Design of Flexible Granular

Pavements
Presenter: Bill Hutton

Pavement Types

Flexible Pavements:
Consist of Unbound Granular Materials, typically with a thin
bituminous surface.
Also Includes pavements consisting of
substantial thickness of bitumen bound materials and even
cement stabilised materials

Pavement Types

Rigid Pavements:
Those consisting of Portland Cement concrete

Pavement Types
Types of Flexible Pavements:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Conventional
Asphalt Surfaced
Deep Strength
Full Depth
Modified Full Depth

Conventional and Asphalt most commonly used and most

relevant to Zone Substations or Depot Roads.

Structural Analysis
Pavement design is essentially a Structural Analysis problem!
Structural Adequacy determined by one of two methods
Road Classification

Pavement Material
Standard

Modified

Local Urban Roads & Rural

Roads

Empirical

Mechanistic

State Highways & Urban

Arterials

Empirical

Mechanistic

Freeways, Motorways &

Major Arterial Roads

Not Applicable

Mechanistic

Structural Analysis
To design a pavement we need to know:
Subgrade Strength or bearing capacity
Measured by the CBR test. Typically CBR 2-3 for clays and
15% or greater for sandy soils. Used directly in the empirical
design procedure

Pavement Material Characteristics; and

Need to know what materials are available. Generally used Type 2.1 for top 150mm
with Type 2.3 below. For deep pavements, may also have a deep layer of CBR15
material

Design Traffic Loading

No. of equipvalent standard axles that traverse the design lane over the pavement
design life

Design Traffic Loading

The Standard Axle loading is defined as an axle with dual tyres
loaded to 80kN (8.2 tonne).

Design Traffic Loading

Loads on other axle configurations that cause equivalent
damage to the standard axle
Axle
Configuration
Single Axle,
Single Tyre
Tandem Axle,
Dual Tyre
Triaxle, Dual
Tyre

Designation

Load, P (kN)

Mass (tonnes)

SS

53

5.4

TAD

135

TRD

181

13.6

18.5

Design Traffic Loading

To determine the damaging effect of loads other than the standard
load for an axle type, the following equation is used:

Doubling the axle load causes 16 TIMES the damage

This equation applied to each axle/axle group on a vehicle can be
used to calculate the ESA for that vehicle

Design Traffic Loading

Design Traffic Loading

Design Traffic Loading

Design Traffic Loading

Design Traffic Loading

Design Traffic Loading

150mm

Design Traffic Loading

Geometric Design Considerations

Earthworks 1:200 Residential
1:400 Industrial
Concrete 0.5% Longitudinal (0.3% if required)
1% Cross Fall
Asphalt 2% Cross Fall Minimum
Chip Seal 3% Cross Fall Minimum
Kerb & Channel 0.3% Longitudinal
Table Drains with Grass Invert 0.75% (0.5% min).
Table Drains with Conc. Invert 0.35% (0.3% min).

Case Study 1 Granite Vale Road

Case Study 1 Granite Vale Road

Case Study 1 Granite Vale Road

250mm -75 material with Geo-fabric

150mm Type 2.3 CTB with 3% Cement

Additional Reading & Questions

Austroads Design Guides
Mainroads Technical Specifications
Townsville City Council Ausspec Guidelines

Questions???