Types of Rigid Pavements

a) Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP)

b) Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement (JRCP)

c)Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP)

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Concrete Pavement types
 FACTORS GOVERNING DESIGN
(As per IRC SP:62 -2014 for Guidelines for design and construction of
cement concrete pavements for low volume roads.
(Refer IRC: 58-2011 for Roads having average CVPD more than 450)

I) Wheel load :

1.Pavement to be designed for dual wheel of load 50kN (The legal

axle load in India is 100 kN)
2.Agricultural tractors and trailers also are being used to carry
construction material and the single wheel load may rarely
approach 50 kN.
II) Tyre Pressure :
1. For wheel load of 50 kN – 0.8 MPa
2. For wheel of tracker trailer – 0.5 MPa

III) Design Period :

Concrete pavements shall be generally designed for a design life
of 20 years.
 IV) Characteristics of the subgrade:

1. Strength of subgrade : Expressed as Modulus of subgrade

reaction, k.

2. “k” –Determined by carrying out a plate bearing test, using 750

mm dia plate as per IS:9214-1974.

3.For homogeneous foundation test values obtained with a plate of

300 mm dia, k 300 may be converted to give k 750 by the following
relation.
k 750 = 0.5 k 300

4.Since subgrade strength is affected by the moisture content it is

desirable to determine it during or soon after the rainy season.
Effective k values of different combinations of
subgrade and subbase
V) Sub base :
1) Advantages of providing sub base.
a) Provides a uniform and reasonably firm support.
b) Prevents mud pumping on subgrade of clays and silts.
c) Acts as leveling course on distorted, non uniform and
undulating subgrade.
d) Acts as a capillary cut-off.
e) Supports the construction traffic even if the subgrade is wet.

2) When subbase is provided, the effective k value may be taken as

20 percent more than k value of the subgrade.
3) Sub base shall be constructed on a subgrade of selected coarse
grained soil of 300 mm thickness.
 SPECIFIC DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR PROBLEMATIC SUBGRADES
(EXPANSIVE / FINE AGRINED SOILS)
(As per Hand Book on C.C.Roads by CMA & IRC 15-2011*)

1. SUBGRADES OF EXPANSIVE SOILS :

1.Expansive soil subgrades (B.C Soil) undergo significant volume changes on variations
in water content, by way of swelling on absorption of water and shrinkage an drying.

2.To avoid the non uniformity caused by volume changes in the subgrade, precautions to
be taken are:
 Careful moisture control in the subgrade keeping it wet of optimum during compaction
Soils compacted at dry of optimum moisture have lower strength, higher water absorption
and higher amount of swell, as compared to soils compacted at optimum moisture or at
wet of the optimum
 Provision of non expansive cover.
The low volume change (non expansive) layer with low to moderate permeability over the
subgrade to some extent provide surcharge effect which would also help reduce the swell.
 Provision of drainage.
 Where embankment consists of expansive soil (LL >50 %) subgrade should be soil
stabilized with lime or any other stabiliser (having minimum CBR 15 percent with a
minimum thickness of 500 mm).

3. Over expansive or plastic clay subgrade soils, close graded subbases perform better
than open graded subbases
 SUBGRADES OF FINE GRAINED SOIL :

4. “Mud pumping” i.e. Ejection of water and subgrade (or subbase)

material through pavement joints and cracks is common type of
distress associated with fine grained soil which are subjected to
repeated heavy axle loads.

5.If the soil under the pavement is well drained, water will
not remain between the pavement base and subgrade and in
that case no pumping will occur.

6. Untreated subbase must be so designed that it prevents

subgrade soil from pumping through subbase, and also does
not pump itself.
4) CONCRETE STRENGTH :

1.Concrete pavements fail due to bending stresses. Hence the design

shall be based on the flexural strength of concrete.

2.If there are no facilities for determining the flexural strength, the
mix design may be carried out using the compressive strength value
from the following relationship.
ff = 0.7 √ fc
ff = flexural strength, N/mm2
fc = Characteristic compressive cube strength, N/mm2

3.For low volume roads it is suggested, 90 days flexural strength to

be used for design instead of 28 day strength as the traffic develops
only after the lapse of period of time.

4. 90 days strength = 1.20 x 28 day flexural strength.

5. Heavy traffic shall not be allowed for 90 days.

 6. For rural roads, the tolerance level (accepted proportion of
low results) can be taken as 1 in 20. The normal variate Za,
for this tolerance level being 1.65, the target average flexural
strength is obtained from the following relationship.

S= S1 + Za σ

Where S = Target average flexural strength at 28 days, MPa.

S1 = Characteristic flexural strength at 28 days, MPa.

Za = Normal variate = 1.65 for tolerance factor of 1 in 20.

σ = Expected standard deviation of field test samples MPa.

7.For pavement construction for low volume roads, characteristic 28 day
compressive strength = 30 MPa (Minimum) MPa.For other roads 40 MPa
Characteristic 28 days flexural strength for low volume roads = 3.8 MPa
(Minimum). For other roads 4.5 MPa
8. Other design factors :

a) Modulus of Elasticity E, of Concrete : 3.0 x 104 MPa.

b) Poisson’s ratio : 0.15

c) Coefficient thermal Expansion of concrete α = 10 x 10-6 per0 C.

 DESIGN OF SLAB THICKNESS
(PQC)

CRITICAL STRESS CONDITIONS

1. The severest combination of different factors that induce the

maximum stress in the pavement will give the critical stress
conditions

2.The flexural stress due to combined action of traffic loads and

temperature differentials between the top and bottom fibers of
the concrete slab is considered for design.

3. The tendency of the pavement slabs to warp upwards (Top

convex) during the day and downwards (Top Concave) during
the night and restraint offered to this warping tendency by self
weight of the pavement induces stress in the pavement.
IRC:58-2011
IRC:58-2011
4. For analysis following 3 different regions of pavement are
considered.
a. Pavement slab corner
b. Pavement edge
c. Pavement interior

5. Under the action of load application, maximum stress is

induced in the corner region, as the corner is discontinuous
in two directions especially when load transfer steel
dowels are not provided in low volume roads.

6. The edge being discontinuous in one direction only has

lower stress.

7. Least stress is induced in the interior where the slab is

continuous in all directions.
IRC:SP:62-2014
Calculation of Stress (IRC:SP:62-2014)
a) Westergaard’s equeation for edge loading is recommended
for computaion of edge stresses by single or dual wheel at the
edge.

b) Bradbury’s equation is recommended for stress computation

for the linear temperature gradient across the depth of the slab.
 Dowel Chairs Fixed into
Sub-base before Pouring
the Concrete

60% Dowel Length Covered

With Plastic Sheathing and
Dowel Chairs Designed
Properly
 Wrong Practice: Steel Bar of Cradle
Assembly is Continuous Across the Joint
 Recommended Dimensions of Dowel Bars for Rigid
Pavement for an Axle Load of 10.2 T
(IRC: 15-2011)
Dowel Bar Details
Slab Thickness,
mm Diameter, mm Length, mm Spacing, mm

200 25 450 300

250 32 450 300
300 38 500 300
350 38 500 300

Placement of Dowel Bars

Dowel bars shall be positioned at mid depth of slab within a

tolerance of ± 20 mm, and centered equally about intended line of the
joint within a tolerance of ± 25 mm.
 Details of Tie Bars for Longitudinal joints of Two-Lane
Rigid Pavements (Same as IRC:58)
Tie Bar Details
Slab
Max. Spacing (mm) Minimum Length (mm)
Thickness, Diameter (d)
(mm) mm Deformed Deformed
Plain Bars Plain Bars
Bars Bars
8 330 530 440 480
150
10 520 830 510 560
10 390 620 510 560
200
12 560 900 580 640
250 12 450 720 580 640
12 370 600 580 640
300
16 660 1060 720 800
12 320 510 580 640
350
16 570 910 720 800

Note:
1) The recommended details are based on the following values of different design parameters
for lane width of 3.50 m.

2) S = 125 MPa for plain bars, 200 MPa for deformed bars, bond stress for plain bars = 1.75
MPa, for deformed bars = 2.46 MPa, (S=minimum tensile strength of steel).
Good Practice: Holes on Side
Forms for Insertion of Tie bars
 Good Practice

Tie Bars Painted in

Middle 150 mm

Properly Aligned
Tie Bars placed in
Side Form Holes
Bad Practice: Tie Bars not in Proper Alignment
Dowel Bars

Tie Bars
Bad Practice: Oversized hole for Insertion
of Dowel Bar
 VI) Separation Membrane

1) A polythene membrane of 125 microns thickness shall be provided

over the sub-base to act as a separation layer between the subbase
and concrete slab.

2) Separation member shall be transparent or white in colour and laid flat

with minimum creases (IRC:15-2011 clause 6.6).

3) Wherever overlap of Polythene membrane is necessary, the same shall

be atleast 300 mm.

4)In summer (When ambient temperature is more than 250 C) before

placing polythene membrane, the existing subbase shall be wetted with
water.
 Good Practice: Cleaning Base layer,
Checking Level before laying separation
Good Practice: Transparent
Separation Membrane