Department of Technical Education

Andhra Pradesh

Name : M. Chandrakala
Designation : HCES
Branch : Civil Engineering
Institute : KNPW, Hyderabad
Year/Semester : VI Semester
Subject : Geo-Technical Engineering
Sub. Code : 9C606B
Topic : Compaction of soils
Duration : 100 min.
Sub topic : Flexible Pavement Design
Teaching Aids : PPT, Photographs Animations

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 Objectives

Upon the completion of the period, you would be able to

understand

• Flexible pavement design based on traffic in terms of

number of vehicles

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 Recap

In the previous class, we have discussed

• California Bearing Ratio (C.B.R) and

• Its importance in the design of pavements

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 Pavements

• With the increase in population and advancement of

technology, better modes of communication are to be
provided.

• When we consider roads, the natural earth track

cannot support the heavy traffic of today.

• Therefore, the surface of the roads must be more

stable than the natural soil in order to provide a good
wearing surface.
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 Pavements

Definition

A pavement may be defined as “a relatively more

stable crust constructed or made over the natural
soil base to support and distribute wheel loads and
provide an adequate wearing surface”.

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 Pavements
Classification of Pavements

Pavements are categorized as follows depending on

their mode of supporting and distributing loads.

Pavement

(a) Flexible (b) Rigid (c) Semi-flexible

pavement pavement pavement

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 (a) Flexible Pavements

The following lines explain a flexible pavements:

1. A flexible pavement is a thin wearing surface

constructed over a base – course, sub – base course
on a compacted sub grade.
2. They resist very small tensile stresses.
3. The load from a flexible pavement is transferred deep
into the ground through all the layers of base course,
sub – base course.

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 (a) Flexible Pavements contd…

4. A well – compacted sub grade is required for a

flexible pavement.

Flexible Pavement

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 Rigid Pavement

The following few lines explain a Rigid Pavement:

1. They are made up of Portland cement concrete.

2. They may not have a base and sub-base courses
between the pavement and the sub grade.
3. They resist appreciable tensile stresses.
4. They are strong enough to overcome the weaknesses
in the sub grade i.e.., they derive their strength from
the bending action of the slab.

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Rigid Pavement contd…

5. The load is distributed over a wide area.

6. They are used for heavier loads.

7. They may be constructed over weak soils such as

black-cotton soils.

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 Semi-Flexible Pavements

• A semi-flexible pavement has characteristics

intermediate between flexible and rigid pavements.

They are usually made up of soil-cement mixture etc.

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Semi-Flexible Pavements

Design Curves
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 Semi-Flexible Pavements

No. of vehicles per

Curve
Day exceeding 30 kN loaded weight
A 0 -15
B 15 - 45

C 45 - 150

D 150 - 450

E 450 - 1500

F 1500 - 4500

G Above 4500

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 Summary

In this class, we have discussed

• The flexible pavements
• Rigid pavements and
• Semi flexible pavements

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 Quiz

1. Which of the following pavement resist small tensile

stresses
a) Rigid pavements
b) Flexible pavements
c) Semi flexible pavements
d) None of the above

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 Quiz

2. Which of the following pavement is made up of

soil cement mixture
a) Rigid pavements
b) Flexible pavements
c) Semi flexible pavements
d) None of the above

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 Frequently Asked Questions

1. Describe the flexible pavement design based on traffic

in terms of number of vehicles.

2. The bulk unit weight of a soil sample is 20.13 kN/m3 at

a water content of 15%. Calculate the dry unit weight.

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