Rigid Pavement Design
Rigid Pavement Design
Rigid Pavement Design
[The Design of Rigid Pavements should conform to the standards as specified in IRC:58 2002]
Rigid Pavement design by Westergaard method (as modified by Teller & Sutherland and
Thomlinson) primarily is a method involving following major steps
1) Design of Joint Spacing
a) Design of Contraction Joint
b) Design of Expansion Joint
2) Design of thickness for stresses
a) Evaluation of Temperature Stresses
b) Evaluation of Stresses due to Wheel Load
3) Design of Joints
a) Design of Dowel Bar
b) Design of Tie Bar
Lc
c
where, Lc = Length of Contraction Joint (m)
ftc = Allowable Tensile Stress in Concrete (kg/cm2)
c = Unit Weight of Concrete (kg/cm3)
= Coefficient of Friction
1.a) Design of Expansion Joint:
Expansion Joint is used to allow space for the expansion of the slab during rise in
temperature and is given by the following formula with recommended maximum value of
140m. Generally the length of expansion joint is made a multiple of contraction joint length
with a limiting maximum value obtained from the expression
Le
200 Tc t s
where, Le = Length of Expansion Joint (m)
Tc = Thermal Coefficient of Concrete (/c)
ts = Maximum Seasonal Variation in Temperature (c)
= The allowable joint gap (cm)
The length of contraction joint is considered as the Longitudinal Length of the Slab.
The design procedure is same for all the three positions. The steps of design are as
follows
Step I) The stresses developed in Edge (Ste), Corner (Stc) and Interior (Sti) of a
Pavement Slab due to temperature variation are determined for a trial slab thickness
Step II) This stress values are subtracted from the Allowable Flexural Stress (fsc)
of concrete to obtain the Residual Stresses (R) at these three regions.
Re = fsc Ste
Rc = fsc Stc
Ri = fsc Sti
Step III) The stresses developed in Edge (Se), Corner (Sc) and Interior (Si) due
to wheel load of a Pavement Slab are determined for the trial slab thickness.
Step IV) The Factor of Safety of design at these three regions are determined as the
ratio of Residual Stress and corresponding Stress due to Wheel Load. The minimum of these
three FOS is taken as the design FOS. If Design FOS is greater than 1, the design is OK, else
the trial thickness is to be increased and Steps I to IV are repeated.
In order to calculate the temperature and load stresses certain parameters are to be
evaluated first. They are
1. Radius of Relative Stiffness (l)
1
E.t
3
4
l 2
where, l = Radius of relative stiffness in cm
12k (1 )
E = Modulus of Elasticity of Concrete (kg/cm2)
t = Trial Thickness of slab in cm
k = Modulus of subgrade reaction (kg/cm3)
= Poissons Ratio of Concrete.
2. Warping Stress Coefficient (C)
L
Warping (Thermal) Stress Coefficient has two values depending on the
l
ratio where L represents longitudinal and transverse length.
L
CX is a variable depending on R X X and
l
L
CY is a variable depending on RY Y Where, LX = Longitudinal Length of Slab (cm)
l
LY = Transverse Length of Slab in cm.
3. Radius of Equivalent Distribution of Pressure (b)
a
b 1.6a t , when 1.724 and
2 2
t
a
b a, when 1.724 where, a = radius of equivalent load contact area in cm
t
t = thickness of slab in cm.
The stresses in pavement slab due to temperature are given by the following formulae
C.E.Tc .Tt
a) Stress at Edge = S te kg/cm2
2
E.Tc .Tt a
b) Stress at Corner = S tc kg/cm2
3.1 l
E.Tc .Tt C X CY
c) Stress at Inside = S ti
2
kg/cm where Tt = Temperature difference
2 1 2
in top & bottom surface of a slab of thickness t cm.
The stresses in pavement slab due to wheel load are given by the following formulae
a) Stress at Edge = S e 0.529 2 1 0.54 4 log10 log10 b 0.4048 kg/cm2
P l
t b
3P a 2
1 .2
Length of the Dowel Bar (Ld) is determined from trial solution of the
following equation
1
f st Ld 1.5 2
L d 5d
f bc Ld 8.8
where, Ld = Effective Length of Dowel Bar in cm
fst = Permissible Flexural Stress in Dowel Bar (kg/cm2)
fbc = Permissible Bearing Stress in Concrete (kg/cm2)
d = Diameter of Dowel Bar in cm
= Expansion Joint Gap in cm
The total Length of Dowel is given as (Ld + )
Answer
1.a) Design of Contraction Joint:
2 10 0.8
4
The thickness of the slab so designed is to be adjusted for projected design traffic volume
(depending on current traffic, rate of growth and design life) by the amount as given in
following table
Ld 5 2 10 14 d
100 Ld 8.8 2.5 L 22
d
L 1.5 2.5 Ld 3.75
Ld 100 14 d 1400
2
L d
8.8 2.5 dL 22
Ld Ld 22 1400 Ld 3.75
2
Ld 22 Ld 1400 Ld 5250 0
3
3
2(2.0) (1400)
ii) Bending = Pbe 429kg
30.2 8.8(2.5)
2.0 30.2 100
2
2040
The required Load Capacity Factor = 4.8
429
The Effective Length of Dowel Bar System = 1.8l = 1.8 84 = 151.2cm
Assuming a trial spacing of 25cm the available Capacity Factor of the group =
151.2 25 151.2 50 151.2 75 151.2 100 151.2 125 151.2 150
1 3.52
151.2 151.2 151.2 151.2 151.2 151.2
Similarly, for a spacing of 17.5 cm Available Capacity Factor = 4.83 > 4.8
Provide a Dowel Spacing of 17.5cm