Pavement Structural Design Rigid Pavement Design PCA Method

Mohamed Ibrahim El-Sharkawi Attia, PhD.

Introduction
Definition of Rigid Pavement: A Portland cement concrete roadway with or without a layer underneath (referred to as a subbase). Rigid pavement has some flexural strength to bridge over irregularities. Fairly long service life, High initial cost, less expensive to maintain Most problems are with cracks and joints

Dr. Mohamed El-Sharkawi

Types of Rigid Pavements

Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP) Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement (JRCP) Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP)

Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP)

Dr. Mohamed El-Sharkawi

Main Reinforcing steel

Dowel bars: The purpose: effectively transfer the load between two concrete slabs and to keep the two slabs in same height. The dowel bars are provided in the direction of the traffic (longitudinal). The design considerations are: Mild steel rounded bars, bonded on one side and free on other side

Dowels should be lightly coated with a lubricant such as

grease or oil to prevent bonding with the PCC. The FHWA notes "...The dowel must be free to slide in the concrete so that the two pavement slabs move independently, thus preventing excessive pavement stresses.

Main Reinforcing steel

Tie bars: Provided across longitudinal joints. Smaller than dowel bars and placed at large intervals. Not load transfer devices, Serve as a means to tie two slabs. Tie bars must be deformed or hooked and must be firmly anchored into the concrete to function properly.

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Critical Load Positions

The character and the intensity of maximum stress induced by the application of a given traffic load is dependent on the location of the load on the pavement surface. There are three typical locations namely
Interior Edge Corner

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Main Design Methods

AASHTO: Empirical, Test road with subsequent modifications. Portland Cement Association (PCA): Combination of theoretical studies, testing and experience.

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PCA Traffic Data

Average daily truck traffic (ADTT) The axle-load distribution (PCA does not use the ESAL for the design) Load Safety Factors:
the axle load must be multiplied by a load-safety factor (LSF). The recommended load-safety factors are : For interstate highways and other multilane projects(uninterrupted traffic flow and high volumes of truck traffic) LSF = 1.2 . For highways and arterial streets where there will be moderate volumes of truck traffic, LSF = 1.1. For roads, residential streets, and other streets that will carry small volumes of truck traffic, LSF = 1.0.
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Concrete Properties (Concrete Modulus of Rupture) S

The flexural strength of concrete is defined by the modulus of rupture, determined at 28 days by the method specified by ASTM in "C78-84 Standard Test Method for Flexural Strength of Concrete Using Simple Beam with Third Point Loading.

Subgrade Soil Properties

Subgrade and subbase support is defined by the modulus of subgrade reaction, k

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Subgrade Soil Properties

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PCA Design Procedure

Design Criteria
Fatigue Analysis: Fatigue analysis is based on the edge stress midway between the transverse joints.

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PCA Design Procedure

Design Criteria

Erosion Analysis: (pumping, erosion of foundation, and joint faulting). The most critical pavement deflection occurs at the slab corner when an axle load is placed at the joint near the corner.

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PCA Design Tables and Charts

Separate sets of tables and charts are used to evaluate fatigue and erosion damages. Depend on Assuming a cross section for the pavement and check the Fatigue and Erosion that would be developed in the pavement through its life.

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Dr. Mohamed El-Sharkawi

Fatigue Analysis
PCA Tables define the stress in Pavement Slab for given conditions of:
Slab Thickness K of Subgrade/subbase

Two levels of stresses are defined for each pavement structure (single axle and tandem axle) Stress ratio = Stress/concrete modulus of rupture

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Fatigue Stress (Without concrete shoulders)

Single

Tandem

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Fatigue Stress (With concrete shoulders)

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Fatigue Analysis continue

For each loading condition (axle load): Find the allowable number of load repetition (From PCA Chart)

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Allowable number of load repetition

Stress Ratio Factor = Stress/Strength Stress: obtained from Tables Strength (S): Flexural strength of concrete
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Fatigue Analysis continue

For Each loading condition (axle load)
Calculate the damage for each axle load

Calculate the summation of the damage produced by all axles (Include both single and Tandem axles). If the summation <100, then safe design for Fatigue.

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Erosion Analysis
PCA Tables define the Erosion Factor in Pavement Slab for given conditions of:
Slab Thickness K of Subgrade/subbase

Two values for erosion factor are defined for each pavement structure (single axle and tandem axle)

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Erosion Factors with Doweled Joints and no Concrete Shoulders

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Erosion Factors with Aggregate Interlock and no Concrete Shoulders

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Erosion Analysis continue

For each loading condition (axle load): Find the allowable number of load repetition (From PCA Charts)

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Erosion Factors without Concrete Shoulders

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Erosion Analysis continue

For Each loading condition (axle load)
Calculate the damage for each axle load

Calculate the summation of the damage produced by all axles (Include both single and Tandem axles). If the summation of damage <100, then safe design for Erosion.
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Example1:
Design Rigid Pavement, Subbase/subgrade reaction 130 pci (4 in untreated subbase), Concrete Modulus of rupture = 650 psi, Load safety factor (LSF ) =1.2, Doweled Joints and no Concrete shoulder
Sigle Axle Expected Load, kip Repetitions 30 28 26 24 22 20 18
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Tandem Expected Axle Load, Repetitions kip 52 48 44 40 36 32 28 24 21,320 42,870 124,900 372,900 885,800 930,700 1,656,000 984,900

6310 14690 30140 64410 106900 235800 307200 422500

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Solution
Trial Thickness = 9.5 in For single axle load 8.Equivalent stress =206 (from Table), 9.Stress ratio factor = 206/650 = 0.317, 10.Erosion Factor= 2.59 (From Table)
Axle Axle Load Load * *1000 LSF lb 1 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16
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Expected Repetitions

Fatigue Analysis Allowable repetition 4 (from chart) 27000 77000 230000 1200000 unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited Fatigue Percent 5 = 3/4 23.4 19.1 13.1 5.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Erosion Analysis Allowable repetition 6 (from chart) 1500000 2200000 3500000 5900000 11000000 23000000 64000000 unlimited Damage Percent 7 = 3/6 0.420 0.667 0.861 1.091 0.971 1.025 0.48 0.0

2= 1*1.2( 36 33.6 31.2 28.8 26.4 24 21.6 19.2

3 6310 14690 30140 64410 106900 235800 307200 422500

Solution2
For Tandem axle load 11.Equivalent stress =192 (from Table), 12.Stress ratio factor=206/650=0.295, 13.Erosion Factor= 2.79 (From Table)
Axle Load 1 52 48 44 40 36 32 28 24 20
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Multiplied by Expected Fatigue Analysis LSF Repetitions Allowable Fatigue repetition Percent 2 62.4 57.6 52.8 48 43.2 38.4 33.6 28.8 24 3 21,320 42,870 124,900 372,900 885,800 930,700 1,656,000 984,900 1,227,000 4 1100000 unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited unlimited 5 1.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Erosion Analysis Allowable Damage repetition Percent 6 920000 1500000 2500000 4600000 9500000 92000000 unlimited unlimited 7 2.31739 2.858 4.996 8.10652 9.32421 1.8 0.0 0.0

24000000 3.87792

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Solution3
Total Fatigue Damage = 62.8% Total Erosion Damage = 38.9% Safe Design If we Try 9 inches, it result in Fatigue Damage of 142%, unsafe Final design is 9.5 inches of concrete.

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Example 2
8-Lane (4 each way) rural highway, the AADT = 1000 total traffic (in both directions), (Truck 1, shown below) present 15% of the traffic, other traffic is passenger cars which can be ignored in the structural analysis. The design period is 20 years, annual growth rate is 2%.
38000 20000 4000

Truck 1

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Example 2
You are required to: Check the suitability of using 6.5 in concrete pavement by the PCA method. The modulus of subgrade reaction is 100 pci and the concrete modulus of rupture is 650 psi. Assume a load safety factor of 1, assume that pavement has doweled joints and concrete shoulders.

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Solution
D*L = 40% = 0.4 (from Table 6.15) G= 24.3 Number of trucks in design lane = 1000*0.15*365*24.3*0.4 = 532170 For single axle
Stress = 294 psi, stress ratio = 294/650 =0.45 Erosion Factor = 2.65

For Tandem Axle

Stress = 251 psi, stress ratio = 251/650 = 0.39 Erosion Factor = 2.75
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Solution
Axle Load (lb) Expected Fatigue Analysis Erosion Analysis Load * LSF Repetitions Allowable Fatigue Allowable Damage (lb*1000) repetition Percent repetition Percent

4
unlimited unlimited unlimited

5
0 0 0

6
unlimited unlimited 3,000,000

7
0 0 17

4000 6 (single) 20000 20 (single) 38 38000 (tandem)

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532170

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Solution
Total Fatigue Damage = 0% <100% Total Erosion Damage = 17% <100% 6.5'' is a safe design and need to check 6''

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References
Huang, Y. H. Pavement Analysis and Design. Second Edition Course Notes, Pavement Design. North Dakota State University. http://www.civil.iitb.ac.in/tvm/1100_LnTse/411_lnTse/plain/plain.html http://pavementinteractive.org/index.php?title=Dowel_Bar_Retrofit_C onstruction_Practices

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Dr. Mohamed El-Sharkawi