Function and Composition of Road Pavements

Function and Composition of Road Pavements
Roads are built up in several layers, consisting of sub-grade, sub-base, base

and surface layer. These layers together constitute the pavement.
Pavements made from good qualit y building materials spread the forces caused by
the traffic so that the loads exerted on to the road foundation is protected from
overloading and deformation.
The pavement can be constructed from a wide variety of materials and mixtures of
materials
consisting of gravel, stone, bitumen, concrete or improved soils.
The choice of materia ls and thickness of the pavement layers are determined by
the expected traffic density. Factors such as available budgets, the location of the
road and the availability of suitable local materials are key parameters, which also
need careful consideration during the design stage.
The surface layer seals the pavement and prevent s surface water from
penetrating and weakening the base
and sub-grade.
The most common surface for rural roads is constructed from natural gravels.
Bituminous and concrete surfaces provide more imperme able se a l s a nd a re
more resistant to the abrasive forces caused by the combined effects of weather
and traffic.
The road base (also referred to as the base course) is the main layer in terms
of providing additional strength and load bearing capacity to the road.
Commonly, this layer consist of crushed and graded materials or selected soils from
natural sources which conform to certain characteristics known to improve the
quality of the road.
The sub-base is an additional strengthening layer with a similar purpose as the road
base. the sub-base will have less stringent quality requirements as compared to the
road base. The sub-base may also act as a separating layer between the road base
materials and the sub-grade.
The natural soil on which the road is constructed is referred to as the sub-grade.
The sub-grade consists of undisturbed soils or it may be a road fill with soils
imported from elsewhere along the road line.
Rural roads built for low traffic loads or on very good soils do not need all these
layers. In some cases, it is adequate to provide a good surface layer. In other cases,
natural soils may be strong
enough to carry the expected traffic.
The loads caused by the traffic need to be transferred from the surface down into
the foundation, i.e. to the subgrade without causing any damage to the road. When
the road is located on strong sub-grades, the need for strengthening layers is
reduced.
Roads located in areas with poor soils need a stronger base,distributing the forces
more widely onto the foundation. Equally, roads with high traffic levels will need
more durable surface treatments.
Pavement Design
Pavement design is essentia lly an empirical science, relying on what actually works
in practice. While the essential building blocks consist of local soils, crushed
rock,bitumen and cement.
The main determining factors when designing a road pavement are as follows:
• quality of sub-grade soils,

• distance to appropriate building
materials – and their resulting
costs,
• amount and type of traffic (heavy
or light),
• traffic projections,
• weather conditions,
• maintenance demand.
Pavement Types
Rural roads can be categorised according to the main building materials used in the
pavement:
• earth,
• gravel or aggregate,
• bituminous mixes,
• concrete, and
• stone or bric
Earth a nd gravel roads are often referred to as roads with an un-bound surface as
opposed to bound surface treatments, which include bitumen or cement as a binder
mixed into to the aggregate used in the pavement.
Earth and gravel surfaces are appropriate for roads with limited traffic.
For roads with high traffic volumes, the use of bitumen binder is applied to both
base and surface layers.
Earth Roads
General Description
The term earth road is often used for any road without a bound surface layer, i.e. a
road without a bituminous or cement based surface treatment. Earth roads also
provide a common solution to access needs to private properties, farms, plantations
and estates. They serve as temporary access on civil works projects and when
traffic needs to be temporarily redirected away from construction sites.
Gravel Roads
Gravel roads often constitute the majority of the public road network in developing
countries.
This type of roads is inexpensive to build and is well suited for the purpose of
providing basic allweather access.
Gravel Quality
Although the process is called "gravelling", various materials can be used, such as
laterite, limestone and gravel. Suitable surface layers can also be constructed from
materials such as coral stone and crushed stone.
Composition of Gravel
The most suitable material consists of a mixture of stone, sand and clay. A good
gravel surface should contain 35-65% stone for strength, 20-40% sand to fill the
gaps between the stone
and 10-25% clay. The clay acts as a binder keeping the sand and stone particles in
place.
Sources of Gravel
The first step is to identify suitable quarry sites
Quarry Selection
The main criteria for selecting a quarry are quality of the gravel, access to
the quarry and the hauling distance.Much depends on which materials are available
in close proximity to the roadwork sites.
The following aspects need to be considered when selecting a quarry:

• The qua rr y shou ld conta in suff icient gravel of adequate quality.
• The depth of topsoil, preferably not exceeding 30 centimetres.Removal of topsoil
is expensive and time consuming.
• The quarry should be as close as possible to the work site.
• There should be good access from existing roads to the quarry, as opening new
access roads to the quarry will increase costs.
• The quarry should avoid farmlands or land already in use for other purposes.
• Land ownership and compensation issues, quarry concession rights and royalty
fees need to be arranged at an early stage.
Quarry Access
The efficiency of the gravel supply is very much dependent on the quality
of the roads on which the gravel is transported. This also includes the access road
from existing roads to the
quarry site.
The quarry should be operated in such a way that the transport vehicles can
enter and leave without being in each other's way. When the quarry is located at
some
distance from existing roads, the access road needs to be designed so that trucks
or other vehicles are able to meet and pass each other while travelling on the
access road.
Ifthe quarry is located close to an existing road, the transport can be organised with
separate entry and exit routes.
Work Procedures
The graveling operation consists of three major components,
I. quarrying works,
II. transport of materials, and
III. the surfacing works at the roadwork site. Each of these components needs to
be carefully planned.
The gravel surfacing activities can be divided into two distinct groups depending on
the location. The quarry work s includes excavation work s, stockpiling materials
and loading
At the other end of the chain of activities,where the gravel material is

delivered,there needs to an effective organization which ensures that unloading,
spreading, watering and compaction are carried out to the expected rate of
progress.
Hauling Gravel
Gravel transport can be organized in ma ny ways, depending on the distance from
the gravel source to the road site and the type of equipment available to the
project.

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Function and Composition of Road Pavements

Roads are built up in several layers, consisting of sub-grade, sub-base, base

• quality of sub-grade soils,

The following aspects need to be considered when selecting a quarry:

At the other end of the chain of activities,where the gravel material is

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