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SUITABILITY OF DIFFERENT TYPES

OF SOILS IN CONSTRUCTION OF
PAVEMENT LAYERS & HIGHWAY
EMBANKMENTS
 Soil is an unconsolidated material that has resulted
from the disintegration of rocks.
 Soils are highly heterogeneous and anisotropic in
nature and occur in unlimited varieties.
 For a highway engineer, a knowledge of the
strength of a soil is extremely important, since the
pavement structure and foundation of structures
rests on soils.
 Aggregates are combination of distinct particles
gathered into an aggregate mass such as sand, gravel,
crushed stone and other materials comprising
individual particles.

 Aggregates are used in sub-base course and base


course.

 Typically 90% of aggregate materials form


ingredients in road construction.
CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS
 Gravels Coarse grained
 Sands soils

 Silts
Fine
 Clay grained
soils

Further it can be classified into


Cohesive soils: clay &silts
Non cohesive soils : sand & gravel
PARAMETERS TO BE CONSIDERED IN ASSESSING THE
SUITABILITY OF SOILS IN ROAD CONSTRUCTION

 Loads

 Climatic conditions ( temperature, moisture,


rainfall)

 Weathering action ( freeze-thaw)


LAYERS IN PAVEMENT

Source: online text manual


SUBGRADE

 The top soil or sub-grade is a layer of natural soil


prepared to receive the stresses from the layers
above.

 The sub-grade must be able to support loads


transmitted from pavement structure

 Coarse grained soils are more suitable sub-grade


soils
SUB-BASE COURSE

 The sub-base course is the layer of material beneath the


base course.
 Purpose : To provide structural support, improve
drainage, and reduce the intrusion of fines from the sub-
grade in the pavement structure.
 Granular materials such as large sized stone boulders,
broken stones, brick ballast are extensively used in
subbases.
BASE COURSE
 The base course is the layer of material
immediately beneath the surface of binder course
 It is the medium through which the stresses
imposed are distributed evenly.
 Purpose :It provides additional load distribution
and contributes to the sub-surface drainage .
 Generally base course is constructed with an
untreated crushed aggregate such as broken
stone aggregates, slag, gravel or kankar.
 The above materials are extensively used taking
advantage of their low cost, low availability, and
diminishing stresses in lower layers.
 These materials are often treated with cement, bitumen,
calcium chloride, sodium chloride, flyash or lime.
 These treatments provide

 improved support for heavy loads

 frost susceptibility

 serves as a moisture barrier between the base and

surface layers
 In case of rigid pavements, bases help prevent subgrade
soil movement due to slab pumping.
SURFACE COURSE

 The surface course is the layer in contact with traffic loads.


 Purpose: To provide a smooth , abrasion resistant , dust-
free , reasonably water proof and strong layer.
 It serves to prevent the entrance of excessive quantities of
surface water into the underlying base, subbase and
subgrade .
 Normally this layer contains the highest quality materials.

 In case of flexible pavements, Hot-mix asphalt ,


bituminous concrete is used in surface courses whereas in
case of rigid pavements Portland cement concrete surface
courses are used.
EMBANKMENTS
 An embankment is an earthen structure that is used to raise
the elevation of roadway above the elevation of surrounding
area.
 An embankment or fill refers to a volume of earthen material
that is placed and compacted for the purpose of filling in a
hole or depression
 Embankments or fills are constructed of materials that usually
consist of soil, but may also include aggregate, rock, or
crushed paving material.
 Rock, sand, clay and materials such as ash, clinker or other
industrial wastes may be used provided they are workable &
provide a stable embankment capable of supporting the road.
 The coarser fill materials are placed at or near
the bottom or base of the embankment.
 The top portion of an embankment usually is
constructed of relatively high-quality, well-
compacted subgrade material.
 The material should be well graded, capable of
being well compacted, be within a proper range of
moisture to optimize compaction, and be free of
unsuitable or deleterious materials, such as tree
roots, branches, stumps, sludge, metal, or trash.

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