In this Issue

Editorial Potential Applications of Interlocking Concrete Block Paving in Rural Roads Construction
Dr. S.D. Sharma, B.M. Sharma and Dr. P.K. Nanda

3 4

Performance Criteria for Design of Low Volume Rural Roads

U. C. Sahoo, M. Amaranatha Reddy and K. Sudhakar Reddy

15

Stabilization of Soil Subgrade with Polypropylene Fibres

Dr. I.K.Pateriya and Dr. K. A. Patil

22

Experiencing Folded Plates in Roadworks Retaining Structure

Dipankar Chakrabarti and Shyamalendu Mukherjee

27

News in Brief

32

The National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA) was established on 14th January, 2002 as the dedicated agency of the Ministry of Rural Development for the operational management of the rural roads programme - PMGSY Grameen Sampark is a newsletter of the NRRDA containing items of topical interest. For official text or detailed information please contact NRRDA or visit the website. Published by: National Rural Roads Development Agency th (NRRDA), 5 Floor, 15, NBCC Tower, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066 e-mail: nrrda@pmgsy.nic.in Website:www.pmgsy.nic.in Editing, Design & Printing by Akhil Chandra Associates N-70/4, South Avenue, Sainik Farm, New Delhi-110062 Ph.: 29553965, Email: akhilchandraassociates@gmail.com For article contribution and free subscription contact: Dr. B.P. Chandrasekhar, Director (Tech.), NRRDA, (email: bpc@alpha.nic.in). Note: Accepted articles may be condensed.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

Editorial
Asset Management: Building a culture of sustainable maintenance of rural roads.
We often preach, but rarely practice, the old adage 'a stitch in time saves nine'. This disconnect also largely pervades our approaches to the management of the huge network of rural roads which we have built up over the years with considerable investment of tax payers' money. PMGSY sought to practically address this malady by embedding 'planned 5 year maintenance of completed roads' in the programme guidelines. However, anecdotal evidence, buttressed by limited field observations of independent monitors, indicates that this policy has not achieved substantial success in terms of the intended outcome across States. Sample inspection of 4412 roads by the National Quality Monitors, during December2007and December 2008 reveal that a very high proportion ( 32 % ) of PMGSY roads were not being maintained at all, contrary to the stated policy. Since we have already completed construction of over 2 lakh km. of rural roads under PMGSY, by investing close to US $ 10 billion, quite obviously, institutionalizing an efficient maintenance management policy cannot brook any further delay. Efficient management of rural roads requires not only enhancement in budgetary outlay but even more importantly change in systems, procedures and processes. One thing is quite clear business as usual will not work. What is called for essentially is a paradigm shift in our approach to maintenance management. It is in this context that NRRDA is holding a workshop in collaboration with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to explore the feasibility of applying principles of Asset Management to rural roads. Asset Management seeks to synergize ideas and principles of Engineering as well as Management Sciences with a view to developing a decision making framework that helps in choosing the optimal strategy for managing high value infrastructure assets. At its core, asset management is a business process which strives to maintain a prescribed level of service at the lowest cost possible. Allocation of resources on the basis of a well-defined set of policy goals and objectives, evaluation of alternative options in terms of their impact on relevant policy objectives and monitoring results with reference to measurable performance benchmarks are some of the core principles of Asset Management. Adoption of Asset Management principles for rural roads would call for major institutional as well as attitudinal changes. Challenging the status quo is by no means easy; but it is certainly doable. We can ill afford to let our precious rural road assets to deteriorate by sheer atrophy and the prevailing culture of niggardliness towards maintenance.

(J.K. Mohapatra) Director General, NRRDA

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Potential Applications of Interlocking Concrete Block Paving in Rural Roads Construction

Dr. S.D. Sharma*, B.M. Sharma**, Dr. P.K. Nanda*** Transport Infrastructure development in rural areas is absolutely essential for soci-economic upliftment of rural population. An adequate road transport system improves connectivity to the inaccessible areas and in turn facilitates smooth flow of goods and services. Rural roads also help the rural population in terms of increased mobility to schools, health centers, market centers and create more employment opportunities. They also provide accessibility to productive resources and physical mobility of raw materials, farm produce and other products, promote industrialization, increase the size of markets and create enhanced economic prosperity, etc. Economic developments brought about through increased mobility and accessibility turns into income-generating skills, increased income for rural workers, positive changes in socio-economic attitude and reduction in inequalities between different regions, leading to increased productivity on the whole. Provision of roads in rural areas is a gigantic task as about six lakh villages in India are scattered widely over a vast area of 33 lakh sq. km. The Government of India has been making sincere efforts in this direction and has implemented a number of rural development programmes since 1974, with development of rural roads as one of the major objectives. Prominent amongst these are : Minimum

*Scientist, **Head (Pavement Evaluation Division) and ***Director, Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi nd th Reprinted from the proceeding of National Conference on Rural Roads (22 to 24 May 07) New Delhi 4
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Needs Programme, National Rural Employment Programme, Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme, and Jawahar Rozgar Yojana. However, these programmes lacked science and technology contents / inputs and were primarily targeted as drought relief and employment guarantee as their main objectives. Due to these reasons, they had limited success in the overall development of rural roads. The lack of scientific planning and methods in creating rural infrastructure and the centralized nature of implementation proved to be impediments in creating durable rural roads, through such programmes. In tune with the objectives of Road Development Plan Vision (1), a national mission popularly known as PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna), for achieving rural connectivity through provisions of allweather roads to remote villages was initiated in 2000 by the Government of India, with the overall objective of connecting all villages having population of more than 500 by the year 2007. This is an ambitious programme with far-reaching positive returns and consequences for the nation's economy, in general, and the rural economy, in particular. It is expected that, through the implementation of this programme, out of the 3,50,000 unconnected habitations, 1,60,000 habitations will be benefited, with construction of some 6,00,000 km of new all-weather roads. This will constitute an addition of 33 per cent to the existing 18,20,000 km of rural roads and 20 per cent to the existing network of 33,00,000 km of total roads in the country. The current estimate of total investments needed for this stupendous task is Rs.60,000 crores. It is estimated that the effective implementation of PMGSY would lead to three times increase in the per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) within one decade. Thus, the fulfillment of this programme will lead to a quantum jump in the nation's economy (2,3). Since the local selfgovernments are actively involved in the planning, designing and implementation of this programme, there is scope for people's participation at the grassroots levels and achievement of most of the objectives on the ground.

The major difficulties being faced in implementation of this programme are the non-availability of good quality road building materials particularly the granular subbase and aggregates. In addition, transportation of other materials such as bitumen, steel and cement etc. also affect the cost and timely completion of projects due to the long haulage of these materials. Non-availability of skilled manpower in the rural areas is another important factor affecting the construction quality of rural roads. Keeping in view these problems, it is felt/ suggested that alternate techniques such as Interlocking Concrete Block Paving (ICBP) can have potentially large applications for construction of rural roads. It needs to be highlighted at this stage that the Panchayat Raj Department of Government of Haryana, has taken up a great initiative and have decided to construct rural streets within the village areas on a massive scale by using paving blocks technology. It is planned by the Govt. of Haryana to develop two villages as Ideal / Modal villages which will have roads constructed with paving blocks technology. Gradually, depending upon the success achieved, construction of rural roads in many more villages will be done using the technology of paving blocks.

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Interlocking Concrete Block Pavement

Interlocking Concrete Block Pavement (ICBP) has been extensively used in a number of countries for many years, as a specialized problem-solving technique, for providing pavements in areas where conventional types of construction are not possible and also are less durable due to many operational and environmental constraints. ICBP technology found its application in India, a decade before, for specific requirements viz. footpaths, fuel stations, parking areas etc. This technology is now being adopted for different areas / situations where the construction of conventional pavements using hot bituminous mix or cement concrete technology is not feasible/ desirable/ economical. ICBP has many advantages as listed below: (i) No need to deploy heavy construction equipments / machineries

(ii)

Factory production of paving blocks facilitates centralized quality control

(iii) Labour intensive construction method (iv) Instant opening of road to traffic (v) No thermal expansion and contraction of concrete

(vi) Accommodates higher elastic deflections without failure (vii) Pavements are not damaged due to fuel and oil spillage (viii) High salvage value recycled / reused almost all blocks can be

(ix) Least life cycle cost due to low maintenance cost (x) Environment friendly technology

(xi) Can be used in poor drainage conditions

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(xii) Can help in conservation of naturally occurring materials particularly the soils, gravels and aggregates Some of the proven areas where ICBP technology has been successfully applied are listed below [5&6]: a) Non-Traffic Areas: building premises, footpaths, balls, pedestrain plaza, landscapes, monuments premises, premises, public gardens/ parks, shopping complexes, bus terminus parking areas and railway platforms, etc. Light Traffic: car parks, office driveway, housing colony roads, office/ commercial complexes, rural roads, residential colony roads, farm houses, etc. Medium Traffic: boulevard, city streets, small market roads, intersections/ rotaries, low volume roads, utility cuts on arteries, service/ fuel stations, etc. Heavy and Very Heavy Traffic: containers/ bus terminals, ports/ dock yards, mining areas, roads in industrial complexes, heavy-duty roads on expansive soils, bulk cargo handling areas, factory floors and pavements, airport pavements, etc.

into each other along all the vertical faces when paved in any pattern. The generic shapes and groups of paver blocks identified into four different types are illustrated in Figure 1.

Group - A Group - B

b)

c)

Group - C

Group - D

d)

Figure 1: Typical Shapes of Concrete Paver Blocks The various aspects dealing with materials, construction and laying of interlocking concrete block pavement etc. are described in the following sections.

There are four generic shapes of paving blocks which correspond to the four different types of blocks, as stated below [4&5]: (a) Group A: Paver blocks with plain vertical faces, which do not key into each other when paved in any pattern, Group B: Paver blocks with alternating plain and curved/ corrugated vertical faces, which key into each other along the curve/ corrugated faces, when paved in any pattern, Group C: Paver blocks having all faces curved or corrugated, which key into each other along all the vertical faces when paved in any pattern, and Group D: 'L' and 'X' shaped paver blocks which have all faces curved or corrugated and which key

Materials for Interlocking Concrete Block Pavement

The quality of materials used, strength of cement concrete, durability and dimensional tolerance of paving blocks etc., is of great importance for achieving the satisfactory quality and performance of block pavements. All these aspects including the block manufacturing process, which immensely affect the quality of paving blocks, have been outlined in the Indian Roads Congress Special Publication [7]. In addition, a specification on Precast Concrete Blocks for Paving, has recently been published by the Bureau of Indian Standards [8].

(b)

(c)

Paving Blocks
The recommended thickness of blocks; grades of concrete for various applications; specifications of

(d)

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materials used for production of blocks; physical requirement, test methods, sampling and acceptance criteria etc., have already been presented in BIS Code [8].

Bedding Sand and Joint Filling Sand

It is a well established fact that if proper attention is not paid to the quality of bedding sand, and if the thickness of bedding sand layer is not kept uniform, serious irregularities in surface profile can occur result and consequently excessive differential deformations and rutting can early in the service life of block pavement. The gaps in between the two adjacent paving blocks (typically about 3 mm wide) need to be filled in with sand which should relatively be finer than the bedding sand. The gradations of bedding sand and joint filling sand are given in Table 1. It is necessary to restrict the fines (silt and/ or clay, passing 75 micron sieve) to about 10 percent, since excessive fines make joint filling very difficult. Similarly, it is not advisable to use cement in the joint filling sand, which would not only make difficult to completely fill the joints, but may also adversely affect the desired flexibility characteristics of the paving block layer. The joint filling sand should preferably be as dry as possible; otherwise complete filling of joints will be difficult [7].

Base and Sub Base Materials

Table 1: Gradations of Bedding Sand and Joint Filling Sand IS Sieve Size 9.52 mm 4.75 mm 2.36 mm 1.18 mm 600 micron 300 micron 150 micron 75 micron Bedding Sand 100 95-100 80-100 50-95 25-60 10-30 0-15 0-10 Joint Filling Sand 100 90-100 60-90 30-60 15-30 0-10 Percent Passing by Weight The main purpose of providing base materials are the load spreading properties to disperse stresses to the subgrade level and to provide the desired drainage characteristics, which would have significant bearing on performance of a block pavement. Although, local availability and economics generally dictate the choice of base materials at the design stage, yet the commonly used materials considered suitable for base courses are unbound crushed rock, water-bound macadam, wet mix macadam, cement bound crushed rock/ granular materials, and lean cement concrete/ dry lean concrete etc. In broad terms, wherever the subgrade is weak (CBR value below 5), the use of bound granular materials, like, cement treated crushed rock, should be preferred

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while for high strength subgrade, unbound crushed rocks may be used. The climatic and environmental factors also need to be considered during the choice of base materials. Sub-base is essential where commercial traffic is expected. The quality of sub-base materials is inferior to the base materials and may include natural gravels, cement treated gravels, sands and stabilized subgrade materials etc. The quality of sub-base materials should be in conformance with IRC: 37-2001.

(ii)

Leveling and compaction of subgrade

(iii) Provision and compaction of sub-base course (where needed) (iv) Provision and compaction of base-course and checking for the correct profile (v) Installation of edge restraints

(vi) Provision and compaction of bedding sand (vii) Laying of blocks and interlocking (viii) Application of joint sealing sand and compaction (ix) Cleaning of surface (x) Filling any remaining empty portions in the block layer, especially near edge restraint blocks with in situ concrete.

Construction of Interlocking Concrete Block Pavement Sequencing of Laying Operations

The sequencing of laying operations (Figure-2) for construction of block pavement should be as follows [8]: (i) Installation of sub-surface drainage structures

Basecourse compacted and inspected

Beddind sand slockpited ahead of screeding

Sand bedding course screeded

Paving Units laid

Paving Joint-filling Units sand compacted placed

Pavement completed allowing access

Edge restraint constructed on basecourse

Laying face

Cut infill units

Pallets of paving units placed as close as possible to work-lace

Figure 2: Sequencing of Laying Operations

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Site access and starting point

Edge Restraint Blocks and Kerbs

Concrete blocks subjected to traffic tend to move sideways and forward due to braking and maneuvering of vehicles. The tendency to move sideways has to be counteracted at edges by provisions of special edge blocks and kerbs. The edge blocks should be designed and anchored to the base such that the rotation or displacement of blocks is resisted [7]. These blocks are to be made of high strength concrete for withstanding the traffic wheel-loads without getting damaged. These members should be manufactured or constructed in-situ in order to have at least a 28-days characteristic compressive strength of 30 MPa or flexural strength of 3.8 MPa. As far as possible, the edge blocks should have vertical face towards the inside blocks. Where the space does not easily permit the use of plate vibrators, dhurmut or manual compactor using small size plate rammer may be used. The road kerbs provided on edges of roads also serve the purpose of edge blocks. In case the kerbs are not provided, it has to be replaced by the edge strips. In case of heavy traffic, 150 mm x 150 mm (height x width) plain cement concrete (M-25) may also be provided over dry lean concrete to give further confinement to the blocks. In-between the edgerestraint blocks, cement mortar (1: 6, cement: coarse sand) may be used in place of sand for sealing of blocks.

Construction of Sub grade

This is the foundation layer over which the block pavement is constructed. Like in conventional pavements, the depth of water table should not be at a level of 600 mm or higher, below the subgrade level. It should be compacted in layers of 150 mm thickness. The prepared subgrade should be graded and surface dressed to a tolerance of 20 mm of the design levels, and its surface evenness should have a tolerance of within 15 mm under a 3 m straight edge [7].

Placing and Screeding of Bedding Sand

The thickness of sand bedding after compaction should be in the range of 20-40 mm, whereas, in the loose form, it should be 25 to 50 mm. It is preferable to restrict the compacted thickness to about 20-25 mm to reduce the risk of any localized over-compaction, which would affect the final block surface level. Bedding sand should not be used to fill-up local depressions on the surface of base or sub-base layers. The depressions, if any, should be repaired with same base or sub-base material in advance before placing the sand. The sand of specified gradation, should be uniformly in loose condition, and should have uniform moisture content. Optimum moisture content is when sand is neither too wet nor too dry and has moisture of about 6 to 8 percent.

Construction of Base and Sub-base Layers

Base course and Sub-base course are constructed in accordance with the standard procedures contained in relevant IRC specifications like IRC:37-2001; IRC:501973; IRC:51-1993; IRC:63-1976; IRC:19-1997. When cement treated bound base is proposed it may be constructed using rolled dry lean concrete as IRC:SP49-1998. The quality control methods, as specified in IRC: SP-11-1988 shall apply. Constructing these layers to the proper level and grade is very much essential to maintain the top surface level and surface regularity of the block pavement surface.

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Requirement of sand for a day's work should be prepared and stored in advance and covered with tarpaulin or polythene sheets. The processed sand so obtained is spread with the help of screed boards to the specified thickness and levels. The screed boards are provided with nails at 2-3 m apart which when dragged gives the required thickness. The length of nail should take into account the surcharge to be provided in the uncompacted thickness. Alternatively, the screed can be dragged on edge strips kept on both sides as guides [7].

While locating the starting line, the following should be considered:

l

On a sloping site, start from the lowest point and proceed to up-slope on a continuous basis, to avoid down-slope creep in incomplete areas. In case of irregular shaped edge restraints or strips, it is better to start from straight string line. Influence of alignment of edge restraints on achieving and maintaining the laying bond.

Laying of Paving Blocks

Blocks can be laid generally by manual labour but mechanical aids like hand-pushed trolleys can expedite the work. Normally, laying should commence from the edge strips and proceed towards the central line. When dentated blocks are used, the laying done at two fronts will create problem for matching joints in the middle. Hence, as far as possible, laying should proceed in one direction only, along the entire width or area to be paved [8].

Laying Patterns
The blocks can be placed in different bonds or patterns depending upon the specific requirements. Some popular bonds commonly adopted for block paving are: (i) Stretcher or running bond (ii) Herringbone bond and (iii) Basket weave or parquet bond etc. The typical layouts of these bonds are given in Figure 3.

(a) Stretcher or Running Bond

(b) Parquet or Basket Weave

(c) 45 Herringbone Bond

(d) 90 Herringbone Bond

(e) Parquet Derivative

(f) Double - V

(g) Double Herringbone

(h) Herringbone

(i) Herringbone Bond

Figure 3: Laying Patterns of Paving Blocks

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Typical Pavement Compositions

Typical compositions normally used in ICBP technology are given in Table-2 with typical cross sections as shown in Figure 4.

JOINT FILLING FINE SAND INTERLOCKING CONCRETE BLOCK COARSE BEDDING SAND EDGE RESTRAINT SHOULDER BLOCK PAVED SURFACE

BASE COURSE

SUBGRADE

Figure 4: Typical Pavement Structure Drainage Table 2: Catalogue for Pavement Thickness
Sub grade CBR (%) Traffic and Road Type
l

Materials Blocks Sand Bed Base

>10 60 20-30 200 60-80 20-40 250 200 80-100 20-40 250 250 80-100 20-40 250 150 75 300

5-10 Thickness (mm) 60 20-30 200 60-80 20-40 250 250 80-100 20-40 250 300 80-100 20-40 250 150 75 350

<5 60 20-30 200 60-80 20-40 250 300 80-100 20-40 250 350 80-100 20-40 250 150 75 380

Cycle Tracks, Pedestrian Footpaths

Commercial Traffic (Axle Load Repetitions less than 10 msa) Residential Streets Commercial Traffic (Axle Load Repetitions between 10-20 msa) Collector Streets, Bus and Truck Parking Areas Commercial Traffic (Axle Load Repetitions between 20-50 **msa) Arterial Streets

Blocks Sand Bed WBM/ WMM Base Granular Sub-base Blocks Sand Bed WBM/ WMM Base Granular Sub-base Blocks Sand Bed WBM/ WMM Base or WBM/ WMM Base and DLC over it* Granular Sub-base

*in case of roads having inadequate drainage or heavy rainfall areas (above 1500 mm per annum). **msa denotes repetitions in million standard axles.

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Block Pavement at Typical Locations

Essentially, there are three important aspects in detailing. These are: (i) Curves (ii) Intrusions, and (iii) Changes in alignment Curves: It is necessary to cut the paving units to fit the edge restraints. Rectangular blocks of similar or contrasting colour as an edging have been used to minimize the visual effects of small errors in block cutting. To avoid unsightly and potentially weak joints, it is often preferred to change the laying pattern at the curves. The curve itself can be installed in Herringbone bond and yet the pavement can revert to stretcher bond on the approaches [4 & 5]. Intrusions: On some pavements, like in city streets, there could be several intrusions, like, manholes, drainage gulleys, etc. where coping with these intrusions with the pavement is desirable. Around intrusions, it is good practice to lay blocks along both sides of the intrusion simultaneously so that closure is made away from the starting workface, rather than carrying the pavement around the intrusion to return to the original laying face to avoid accumulation of closing error [7].

getting filled up into the joints will depend on the degree of compaction of sand, i.e. the force applied by the compactor. Standard compactors may have a weight of about 90 kg with plate area of about 0.3 m2 and apply a centrifugal force of about 15 kN. On the other hand, heavy duty compactors may weigh 300-600 kg, with plate area of about 0.5-0.6 m2 and apply a centrifugal force of 30-65 kN. Where the bedding sand is required to be compacted for heavily trafficed pavements, heavyduty compactors should be used. After compaction by vibratory plate compactors, some 2 to 6 passes of vibratory roller (with rubber coated drums or those of static weight less than 4 tonne and nominal amplitude of not more than 0.6 mm) will further help in compaction of bedding sand and joint filling [7].

Laying and Surface Tolerances

While constructing the block pavement, the surface toleranes of individual layers may be observed, as indicated in IRC:SP:63-2004.

Conclusion
l

Compaction
For compaction of sand bedding and paving blocks laid over it, the vibratory plate compactors are used over the laid paving blocks; at least two passes of the vibratory plate compactors are needed. Such vibratory compaction should be continued until the top of each paving block is in level with the adjacent blocks. It is not a good practice to leave compaction till the end of the day, as some blocks may move under construction traffic, resulting in the widening of joints and corner contact of blocks, which may cause spalling or cracking of the blocks. There should not be any delay in the compaction after paving blocks have been laid. This is necessary to achieve uniformity of compaction and retention of the pattern of laying. During compaction of the blocks laid, some amount of bedding sand may get filled up into the joints between them; the extent of sand

ICBP technology is gaining importance and is becoming more popular day-by-day because it is user friendly and requires less infrastructure in terms of construction equipment / machineries, as compared to the conventional flexible and rigid pavements. ICBP technology can provide durable and sustainable road infrastructure where construction and maintenance of conventional pavements are not cost effective. ICBP is much cheaper than the rigid (concrete) pavement, designed for identical operating conditions. Compared to the bituminous pavement for low traffic volume roads and high strength subgrade, the initial construction cost of ICBP is likely to be equal to or marginally higher. For high traffic volume roads and low strength subgrade, ICBP will be cheaper than the flexible pavement.

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Roads, Indian Highways, Vol. 29, No. 5, May 2001. 3. Sikdar, P.K. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana For the People, By the People, Indian Highways, Vol. 30, No. 6, June 2002. Sikdar, P.K., Sharma, S.D., Sood, V.K., (2004), Interlocking Block Pavement For Sustainable Road Infrastructure For Cold Region, International Conference on Sustainable Habitat For Cold Climates, Leh, India, September 16-18, 2004. Sharma, S.D., Sikdar, P.K., Rao, Y.V., (2004) Interlocking Concrete Block Pavements Its Prospects, Seminar on Design, Construction and Maintenance of Cement Concrete Pavements, IRC, October, 2004. Muraleedharan, T. and Nanda, P.K., (1992) Application and Performance of Interlocking Concrete Block Pavement An Overview. The Indian Concrete Journal, pp 395 -400, July 1992. IRC SP: 63-2004 Guidelines For Use of Interlocking Concrete Block Pavement Indian Roads Congress. Indian Standard Specification for Precast Concrete Paver Blocks, Bureau of Indian Standards, Modified 3rd Draft, January 2004. (Under Publication).

4.

Guidelines for the use of Interlocking Concrete Block Pavement and Precast Blocks for PavingSpecification are now available in India for production of better quality paving blocks and construction of such pavements. Code of practice for laying and construction of Interlocking Concrete Block Pavements has been submitted to Bureau of Indian Standards, which will be very useful for Indian industries and highway professions for adoption of block pavement technology in India, on a large scale. ICBP technology can help in conservation of naturally occurring materials like soils, gravels and aggregates which are now becoming scarce due to large scale construction activities taking place throughout the country. ICBP technology can replace concrete pavements at least in case of low trafficked roads, to start with. Road departments and the construction industry must, therefore, seriously consider ICBP technology as a potential technology for the purpose of providing roads in the rural areas.

5.

6.

7.

8.

References 1. Road Development Plan:2001, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Published by Indian Roads Congress, 2001. Sikdar, P.K., Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana A Mission for Rural Connectivity by All-Weather

2.

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Performance Criteria for Design of Low Volume Rural Roads

U. C. Sahoo*, M. Amaranatha Reddy** and K. Sudhakar Reddy*** If the selection of pavement layer thickness is dependent entirely on past experiences gathered about the performance of in-service pavements, the resulting design methods are usually termed as empirical methods. Even in these procedures, there is normally a distress mode selected (usually rutting) for designing thickness and will be selected based on the experience of pavements that have developed acceptable levels of rutting during their design life period. As these are not based on any fundamental mechanistic principles that govern the stress-strain behaviour of the pavement components, extrapolation of the design procedures has to be done to situations where new pavement materials are used, climatic conditions are different from those prevailing during past experience etc. Counting efforts are being made for rationalizing the pavement design procedures by reducing the empirical content and correlating the performance of the pavements with load associated behaviour of pavement components. Analytical tools are used in these methods to analyze pavement structures subjected to traffic loads. Hence, these methods are often called Analytical Design Methods or Mechanistic Methods or even Theoretical Methods. A more appropriate terminology would be rational Design Procedures as no design method can be purely analytical or theoretical, as the analytically determined parameters have to be correlated with the performance of the pavements, which can only come from experience. In these procedures, some mechanistic parameters (critical stresses, strains, deflections, etc.) that are considered to be causative of (or having strong correlation with) pavement distresses (fatigue cracking, permanent deformation, etc.) are identified and correlations are developed between these analytical parameters and pavement life. The common forms of structural distresses considered are fatigue cracking of bound layers and permanent deformation in different

*Research Scholar, Civil Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur (ucsahoo@civil.iitkgp.ernet.in) **Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur (manreddy@civil.iitkgp.ernet.in) ***Professor, Civil Engineering Department, IIT Kharagpur (ksreddy@civil.iitkgp.ernet.in) Reprinted from the proceedings of National Conference on Rural Roads (22nd to 24th May 07) New Delhi
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layers due to repeated application of traffic wheel loads. Most of the existing analytical design procedures have performance criteria that give limiting strain (identified critical strain parameter) values to ensure that the extent of structural distress during the service life of pavement will not exceed acceptable levels. Any rational pavement design method should have the following main components: a) Identification of critical distress parameters for defining the performance of the pavement. These can be in terms of surface profile parameters such as roughness (Fifth Wheel Bump Integrator, International Roughness Index etc.) mostly reflecting the functional performance of the pavement. The performance parameters can also be in terms of structural distresses such as cracking of bound layers and rutting in different layers or even a combined index such as the Present Serviceability (PSI) used by AASTHO.

b)

Selection of proper performance criteria developed by correlating the observed performance of pavements with carefully chosen performance parameters. While performance has to be defined in terms of the traffic that can be handled by the pavement before excess failures or distresses occur, the parameters selected for explaining the performance (distress or failure) can be a combination of various pavement parameters (thicknesses, material properties etc.) or a combination of critical mechanistic parameters (deflection, stresses and strains). A framework or a list of steps specifying as to how the parameters can be selected and/or computed.

c)

The rationality of the design procedure can be judged from the way corresponding performance criteria have been developed. The criterion is generally developed considering a failure condition, which may be any structural or functional failure or both. The rural roads in

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roads in India mostly consist of granular pavements with thin bituminous surfacing, in which rutting is considered as the only mode of failure, which occurs due to vertical compressive strain at the top of subgrade. In this paper, the rutting criteria adopted by different highway organizations for design of low-volume road pavements have been presented with the objective of comparing these criteria with that adopted for design of Indian roads.

Selection of Critical Performance Parameters

Horizontal tensile strain at the bottom fibre of bituminous bound layer and vertical compressive strain on top of subgrade have traditionally been taken to be causative for the two major modes of failures considered, i.e., fatigue cracking and rutting. Excessive strains applied repeatedly have been considered to be the major factors for the development of the two modes of failures. Figure 1 shows a typical layered flexibile pavement system subjected to a dual wheel loading applied at the surface. Deformation or rutting provides the principal indication of deterioration in granular pavements with thin bituminous surfacing. It develops chiefly in the wheel tracks,and increases with time or more precisely with the cumulative application of commercial traffic.

India mostly consist of granular pavements with thin bituminous surfacing, in which rutting is considered as the only mode of failure. This is attributed to the vertical compressive strain at the top of subgrade layer. Several highway organizations have developed their own failure condition and performance criterion for design of low-volume roads. In this study, the criteria developed by AASTHO, AustRoads, Asphalt Institute TRRL, etc. have been discussed.

Performance and Failure Criteria for Pavement Design

In mechanistic design methods, the limiting values of stresses and/or strains at which a given degree of distress will occur are commonly known as the performance criteria. The rationality of the design procedure can be judged from the way the corresponding performance criteria have been developed. Performance criterion is generally developed considering a failure condition, which may be any structural or functional failure or both. Fatigue cracking of bituminous surfacing and permanent deformation (rutting) along wheel paths, mainly due to repeated application of traffic loads, have been identified as the two major modes of structural failures that need to be addressed in the structural design of pavements. Some performance criteria also use roughness as the mode of failure in terms of present serviceability index (PSI) [1]. The low-volume rural

Bituminous Surfacing

E1, 1 E2, 2

Granular Base

Granular Sub-base

E3, 3

Subgrade

E4, 4

Figure 1: Critical mechanistic parameters

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allowable number of repetitions of the strain before unacceptable level of rutting develops.

Implicit in the design procedure for granular pavements with thin bituminous surfacing, is a terminal condition which is considered to be unacceptable and hence signifies the end of life of the pavement. The terminal condition is considered to be an average rut depth of about 20mm, and terminal roughness about three times the initial roughness. AASHTO Low Volume Road Design Procedure [1]

Subgrade Failure Criterion

The basic design thickness in the case of low-volume roads is the thickness of unbound granular material, which will limit the vertical compressive strain on top of the subgrade to an acceptable level. The strain induced in the subgrade by moving wheel load is mostly elastic (recoverable). However, the accumulation of the irrecoverable part of strain leads to permanent deformation in subgrade. The permanent deformation manifests at the surface of the pavement as rutting in the wheel paths, although due to inherent variability of the subgrade and pavement materials and the construction techniques, surface roughness develops along with rutting.

Performance Criteria Addopted By Different Organizations

AustRoads Design for granular pavements with thin bituminous surfacing [2 3] The limiting strain criterion for the subgrade is given by Eq. 1. It was derived by applying mechanistic procedure to a range of pavements. N Where, e = vertical compressive strain (microstrain) at the top of the subgrade = [8511/e ]
7.14

The low-volume road design procedure used by AASHTO is based on lower level of reliability (50%) because of their low usage and associated low level of risk. Predicted future traffic, seasonal resilient moduli of roadbed soil, elastic modulus of aggregate base and subbase layer, design serviceability loss, allowable rutting and aggregate loss (GL) of surface course are the main input for the design of low volume roads. Common values for terminal serviceability index are Pt=2.0. For minor highways like aggregate surfaced roads, where funds or economy is the main factor, the design is done by reducing the traffic or design life rather than reducing the terminal serviceability to a number lower than 2.00. Aggregate loss due to traffic and erosion should be considered in the design and this may be calculated using any of the following equations 2, 3 and 4. According to a study by University of Texas at Austin: GL = 0.12 + 0.1223 (LT) Where, GL = Total Aggregate loss in inches; LT = Number of loaded trucks in thousands Another study in Brazil formulated the following equation: GL = (B/25.4)/ (0.0045LADT + 3380.6/R + 0.467G) (3) (2)

(1)

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Where, GL = Total Aggregate loss in inches during the period of time being considered; B = Number of blading during the period of time being considered;

VC = Average percentage gradient of the road, and f = 0.037 for lateritic gravels; 0.043 for quartzite gravels, 0.028 for volcanic gravels, and 0.059 for coral gravels.

LADT = Avg. daily traffic in the design lane; R G = Avg. radius of curve, in feet, and; = Absolute value of grade, in percent

Rutting is bound to occur in average surfaced roads, and is considered as performance criteria for these roads. The typical value of allowable rut depth for designing an aggregate surfaced road falls between 1.00 and 2.00 inches. Design charts are available to estimate the required thickness of aggregate surfaced roads for low volume roads. Vermont Agency of Transportation [4] procedure for the design of low-volume pavement structures is based on the 1993 AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement Structures. The following performance indicators in terms of PSI were used: For paved roads, initial PSI = 4.0 and terminal PSI = 2.0 and for unpaved roads, initial PSI = 4.0 and terminal PSI = 1.0

British study done in Kenya is more applicable to areas with little truck activity and is given below: AGL = [T /(T + 50] * f (4.2 +0.092T +0.889R + 1.88VC) (4) Where, AGL = Annual aggregate loss, in inches; T R = Annual traffic volume in both directions, in thousands of vehicles; = Annual rainfall, in inches;
2 2 2

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A maximum of 50mm rut depth was recommended for the unpaved roads. The reliability adopted is 50%. Asphalt Institute [5] adopted the following subgrade strain criteria e
Z

The failure condition considered for the above criteria is rutting of 20 mm The Shell [7] design method uses the following subgrade strain for different confidence levels: 50% confidence e 85% confidence e
Z

1.05*10 *[1/N]

-2

0.223

(5)

= 2.8*10 *N = 2.1*10 *N = 1.8*10 *N

-2 -2

-2

-0.25

(7) (8) (9)

Where, N e
Z

-0.25

No of 80 kN equivalent single axle loads;

95% confidence e

-0.25

= Vertical subgrade strain ( micro strain) at top of the subgrade layer

A terminal value of percent serviceability (PSI) of 2.5 was taken as failure condition. Indian Road Congress (IRC 37:2001) [8] adopted the following performance criteria for high volume roads. NR NR e
-8 4.5337 = 4.1656*10 [1/ e Z ] (10) = Number of cumulative standard axels to produce rutting of 20 mm.

TRRL [6] considers the following relationship to complete allowable subgrade strains for 85 percent probability of survival to a design life of N repetitions of o 80kN axle and a pavement temperature of 20 C. Log (N) = -7.21-3.95* log (e Z) (6)

= Vertical subgrade strain (micro strain).

Development of an average rut depth of about 20 mm is considered to be failure in rutting mode. IRC:SP:20:2002 [9] is for design of low-volume rural roads in India. The criterion for determining the thickness of a flexible pavement with a thin bituminous surfacing is the vertical compressive strain on top of the subgrade imposed by a standard axle load (80kN). The maximum rutting allowed is 50mm before any rehabilitation work is taken up. The design charts have reportedly been prepared as per Road Note 29 of TRL, IRC: 37 and other related experiences in India. No mechanistic rutting criterion has been proposed correlating the design life with subgrade strain or any other parameter. Mohanty et al [10] studied the performance of 59 village road sections in Orissa and proposed some design charts for construction of new low-volume rural roads. The pavement condition data collected on these sections were correlated with mechanistic response of the pavement to develop a performance criteria based on limiting rutting value.

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N Where, N e

3.42 x 10-11 (1/ e V)5.44

(11)

Number of standard axle repetitions to cause 50 mm rutting; Vertical sub grade strain

Performance criterion is the most important aspect considered in the design of pavements and all rational design methods must have properly developed performance criteria. It is seen that most of the design methods in vogue have design criteria mostly in terms of subgrade strain and aim to control rutting. The main concerns with the design practices followed in India are that either they do not have performance critferia or even if there is mention of performance criteria there is not much evidence of the criteria having been developed on the basis of sufficient data. This emphasizes the need for collection of data on the performance of different types of low-volume roads on a long term basis. The recent initiative taken by NRRDA for collection of performance data on the recently constructed PMGSY will go a long way in filling this major void in the low-volume road design in India. References 1. American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement Structures 1993, AASHTO, Washington, D.C. Austroads Pavement Research Group 1998, A guide to the design of new pavements for light traffic: a supplement to Astroads pavement design, APRG Report No. 21, ARRB Transport Research, Vermont South, Victoria. Austroads, Pavement design a guide to the structural design of road pavements, AP-17/92, Austroads, Sydney, 1992. Vermont Agency of Transportation, Low Volume Pavement Design Procedure, Vermont Agency of Transportation, Montpelier, VT, March 2002

5.

Ibid. Shook J.F., Finn F. N.., Witczak M. W. and Monismith C. L., Thickness Design of Asphalt Pavements The Asphalt Institute Method, pp. 1744. Lister N. W. and Powell W. D., Design Practice for Bituminous Pavements in United Kingdom Proc. 6th International Conference on Structural Design of Asphalt Pavements, Vol-1, 1987, pp. 220-231. Gerristen A. H. and Koole R. C. Seven Years' experience with the structural aspects of the Shell Pavement Design Manual, Proc. 6th International Conference on Structural Design Asphalt Pavements, Vol-1 1987, pp. 94-106. Indian Road Congress, IRC:37:2001 Guidelines for Design of Flexible Pavements, New Delhi, 2001. Indian Road Congress, IRC:SP:20-2002 Roads Manual, 2002, New Delhi. Rural

6.

7.

2.

8.

3.

9.

4.

10. Mohanty S. K., Reddy K. S. and Pandey B. B.., Performance and Design of Village Roads, Highway Research Bulletin No. 55, IRC, 1996, pp. 66-84.

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Stabilization of Soil Subgrade with Polypropylene Fibres

Dr. I.K.Pateriya* and Dr. K. A. Patil** In India, transportation is mainly by roads. Only roads can access very small villages, remote areas and hilly areas. Hence, considerable attention is required towards the widening of roads, their suitability and periodic repair works. Most state highways in the central part of India have problems of foundation for highway embankments, bridge abutments, retaining walls and earth dams with steep slopes have been built using different types of reinforcements. Hoare(1979) analyzing the results of a series of laboratory compression and CBR tests on a sandy gravel reinforced with randomly distributed synthetic fibres less than 2% by weight, observed that the presence of fibres increased the apparent angle of internal friction and ductility of the soil particularly at low confining stress. A. Boominathan (1999) carried out some tri-axial compression tests on sand reinforced with randomly distributed fibres. Fibre reinforcement technique permits use of natural as well as synthetic fibres for soil reinforcement. In Maharashtra black cotton soil is found in abundance which is highly expansive soil. An attempt has been made to investigate the use of polypropylene fibres for improving properties of locally available soil. The comparison of properties of soil with addition of varying percentages of fibres by dry weight of soil and having different aspect ratios is also carried out. The addition of polypropylene fibres resulted in increase in optimum moisture content and decrease in maximum dry density. Direct shear tests conducted on soil shows increase in value of cohesion and decrease in value of angle of internal friction. With the inclusion of the fibres increase in C.B.R. value was observed. The crust thickness of flexible pavement is appreciably reduced, due to increase in C.B.R.value of soil subgrade.

*Joint Director (Technical), NRRDA, Delhi **Lecturer in Civil Engineering; Govt. College of Engineering, Karad (M.S.) 415 124 22
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EXPERIMENTAL WORK
Materials Used The soil used in the study was collected from 10 km distance from Jalna. The soil used was black cotton soil. Table 1 shows geotechnical properties of soils collected for experimentation. Polypropylene fibres of average diameter 0.25 mm with aspect ratios of 20, 40 and 80 were used.

moisture content obtained from standard proctor tests on reinforced soil. Un-drained direct shear tests were conducted on reinforced samples with varying percentages of fibres and aspect ratio. California bearing ratio (C.B.R) tests were conducted under soaked conditions. Unconfined compression strength tests were conducted on cylindrical specimen at Proctors maximum dry density and optimum moisture content.

Table1: Geotechnical properties of soil Specific Gravity 2.49 Liquid Limit % 56 Plastic Limit % 27 Plasticity Index % 29 Maximum Dry Density (gm/cm3) 1.53 Cohesion (kN/m2) 34 Angle of Internal Friction (Degrees) 16

Sample Preparation Fibre reinforced soil samples were prepared at maximum dry density and optimum moisture content obtained by conducting standard Proctor test on unreinforced soil and reinforced soil. The fibre reinforced specimens were prepared by hand mixing the dry soil, water and polypropylene fibres. The percentage of fibre used in samples was 1, 2, and 3 percent by dry weight of soil. The water was added prior to fibre to prevent floating problems. fibre reinforced soil samples were prepared at the maximum dry density and the optimum

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The influence of aspect ratio and fibre concentration on the properties of soil were studied. The OMC and dry density test results on black cotton soil with different aspect ratio and fibre content are reported in Table 2. These data indicate that maximum dry density decreases gradually with increase in the fibre content, which is due to lower density of the fibre than the soil particles. An increase in Optimum moisture content was observed due to adsorption of water particles on the surface of polypropylene fibres.

Table 2: Proctor's test results for un-reinforced and reinforced soil Sr. No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Description Soil without reinforcement Soil with 1 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 2 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 3 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 1 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 2 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 3% Polypropylene fibres Soil with 1 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 2 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 3% Polypropylene fibres Aspect Ratio 20 20 20 40 40 40 80 80 80 % O.M.C 24.6 24.7 24.9 25.1 24.8 25.0 25.3 24.9 25.2 25.4 MDD (gm/cm3) 1.53 1.52 1.51 1.50 1.52 1.50 1.48 1.50 1.47 1.44

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Changes in Cohesion and f

Direct shear tests were conducted on soil samples in unreinforced and reinforced conditions. The

reinforcement was added in the range of 1 % to 3 % with varying aspect ratios of 20, 40 and 80. The results obtained are summarized in Table 3.

Table 3: Effect of reinforcement on shear strength characteristics of soil Sr. No. Description Aspect Ratio 20 20 20 40 40 40 80 80 80 Cohesion (kN/m2) 34 35.4 37.2 36.9 36.3 39.6 38.7 35.8 38.4 37.9 Increase over % Soil without Reinforcement 4.12 9.42 8.53 6.76 16.47 13.82 5.29 12.94 11.47 f (Degrees) 16 15.9 15.6 15.5 16.0 15.8 15.6 15.7 15.4 15.0

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Soil without reinforcement Soil with 1 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 2 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 3 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 1 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 2 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 3 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 1 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 2 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 3 % Polypropylene fibres

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From Table 1, it is found that black cotton soil has cohesion (C ) as 34 kN/m2 and angle of internal friction (f ) as 16 degrees. From Table 3, it is found that due addition of polypropylene fibres in black cotton soil, for all aspect ratios of 20, 40 and 80, the cohesion increases and the angle of internal friction decreases. Due to addition of 2% polypropylene fibres in black cotton soil, the cohesion increases by 9.42%, 16.47% and 12.94% for aspect ratio of 20,40 and 80 respectively. The angle of internal friction decreases by 2.5%, 1.25% and 3.75% for aspect ratio of 20, 40 and 80 respectively. Fibre content and aspect ratio governs the shear strength of fibre reinforced soil. The strength of reinforced soil increases with an increase in fibre content. The rate of increase is higher at lower fibre content i.e. less than 2%. At fibre content greater than 2%, the relative gain in

strength is small. This is possibly due to the fact that fibres of lower specific gravity occupy relatively large volume in the composite. Thus, with higher fibre content, the quantity of soil matrix available for holding the fibres is insufficient to develop an efficient bond between soil and fibre. above 2% fibre content, the uniform mixing of soil and fibre is difficult as balling up of fibre takes place.

Changes in CBR value of soil

The CBR tests were conducted on un-reinforced soil and soil reinforced with fibre. The tests were carried out after four days soaking in water. CBR values at different aspect ratio and varying fibre content are given in table 4 and Fig. 1. The maximum CBR value in present study was found at aspect ratio of 40 and 2% fibre content.

Table 4: CBR values for reinforced and un-reinforced soil Sr.No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Description Soil without reinforcement Soil with 1 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 2 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 3 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 1 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 2 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 3 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 1 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 2 % Polypropylene fibres Soil with 3 % Polypropylene fibres Aspect Ratio 20 20 20 40 40 40 80 80 80 Soaked CBR Value (%) 3.05 4.20 5.15 5.05 4.50 5.35 5.20 4.40 5.15 5.00 % increase 37.77 68.85 65.57 47.55 75.40 70.49 44.26 68.85 63.93

From Table 3, it is found that due addition of 2 % polypropylene fibres in black cotton soil, the increase in C.B.R. value is found to be 47.55%, 75.40 % and 70.49 % for aspect ratio of 20, 40 and 80 respectively. Also, it is observed that on 3% addition of polypropylene fibres, C.B.R. value is found to be less than that at 2% fibre content. Hence, 2 % fibre content with aspect ratio of 40 may be considered as optimum fibre content.

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Increase in the C.B.R. value is due to compaction characteristics of polypropylene fibre reinforced soil. Higher compaction can be achieved by addition of fibres with higher aspect ratio up to certain limit. The design of flexible pavement is governed by C.B.R. value of subgrade soil. Thus, higher value of C.B.R. for subgrade soil gives lesser pavement thickness and proves to be the economical solution in pavement construction.
5.5

From table 5, it is observed that the design crust thickness reduces by 75 mm for traffic category T4 and by 100 mm for traffic categories T5 to T7. The reduction in crust thickness is partly in the thickness of modified soil with C.B.R. more than 10 % and partly in the thickness of granular sub base (GSB).

Conclusions
Based on the limited experimental work done in the laboratory, following conclusions are drawn:

% Soaked CBR Value

5 4.5 4 3.5 3

1.

On addition of 2 % polypropylene fibres with aspect ratio of 40, the soaked C.B.R value can be improved up to 75 % in comparison with the unreinforced soil. The crust thickness is reduced by 75 to 100 mm for different ESAL applications.

2.
0 1 2 3

Polypropylene fibres Content 1 % fibres 2 % fibres 3 % fibres

References 1. Boominathan A. (1999), Randomly Distributed fibre Reinforced Sand, Short term course on Geosynthetics and reinforced soil structure, I.I.T.Madras, India, pp. XVI 1 to XVI 10. Meenal Gosavi, K.A.Patil, S.Mittal (2004) Swami Saran Improvement of Properties of Soil in Subgrade by Using Synthetic Reinforcement Journal of Institution of Engineers (India), CV, Vol. 84, pp.257-262, February 2004 Ranjan Gopal and Charan H.D. (1998) Randomly Distributed fibre Reinforced Soil, IE (I) Journal, Vol.79, pp. 91-100 .

Figure 1: Relationship between polypropylene fibres content and Soaked % C.B.R. value

Reduction in Crust Thickness of Flexible Pavement

Thickness of flexible pavement is calculated based on C.B.R. value of soil subgrade and traffic in terms of ESAL applications as per SP:72-2007. As the C.B.R. value increased from 3.05 % to 5.35 %, on addition of 2 % polypropylene fibres with aspect ratio of 40, the crust thickness reduces appreciably. Table 5 below, illustrates the reduction in crust thickness for different ESAL applications (Traffic categories T4 to T 7of SP 72:2007)

2.

3.

Table 5: Reduction in Crust Thickness with increase in CBR value Sr. No. 1. 2. CBR 3.05 % 5.35 % 1 to 2 Lakhs ESAL (T4 ) 375 mm 300 mm 2 to 3 Lakhs ESAL (T5 ) 425 mm 325 mm 3 to 6 Lakhs ESAL (T6) 475 mm 375 mm 6 to 10 Lakhs ESAL (T7) 525 mm 425 mm

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Experiencing Folded Plates in Roadworks Retaining Structure

Dipankar Chakrabarti*, Shyamalendu Mukherjee** Road is a high investment sector. The sustainability of roads results in unobstructed growth. Sustainability of embankment signifies that its toe does not slip, the slope is steady and if at all sloped surfaces erode, to some little extent, the eroded soil particles do not go waste into ditches/rivulets. In the states like West Bengal, Assam, Part of Bihar and may be in all other states the rural road alignments generally follow embankment which had been previously used as road. The soil of these embankments was borrowed from close vicinity, some times even just from areas adjacent to the toe lines. Now while aiming at widening, raising embankment it is found that in many stretches the existing mass are under threat of slippage into such ditches. The structural element that we may think about for resisting slippage is a retaining wall. When it is very low in height and constructed along the toe line, we may call it as Toe wall. Cut-off wall is another hidden element, which plays effective role by resisting moisture entry in the embankment. A considerable amount of resources is put in for constructing the retaining walls. Economising this account shall fetch overall economy. The objective was to develop a structural system, which would be cost effective but capable enough to perform as retaining wall, toe wall or cut-off wall, may be even as Guide Bank.

*Executive Engineer (HQ) WBSRDA, **Assistant Engineer (Nadia Division) , WBSRDA,West Bengal
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Laboratory Test (Under Vertical Loading)

A set of tests have been carried out in laboratory to ascertain the ability to sustain vertical load by a paper in

terms of its own weight when folded to different ratios of length and breadth of folds corresponding to different heights. The results obtained are as under:

Sustained Test Height (H) Length of Breadth of Self weight Slenderness Length of Fold (B) of the Paper Ratio Fold/Breadth weight No. (in mm) Fold (L) (in mm.) (in mm.) (in gms.) of Fold (L/B) (in gms.) I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII 80 80 80 66 143 100 45 56 180 150 120 83 75 55 30 63 63 80 75 60 43 43 43 43 25.0 27.5 10.0 42.0 42.0 50.0 20.0 22.0 18.0 18.0 18.0 18.0 2.56 2.56 1.28 1.60 3.33 1.00 4.00 8.00 5.00 4.00 4.00 2.00 3.20 2.90 8.00 1.57 3.40 2.00 2.25 2.54 10.00 8.33 6.67 4.61 3.00 2.00 3.00 1.50 1.50 1.60 3.75 2.72 2.39 2.39 2.39 2.39 454.00 543.00 170.00 410.00 356.67 238.00 1020.00 1987.00 145.00 770.00 947.00 1800.00

Ratio of Load and Self weight 177.34 214.06 132.81 256.25 107.11 238.00 255.00 248.38 29.00 197.50 236.75 750.00

It is found from the laboratory tests that when breadth of fold (B) = 0.125 times of height (H) and the length of fold (L) is thrice the breadth of fold the most economical cross section of the folded plate wall would be adequate to sustain vertical load upto hundred and thirty three times (133) that of the self weight of the structure. Which virtually means that a 3 m. long 250 mm. thick brick wall of height 3 m., if folded in conformity to the above parameters of fold, can take load of 580 tons (Self weight 4387 Kgs.). It can sustain load from approximately 800 m2 of roof area. which confirms that if materials of higher crushing strength could be obtained by improving quality of material used for folded wall, the cost for quality improvement might bring much higher cost benefit ratio.

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Laboratory Test on Folded Plate Structure under Transverse Loading

Structural performance of brick wall is less critical in compression and more in bending. An attempt was made for model analysis with cuboids arranged in the form of Rat Trap Bonded folded structure. Cuboids of thermocole 12 mm x 20 mm x 40 mm. were made for the purpose but the attempt was in vain. Since the thermocole cuboids being very light in weight did not remain static while the next layers were put in. Anticipating that wooden cuboids might be better wooden cuboids are under preparation. About 4500 numbers of wooden cuboids of different dimensions are needed for a model analysis.

height 1.5 m above ground level. The breadth at the bottom of retaining wall at foundation level was kept 2/3 of the height of retention. A 975 mm wide base plate of 100 mm. thick PCC (1:3:6), was cast. Then a 250 mm thick brick masonry wall in folded configuration was constructed. Out of the total length, a stretch was further enforced with corbelled bricks, five layers (75 x 5 = 375 mm) projected to the countryside. The idea was to see that the mass of earth over the shelf, developed by the corbelling, would generate a restoring moment which would minimise the overturning moment. The folded brick wall was constructed against the conventional English or Flemish Bond in a new bonding system called Rat Trap Bond. It had been propagated in India through the efforts of renowned Architect Shri Laurie Baker .There is a saving of 25% of the total number of bricks and thus in the cost by using Rat Trap Bond. Computer simulated test modules have established that Rat Trap Bond is 25% stronger. The following comparative statement shows consumption of basic materials for brick wall by conventional English Bond and Rat-by-Rat Trap Bond.

Field Application of Folded Plates

In the district of Nadia in West Bengal a (PMGSY) Project was initially selected. The road selected was Elangi to Lakshmigachha under Package No. WB/14/25. There was a pond beside the road at chainage 5.90 km. It was decided to go for a performance study of folded plate retaining wall of
Material required with respect to type of bonding 1 Cum. Brick work 230 th using English Bond 1 Cum. Brick work using Rat Trap Bond

No of Bricks 487 370

Cement 62 Kgs. 30 Kgs.

Sand 0.22 Cum. 0.126 Cum.

Folded Plate

Folded Plate as Guide Bank

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Apart from the above, both faces of Rat Trap Bonded Brick wall are checked with plumb bob, so both the faces are uniform. As a result there is no necessity to provide plastering. All that would be required is neat cement pointing and patching on one edge of the header course. Hence there will be additional savings in plastering. On completion of construction and curing the back filling was done with, in layers by local earth of Maximum Dry Density (MDD) 1.70 gms./cc. Then an earth compactor was employed to roll and compact the retained earth. The compactor was directed to start rolling from about 1 m away from the retaining wall and it came slowly towards the folded wall and went on rolling moving over the corbelled shelves with full capacity of vibration, which is equivalent to 36 M.T.

video recorded. A selected portion of video recording is attached with a soft copy of this document.

Progress of Field Tests

A good number of folded plates were then applied to different locations of different projects as a cost effective tool for different height of retentions also. All are performing satisfactory till date. Some photographs are attached. In one instance folded plate has been applied to act as a guide bank beside a rivulet, which converges and passes through a narrow vented old culvert at the fag end of a PMGSY road Rukunpur Khalshipara to Bangaljhi Ferry Ghat under Package No. WB/14/27. The stretch of road at this point would get inundated in every monsoon. Erosion was a predominant feature in this stretch. The folded plate brick masonry structure was used as a guide bank and it performed very well. It is observed that the fins of the folds acted like small spurs and the soil started depositing between the fins and chances of erosion has been reversed.

Observations
Through the wall was expected to fail severely, it did not. The stretches where the relieving shelves were not in existence, after repetition of about 3-4 cycles of full vibration rolling the vertical joint at the junction of fold on the pond side showed a line of crack which propagated along the line of weakness of brick masonry. The maximum width of crack was about 35 mm and it appeared at about 7250 mm from GL i.e. at about at of height from GL. This clearly signifies that the failure was due to intensity of rolling load to this enormous extent. Not by virtue of back filling. The entire operation was

Analysis of Economics
A cost estimate has been done for three types of retaining wall 11.45 m. long to retain 1.5 m. high earth. The types of wall chosen are as under: 1. 2. 3. Folded plate Rat-Trap Bonded wall. Standard Trapezoidal Brick masonry wall. Standard Trapezoidal Plain Cement Concrete (1:2:4)

The following table shows the comparative analysis of the economics of the types of walls.
Type of Wall 1. Folded plate Rat-Trap bonded wall 2. Brick masonry retaining wall 3. Plain Concrete (1:2;4) retaining wall Cost / running meter Rs. 1781.25 / m. Rs. 3498.54 / m. Rs. 5104.60 / m.

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Figure 1: Typical details for 1.500m. heigh (G.L. to Top Level) Retaining Wall

It shows that the cost of standard brick masonry retaining wall is almost double and concrete retaining wall costs 2.865 times more than the folded plate brick rat-trap bonded retaining wall. Hence, in other words the savings will be to the tune of 50% and 65 % respectively.

SECTIONAL ELEVATION THROUGH XX

Structural Analysis
A preliminary analysis shows that the structure is marginally safe. But from experiment it reveals that the structure is highly safe. Therefore it can be concluded that certain parameters are yet to be considered. Further analysis in this light is being carried out.

PLAN OF RAT TRAP BRICK MASONRY RETAINING WALL All dimensions are in mm.

Figure 2: Details of Rat Trap Brick Bonding

Conclusions
Based on the limited experimental work and observation on some of the structures already constructed in the field, it can be concluded that: 1. The folded plate structure develops immense stiffness and sustainability against any and every kind of loads due to folded configuration. There must be some structural uniqueness generated within the system, which contributes additional stiffness. By virtue of this phenomenon the folded plate wall is found to be more efficient than the degree of efficiency found out by usual structural calculations. The folded plate structure is very economical and can be used safely as retaining walls, cut off walls, and guide banks.

ODD COURSES PLAN

EVEN COURSES

2.

ODD COURSES L - JUNCTION

EVEN COURSES

3.

4.

ODD COURSES T - JUNCTION

EVEN COURSES

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News in Brief
General Body Meeting
The 10th General Body Meeting under the Chairmanship of Hon'ble Minister of Rural Development and President NRRDA was held on 3rd November 2008. Amongst other items, the General Body approved the Annual Report for 2007-08 and the audited accounts for the year 2007-08 were adopted.

Executive Meeting
The 17th Executive Committee Meeting was held on 12th January 2009. Apart from the review of the activities carried out under PMGSY the Executive Meeting approved the appointment of the Statutory Auditors for 2008-09 and the empanelment of NQMs.

Conference and Workshops

Date 22 - 23 Nov, 08
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Venue Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi NITHE

Subject National Workshop on Planning and Construction of Hill Roads in Rural Areas. 16 General Session of Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO) Conference. Interactive W/S on performane of NQMs & STAs - GJ, HR, HP, J&K, PB, MP, RJ, UK & UP Inauguration/ Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony at Patna for PMGSY Works Workshop on E-Procurement Presentation on Procurement and Quality. Control for Delegation from Sri Lanka (30 min) Meeting with French Delegation
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06 - 10 Jan, 09
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09 - 10 Feb, 09
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27 Feb, 09
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Patna, Bihar

18 Mar, 09 06 April, 09
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New Delhi NRRDA

08 April, 09

Krishi Bhawan

National Rural Roads Development Agency

Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India 5 Floor, 15-NBCC Tower, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi-110 066 Ph.: 26716930/ 33, Fax: 51000475 E-mail: nrrda@pmgsy.nic.in Web: www.pmgsy.org www.pmgsy.nic.in
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