of concrete pavements with different
pavement configurations subjected to various
combinations of axle loads and temperature
differentials have been presented in the form of
Charts.
• The charts can be used to obtain the edge flexural
stress caused by a specified magnitude of
single/tandem axle in combination with a specified
positive temperature differential for a given pavement
structure.
• Linear interpolation can be done for obtaining
stresses for intermediate loads and temperatures from
the charts given.
Rigid Pavement Design 47
 Cumulative Fatigue Damage (CFD)
Analysis
• For a given slab thickness and other design parameters, the
pavement will be checked for cumulative bottom-up and top-
down fatigue damage.
• For bottom-up cracking, the flexural stress at the edge due to the
combined action of single or tandem rear axle load and positive
temperature differential cycles is considered.
• This stress can either be selected from the stress charts or by
using the regression equations.
• Charts explains clearly the interplay of thickness, modulus of
sub-grade reactions, axle loads and temperature differentials.
• Similarly, for assessing the top-down fatigue damage caused by
repeated cycles of axle loads and negative temperature
differential, flexural stress can be estimated using the equation
given in guideline IRC:58-2015

Rigid Pavement Design 48

 CFD analysis…
• The flexural stress is divided by the design flexural strength
(modulus of rupture) of the cement concrete to obtain stress
ratio (SR).
• If the stress ratio (SR) is less than 0.45 then allowable
number of cycles of axle load is infinity.
• For stress ratio values greater than 0.45, allowable cycle of
loading (axle load + temperature) can be estimated using
Equation( slide 35)
• The concrete slab undergoes fatigue damage through crack
growth induced by repeated cycles of loading.
• The cumulative fatigue damage caused to the slab during its
service life should be equal to or less than one.

Rigid Pavement Design 49

 CFD Analysis…
• Analysis indicates that contribution to
cumulative fatigue damage (CFD) for
bottom-up cracking is significant only during
day time (say 10 am to 4 pm) because of
higher stresses due to simultaneous action of
wheel load and positive temperature gradient.
• Thus, the day hour traffic during the six hour
(10 am to 4 pm) is to be considered for
bottom-up cracking analysis.

Rigid Pavement Design 50

 CFD Analysis…
• For the top-down cracking analysis, only
the CFD caused during the period
between 0 am and 6 am is important.
• Hence, the six hour night time traffic
only is to be taken for computing CFD
for top-down cracking analysis.

Rigid Pavement Design 51

 CFD Analysis…
• If the exact proportions of traffic expected
during the specified six-hour periods are not
available, it may be assumed that the total
night time is equally distributed among the
twelve night hours.
• Similarly, the total day time traffic may be
assumed to be distributed uniformly during
the twelve day hours.

Rigid Pavement Design 52

• The Cumulative fatigue damage (CFD) expressions for
bottom-up and top-down cracking cases :

Where,
Nj = allowable number of load repetitions for the ith load group
during the specified six hour period;
ni = predicted number of load repetitions cycles for the ith load
group during the specified six-hour period
j = total number of load groups

Rigid Pavement Design 53

 Design Criterion
• If the sum of fatigue damages due to
wheel load and curling stresses at the
bottom and wheel load and curling
stresses at the top is equal to or less than
1, the pavement is safe from large scale
cracking.
• CFD (BUC) + CFD (TDC) < 1

Rigid Pavement Design 54

Design Procedure for Slab Design
Step 1 Specify design values for the various parameters
Step 2 Select a trial design thickness of pavement slab
Step 3 Compute the repetitions of axle loads of different
magnitudes and different Categories during the
design life
Step 4 Find the proportions of axle load repetitions
operating during the day and night periods
Step 5 Estimate the axle load repetitions in the specified
six-hour-period during the day time.
The maximum temperature differential is
assumed to remain constant during the 6 hours for
analysis of bottom-up cracking
Rigid Pavement Design 55
 Design Steps
Step 6 Estimate the axle load repetitions in the specified
six-hour period during the night time.
The maximum negative temperature differential
during night is taken as half of day-time maximum
temperature differential.
Built in negative temperature differential of 5oC
developed during the setting of the concrete is to be
added to the temperature differential for the analysis
of top-down cracking.
Only those vehicles with spacing between the
front (steering) axle and the first rear axle less
than the transverse joint spacing need to be
considered for top-down cracking analysis.
Rigid Pavement Design 56
 Design Steps….
Step 7 Compute the flexural stresses at the edge due to
the single and tandem axle loads for the
combined effect of axle loads and positive
temperature differential during the day time.
Determine the stress ratio (Flexural
stress/Modulus of rupture) and evaluate the
Cumulative Fatigue Damage (CFD) for single
and tandem axle loads

Rigid Pavement Design 57

 Design Steps….
Step 8 Compute the maximum flexural stress in the top
surface of the pavement slab with the front axle
near the approaching transverse joint and the
rear axle close to the following joint in the same
panel under negative temperature differential.
Determine the stress ratio and evaluate the CFD
for different axle loads for the analysis of top
Step 9
down cracking
Sum of CFD for the BUC and TDC is less than 1
the pavement slab is safe against fatigue
cracking.
Rigid Pavement Design 58
 Example
• A cement concrete pavement is to be
designed for a four lane divided National
Highway with two lanes in each direction in
the state of Bihar.
• Design life = 30 years
• Lane width = 3.5 m
• Transverse joint spacing = 4.5 m
• Expected traffic in the year of
completion=3000 CVPD in each direction

Rigid Pavement Design 59

 Example…
• Axle load survey of commercial vehicles:
– Front single axle = 45%
– Rear single axle = 15%
– Rear tandem axle = 25%
– Rear tridem axle = 15%
• The percentage of CVs with spacing between the front axle
and the first rear axle less than 4.5m is 55%
• CVs during night time = 60%
• Average number of axles per commercial vehicles= 2.35
• Effective CBR = 8 %
• Provide 150 mm granular sub-base
• Provide DLC sub-base of thickness 150 mm

Rigid Pavement Design 60

 Rear Single Axle Rear Tandem Axle Rear Tridem Axle
Mid- Mid- Mid-
Load Point of Load Point of Load Point of
Frequen Frequenc Frequenc
Group Load Group Load Group Load
cy (%) y (%) y (%)
(kN) Group (kN) Group (kN) Group
(kN) (kN) (kN)
185-195 190 18.15 380 - 400 390 14.5 530-560 545 5.23
175-185 180 17.43 360 - 380 370 10.5 500-530 515 4.85
165-175 170 18.27 340 - 360 350 3.63 470-500 485 3.44
155-165 160 12.98 320 - 340 330 2.5 440-470 455 7.12
145-155 150 2.98 300 - 320 310 2.69 410-440 425 10.11
135-145 140 1.62 280 - 300 290 1.26 380-410 395 12.01
125-135 130 2.62 260 - 280 270 3.9 350-380 365 15.57
115-125 120 2.65 240 - 260 250 5.19 320-350 335 13.28
105-115 110 2.65 220 - 240 230 6.3 290-320 305 4.55
95-105 100 3.25 200 - 220 210 6.4 260-290 275 3.16
85-95 90 3.25 180 - 200 190Design
Rigid Pavement 8.9 230-260 245 3.1
61

< 85 80 14.15 < 180 170 34.23 < 230 215 17.58
Typical cross section of a concrete
pavement
• Granular sub-
base=150mm
• DLC sub-
base =
150mm

Rigid Pavement Design 62

 Solution
a. Selection of modulus of sub-grade
reaction (k):
• Effective CBR = 8% (given)
Soaked CBR 2 3 4 5 7 10 15 20 50 100
Value, %
k-value, MPa/m 21 28 35 42 48 55 62 69 140 220

• k= from table (50.3 MPa/m)

Rigid Pavement Design 63
• K- value for dry lean concrete (DLC) sub-base
k-value of sub-grade 21 28 42 48 55 62
(MPa/m)
Effective k over 100 mm 56 97 166 208 278 300
DLC (MPa/m)
Effective k over 150 97 138 208 277 300 300
mm DLC (Mpa/m)
• The contribution of granular sub-base placed
below the DLC layer can be ignored for
estimating the effective modulus of sub-grade
reaction of the foundation.
• From above table k= 285MPa/m
Rigid Pavement Design 64
b. Selection of Flexural strength of
Concrete
• 28 days flexural strength = 4.5 Mpa
• 90 days flexural strength = 4.5x1.1 =
= 4.95MPa

Rigid Pavement Design 65

c. Design traffic:

• C= 113,222,346 CVs
– Annual growth rate = 7.5%
– Two way commercial vehicles = 3000 cvpd
in each direction
Rigid Pavement Design 66
• Average number of axles = 2.35
Hence,
Total one way axle load
repetition=113,222,346x2.35 axles
=266,072,513
Design traffic after adjusting for lateral placement
of 25% = 0.25x266,072,513=66,518,128
Day time (12hrs) design axle = 40% =26,607,251
Night time(12hrs) design axle 60% =39,910,877
Rigid Pavement Design 67
• Day time 6 hours traffic for Bottom Up
Cracking (BUC) = (total for twelve hrs/2)
=13,303,625 axles
• % of CVs having the spacing between the
front axle and the first rear axle less than 4.5
m = 55% (given)
• Hence night time six hour traffic for Top
Down Cracking (TDC) analysis = 55% of
night time traffic x 0.5 (6 hours)
=10,975,491 axles

Rigid Pavement Design 68

 Category wise design axle load
Axle Proportion Repetitions Repetitions
category of axle for BUC (X) for TDC (Y)
category
Front single 0.45 5,986,632 4,938,971
Rear Single 0.15 1,995,544 1,646,324
Tandem 0.25 3,325,906 2,743,873
Tridem 0.15 1,995,544 1,646,324

Rigid Pavement Design 69

d. CFD analysis
• Effective modulus of sub-grade reaction of
foundation = k= 285 Mpa/m
• Elastic modulus of concrete = 30,000 Mpa
• Poisson’s ratio of concrete = 0.15
• Design flexural strength of concrete = 4.95 Mpa
• Max day time temp. differential in slab (for
bottom up cracking) = 16.80C for Bihar
• Night time temperature differential in slab (for
TDC) = 16.8/2 +5 0C=13.40C
Rigid Pavement Design 70
• Trial thickness of slab = 28 cm=0.28 m

Rigid Pavement Design 71

 Rear Single Axle Rear Tandem Axle Rear Tridem Axle
Mid- Mid- Mid-
Load Point of Load Point of Load Point of
Frequen Frequenc Frequenc
Group Load Group Load Group Load
cy (%) y (%) y (%)
(kN) Group (kN) Group (kN) Group
(kN) (kN) (kN)
185-195 190 18.15 380 - 400 390 14.5 530-560 545 5.23
175-185 180 17.43 360 - 380 370 10.5 500-530 515 4.85
165-175 170 18.27 340 - 360 350 3.63 470-500 485 3.44
155-165 160 12.98 320 - 340 330 2.5 440-470 455 7.12
145-155 150 2.98 300 - 320 310 2.69 410-440 425 10.11
135-145 140 1.62 280 - 300 290 1.26 380-410 395 12.01
125-135 130 2.62 260 - 280 270 3.9 350-380 365 15.57
115-125 120 2.65 240 - 260 250 5.19 320-350 335 13.28
105-115 110 2.65 220 - 240 230 6.3 290-320 305 4.55
95-105 100 3.25 200 - 220 210 6.4 260-290 275 3.16
85-95 90 3.25 180 - 200 190 8.9 230-260 245 3.1
Rigid Pavement Design 72
< 85 80 14.15 < 180 170 34.23 < 230 215 17.58
 Cumulative Fatigue Damage Analysis for BUC
Rear Single Axles Rear Tandem Axles
Lo Expec Fle Str Allow Fatig Loa Exp. Flex St Allow Fatig
ad ted xur ess able ue d Rep ural re able ue
Gr Repet al Ra Repet Dam Gro etiti Stre ss Repe Dam
ou ition Str tio ition, age up on ss, R tition age
p (ni ess Ni ni/N (ni) MPa at , Ni ni/Ni
MPa i io
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
190 390
KN KN

(col.2)X* 18.15 = 0.45<SR<0.55

(col.3) by chart
(col.4) by formula
(col.8) X* 14.5 = SR>0.55
Rigid Pavement Design 73
 BUC Analysis pavement with TCS (Single axle load 80 kN and ∆T = 170 C)
2.50

S (k 300) S (k 150)

2.00 S (k 80) S (k 40)

Flexural Stress, MPa

1.50

1.00

0.50

0.00
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

Slab Thickness, m

Rigid Pavement Design 74

 BUC Analysis pavement with TCS (Single axle load 120 kN and ∆T = 170 C)
3.50

S (k 300) S (k 150)

3.00
S (k 80) S (k 40)

2.50
Flexural Stress, MPa

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50

0.00
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

Slab Thickness, m
Rigid Pavement Design 75
 BUC Analysis pavement with TCS (Single axle load 160 kN and ∆T = 170 C)
4.50

S (k 300) S (k 150)
4.00

S (k 80) S (k 40)
3.50

3.00
Flexural Stress, MPa

2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50

0.00
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

Slab Thickness, m

Rigid Pavement Design 76

 BUC Analysis pavement with TCS (Single axle load 200 kN and ∆T = 170 C)
5.50

5.00 S (k 300) S (k 150)

4.50 S (k 80) S (k 40)

4.00

3.50
Flexural Stress, MPa

3.00

2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50

0.00
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

Slab Thickness, m

Rigid Pavement Design 77

 BUC Analysis pavement with TCS (Single axle load 240 kN and ∆T = 170 C)
6.50

6.00 S (k 300) S (k 150)

5.50
S (k 80) S (k 40)
5.00

4.50
Flexural Stress, MPa

4.00

3.50

3.00

2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50

0.00
0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4

Slab Thickness, m

Rigid Pavement Design 78

 Cumulative Fatigue Damage
Analysis for TDC
Rear Single Axles Rear Tandem Rear Tridem Axle
Axle
Ex Fle Str All Fat Ex Fle Str All Fat Ex Fle Str All Fat
p. xur ess ow igu p. xur ess ow igu p. xur ess ow igu
Re al Rat abl e Re al Rat abl e Re al Rat abl e
pet Str io e Da pet Str io e Da pet Str io e Da
itio ess Re ma itio ess Re ma itio ess Re ma
n , pet ge n , pet ge n , pet ge
(ni) MP itio ni/ (ni) MP itio ni/ (ni) MP itio ni/
a n, Ni a n, Ni a n, Ni
Ni Ni Ni
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Rigid Pavement Design 79

 Design of Joints
• Great care is needed in the design and
construction of joints in cement concrete
pavements, as these are critical locations having
significant effect on the pavement performance.
• Cement concrete pavements have different types
of joints:
– Contraction joint
– Construction joints
– Expansion joint
– Longitudinal joints
Rigid Pavement Design 80
 Contraction Joints
• Contraction joints are transverse joints which
relieve the tensile stresses in concrete
pavements.
• The joint spacing of a concrete pavement
depends upon the type of coarse aggregates
and the average temperature fluctuation in
different seasons.
• The spacing of contraction joints should be
limited to 4.5 m to prevent top-down
cracking during the night hours.
Rigid Pavement Design 81
 Expansion Joints
• Expansion joints are transverse joints to allow
expansion of concrete slab due to rise in average
temperature in summer months.
• These joints are difficult to maintain and they
get filled up with dirt and other incompressible
materials causing locking of the joints and
preventing expansion of concrete slabs.
• They are, therefore, no longer in use except near
permanent structure like bridges and culverts.

Rigid Pavement Design 82

 Construction Joints
• Construction joints should, as far as
possible, be placed at the location of
contraction joints except in case of
emergency when a key joint may be used.

Rigid Pavement Design 83

 Longitudinal Joints
• Longitudinal joints are required in
pavements of width greater than 4.5 m to
allow for transverse contraction and
warping.

Rigid Pavement Design 84

 Load Transfer at Transverse Joints
• Load transfer to relieve part of the load stresses
in edge and corner regions of pavement slab at
transverse joints is provided by means of mild
steel round dowel bars.
• In coastal and high rainfall areas coated/
corrosion resistant dowel bars are often used to
provide long term load transfer.
• The coating may be zinc or lead based paint or
epoxy coating. Dowel bars enable good riding
quality to be maintained by preventing faulting
at the joints.
Rigid Pavement Design 85
 Load Transfer….
• The bearing stress in the concrete that is
responsible for the performance of dowel
bars at the joints.
• High concrete bearing stress can fracture the
concrete surrounding the dowel bars, leading
to the looseness of the dowel bar and the
deterioration of the load transfer system with
eventual faulting of the slab.
• Larger diameter dowel bars are found to
provide better performance.
Rigid Pavement Design 86
Load Transfer

Rigid Pavement Design 87

 Maximum Bearing Stress
Max. bearing stress between the concrete and dowel bar is:

= Relative stiffness of the bar embedded in concrete, mm

=Modulus of dowel support, MPa/m

Bd = diameter of the dowel bar, m

Z = Joint width (5 mm for contraction joint and 20 mm for expansion joint),

in mm
E = Modulus of elasticity of the dowel bar, MPa
l = Moment of inertia of the dowel bar, mm4
Pt = load transfer by designed dowel bar, kN

Rigid Pavement Design 88

• The modulus of dowel support, Kmds, denotes
the reaction per unit area due to applied load
when the deflection is equal to unity.
• The modulus of dowel support ranges from
80,000 to 415,000 MPa/m.
• A typical value of 415,000 MPa/m may be
adopted for design since only the fourth root
of the k-value affects the computation of .
Rigid Pavement Design 89
 Allowable Bearing Stress
• Each dowel bar should be designed for
the maximum load being transferred by it
for the allowable bearing pressure.
• Equation given by the American
Concrete Institute Committee may be
used for calculation of the allowable
bearing stress on concrete

Rigid Pavement Design 90

 Allowable Bearing Stress..

Fb = allowable bearing stress on concrete, MPa

bd = dowel diameter, mm
fck = characteristic compressive strength of the
concrete, MPa (For M 40 concrete,
fck = 40 MPa (28 days); = 48 MPa (90 days)

Rigid Pavement Design 91

Recommended Dimensions of Dowel
Bars
Slab Dowel bar details
thickness Diameter, Length, mm Spacing, mm
mm
200 25 360 300
230 30 400 300
250 32 450 300
280 36 450 300
300 38 500 300
350 38 500 300

Rigid Pavement Design 92

 Dowel Group Action
• When loads are applied at a joint, a portion of
the load is transferred to the other side of the
slab through the dowel bars.
• If the load is near the joint of a pavement slab
tied to a concrete shoulder, a part of the load is
transferred to the shoulder also.
• The dowel bar immediately below the wheel
load carries maximum amount of load and other
dowel bars transfer progressively smaller
magnitudes of loads.

Rigid Pavement Design 93

 Dowel Group Action…
• Recent studies indicate that the dowel bars
within a distance of one radius of relative
stiffness (1.0 l) from the point of load
application participate in load transfer.
• Assuming a linear variation of the load
carded by different dowel bars within 1.0 l,
the maximum load carried by a dowel bar can
be computed.

Rigid Pavement Design 94

 Example
• Slab thickness, h=330 mm
• Joint Width, z = 20mm (expansion joints), 5mm
(contraction joints)
• Modulus of sub-grade reaction = 80 Mpa/m
• Radius of relative stiffness = 1035.3 mm
• E for dowel bar = 2x105 Mpa
• Modulus of dowel support K mds =415000MPa/m
• Maximum single axle load = 190 KN (see slide
number 72 )
Rigid Pavement Design 95
 Solution
• Maximum single wheel load = 190/2=95 kN
• Assume a load transfer of 30% at terminal
stage to the tied concrete shoulder. (If no
concrete shoulder are provided, no load
transfer to shoulder may be assumed)
• Wheel load for dowel bar design
=0.7x95=66.5kN
• Assume percentage of load transfer through
dowel bar as 50% for 100% joint efficiency
• Then load to be transferred = 0.5x66.5
=33.25kN
Rigid Pavement Design 96
 Solution…
• Permissible bearing stress:

– Fck- characteristic compressive = 40MPa for M40 grade

– bd- diameter of the dowel bar = 38 mm (from table Slide 92)
Then Fb=26.7 Mpa
• Spacing between the dowel bars = 300 mm (from table Slide 92)
• Length of dowel bar =500 mm (from table Slide 92)

* First
dowel bar is placed at a distance of 150 mm
from the pavement edge

Rigid Pavement Design 97

 Solution…
• Dowel bars up to a distance of 1.0x radius of
relative stiffness (l) from the point of load
application are effective in load transfer.
• Number of dowel bars participating in load
transfer when the wheel load is just over the
dowel bar close to the edge of the slab
=1+l/spacing =1+1035.3/300 = 4 dowels

Rigid Pavement Design 98

 Solution…
• Assuming that the load transferred by the
first dowel is pt and that the load on
dowel bar at a distance of l from the first
dowel is zero, the total load transferred
by dowel bar system:
= {1+ (1035.3-300)/1035.3 + (1035.3-
600)/1035.3 + (1035.3-900)/1035.3 } pt
=2.26 pt

Rigid Pavement Design 99

 Solution…
• Then: 2.26 pt= 33.25 kN
• pt= 14.71 kN
Check for bearing stress:
• Moment of Inertia of dowel= =?
• Relative stiffness of dowel bar embedded in concrete

• = =?

• Bearing stress in dowel bar = ??

• If this value is less than permissible bearing stress dowel
bar design is safe.

Rigid Pavement Design 100

 Design of Tie Bars
• The area of the tie bar:

As=area of steel in cm2 per meter length of joint

b= distance between joint in question and nearest free
edge, in m (width of slab in m)
f= coefficient of friction between pavement and
subgrade, usually taken as 1.5
W= weight of slab in kg/m2
S=allowable working stress of steel, kg/cm2
Rigid Pavement Design 101
• No of tie bars required per m

A-area of cross section of one bar

Rigid Pavement Design 102

• The length of the tie bar :

L=length of tie bar,cm

S =allowable working stress in steel, kg/cm2
A =cross sectional area of one bar, cm2
P= Perimeter of tie bar, cm
B= Permissible bond stress (for deformed bars
B=24.6kg/cm2 and for plain bars B=17.5 kg/cm2)

Rigid Pavement Design 103

• The maximum diameter of the tie bars is
limited to 20mm to permit warping. To avoid
concentration of tensile forces, the spacing is
not kept greater than 75cm apart.
• The calculated length L is generally increased
by 10cm for loss of bond due to painting and
another 5 cm to account for inaccuracy
during placing

Rigid Pavement Design 104

 Example
Design a tie bar system for a concrete pavement, given;
1. Slab thickness h=33cm
2. Slab width (or lane width) b=3.5m
3. Number of lanes to be tied =2
4. Coefficient of friction between slab and subgrade =1.5
5. Density of concrete =2400kg/m3
6. Allowable working stress in steel
i. for plain bars = 1250kg/cm2
ii.for deformed bars = 2000kg/cm2
Maximum permissible bond stress:
i. Plain bars= 17.5kg/cm2
ii. Deformed bars=24kg/cm2
(Assume dia. of bar to be 12mm)
Rigid Pavement Design 105
 Tie Bars for Longitudinal Joints
Slab Tie Bar Details
Thickness
Diameter, mm Maximum spacing, mm Maximum length, mm
Plain Deformed Plain Deformed
150 8 330 530 440 480
10 520 830 510 560
200 10 390 620 510 560
12 560 900 580 640
250 12 450 720 580 640
300 12 370 600 580 640
16 660 1060 720 800
350 12 320 510 580 640
16 570 910 720 800

Rigid Pavement Design 106