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SUBGRADE CONSTRUCTION
From the materials point of view: 1. compaction of the top layer in cuts, and the whole depth of material in fills 2. identification and treatment of unsuitable material. Table 5-2 gives the general desirability of soil for use in highway embankment and subgrades. It uses the unified soil classification method.

AASHTO Standard M57 Materials for Embankments and Subgrades specifies that material classified as A-1, A-2-4,A-2-5 or A-3 can be used for embankments and should be compacted to 95% of its maximum density. If other classification of materials have to be used, special attention must be given to the design and construction of the embankment.

Avoid unsuitable materials or borderline materials as subgrades, if possible. What is plasticity? Excavate and replace organic materials by good engineering fills. If subgrade soils are less than desirable, use geotextiles to separate the base material from the subgrade and reinforce the subgrade strength by using geosynthetics.

Frost damage: the most serious cause of pavement structure failure in Canada.

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Frost heaving are frequent occurrence on roads. After heaving the next stage is spring breakup The following figure will explain the mechanism of the common frost damage.

Two useful tables to help identify frost-susceptible soils are:

For frost damage to occur, three conditions are required: 1. 2. 3. Freezing temperatures A source of free water A frost-susceptible soil

Characteristics of frost susceptible soils are: 1. have a fairly high capillary rise. 2. permeable enough to allow the transport of a sufficient quantity of water to the ice lenses during the time that the freezing front is stationary. 3. the rate of water movement in the soil allows a quantity of water to be transported to the ice lens that is sufficient to build a damaging thickness before the freezing front descends farther. Thus, frost susceptible soils include: silts, silty clays, very fine sands and sands and gravels containing silt or clay fines. Clean sands and gravels have very low capillary fringes (hc = 30cm), thus few, if any, ice lens can form. Fairly impervious soils, such as heavy clays, are not particularly frost-susceptible unless they contain seams of more permeable materials, such as varved clay.

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GRANULAR BASE & SUBBASE COURSES

Base courses are composed of either solely granular materials or soil or granular materials stabilized by an additive. Granular base courses are mainly aggregates from sand or gravel deposits or crushed stones. The main purpose of the base course in flexible pavements is to distribute the load. The higher the load to distribute, the thicker should be the base course. In order to satisfy its purpose the material for base must be well graded, sound, durable and also provide a very good drainage. The base course must also prevent infiltration of subgrade materials. Subbases for flexible pavements also must drain readily and be free of frost action. Strength is not as important since it is lower than the base course and subjected to smaller loads. Right below the rigid pavement there is always a layer of granular course. This layer is known as subbase too. The purpose of this subbase is two folded. Firstly, it must provide a good drainage. Secondly, it prevents pavement pumping. The mechanics of pumping are:

Material Qualities for:

1. Granular Base:

The main quality specification for a granular base course is the grain-size distribution requirement. 1. It must be well graded for maximum density. The percentage of fines is usually restricted to a low maximum to ensure good drainage and non frost susceptible. 2. Maximum values for plasticity-to control the amount of clay fines. 3. Maximum loss in abrasion test-not to degrade to smaller sizes during construction or during the life of the pavement. 4. Maximum loss in soundness test-to prevent degradation due to cycles of freezing and thawing. 5. Petrographic requirements-to have limited amount of deleterious materials. 2. Subbase:

Pumping could increase the void size and eventually affect the levelness and stability of the rigid pavement. Aggregates in this layer must also be free-draining, durable, sound, and resistant to infiltration of subgrade soils.

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Drainage
Pavement bases that becomes saturated, or partially saturated, lose a considerable portion of their load-carrying capacity. This will result in pavement failure. In addition, excess water draining into subgrade soils can increase the danger of frost heaving. Some highway authorities specifies that an open-graded granular layer, 100mm thick, be used immediately below the surface course. Open graded granular layer would be unsuitable for construction traffic, due to extensive particle movement and rut formation. It is therefore processed with 1.8% asphalt cement to provide the required stability without significantly reducing permeability. Portland cement, at the rate of 120kg/m3 also has been used as a stabilizing agent for the drainage layer. The drainage course must be protected from the infusion of fines from below by means of underlying the drainage layer with a layer of standard base material. Water from the drainage layer must be carried away as quickly as possible. This is often done by using subdrains. The subdrains are perforated pipes wrapped with geotextiles to avoid fines to enter the pipes and the subdrain pipes must be surrounded by open graded aggregates.

A minimum percentage of fines is required due to the following reasons:

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STABILIZED BASE AND SURFACE COURSES

When low-quality aggregates or in-situ materials must be used, soil and aggregate must be stabilized by special gradation of granular materials or by using strengthening agents such as lime, salt, asphalt, or Portland cement. Restriction on fines are required in well graded bases in order to provide good drainage. However, the surface layer of unpaved rural roads should contain more fines. Fines, in this situation, are required to: 1. provide a very dense surface to resist traffic abrasion. 2. provide an impermeable layer so that surface water can run off rather than enter the base. Table 5-8 gives a typical specification for surface course material on these roads.

Lime used with highly plastic, fine-grained soils in amounts of up to 8%

by mass, and with fine graded aggregate materials in amounts of up to 4%. When mixed and compacted, the plasticity and swelling potential of clay soils are reduced, and workability increased, as the lime combines with the clay particles. After a period of time, the strength of plastic soils and aggregate mixtures increase as the lime reacts with silica and alumina in the materials to form weak cementing agents.

Salts such as calcium chloride, can be mixed with aggregates and water to produce a significant increase in strength. The rate of application is up to 2% by mass.
It also act as an agent to keep down the dust on rural unpaved roads. These roads usually have a high content of fines on the surface so as to produce a smooth and impermeable layer. When calcium chloride is sprinkled on the road, calcium chloride will absorb moisture from the atmosphere to bind the fines and reduce the traffic abrasion on the road surface.

The table below gives a visual comparison of fines in the surface, base, and subbase layers.

Other base stabilization agent include asphalt, portland Cement, and soil cement.

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Geosynthetics
Geosynthetic are artificial materials, usually fabrics, used in many types of construction involving soils. Design and procedure of installation are usually proprietary information provided by the vendors engineers or specified on their corresponding catalogues. Uses of geosynthetics in highway engineering are shown in Figure 5-11

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