1. Lec 29, Ch.20, pp.990-1007: AASTHO flexible pavement design method (objectives)
Know the factors considered in the AASHTO design method
Become familiar with use of Tables 20.13a and b through and Figures through 20.20
Know how the structural numbers are used in thickness determination
Become thoroughly familiar with the structural design process of the AASHTO flexible pavement design method

2. What we discuss in class today…
Design considerations
Use of tables and figures related to the factors considered
Structural design procedure

3. Design considerations for the AASHTO Flexible Pavement Design
The following factors are considered in the pavement thickness design.
Pavement performance
Traffic
Roadbed soils (subgrade material)
Materials of construction
Environment
Drainage
Reliability

4. Pavement performance Structural  Cracking, faulting, raveling, etc.
Functional  Riding comfort (measured in terms of roughness of pavement.)
Serviceability Performance: Measured by PSI  Present Serviceability Index with scale 0 to 5.
5 “Just constructed”
4.2 Initial PSI (pi)
PSI
Terminal PSI (pt)
2.5 to 3.0 for major highways
2.0 for lower class highways
1.5 for very special cases
0 “Road closed”

5. Traffic
In the AASHTO flexible pavement design, traffic is considered in terms of ESAL for the terminal PSI (Table for pt = 2.5.)
You must assume the structural number of the pavement. So, you must check if the final SN3 is similar to the assumed SN. Higher SN means stronger pavement, thus the impact of traffic on pavement deteriorations is less.

6. Roadbed soils (Subgrade material)
CBR (California Bearing Ratio), R-value (Resistance), and Mr (Resilient modulus) are used to describe the property of the subgrade material.
During the structural design, only Mr values are used. The following conversion formulas are used if either CBR or R-values are given.
Mr (lb/in2) = 1500 x CBR for fine-grain soils with soaked CBR of 10 or less.
Mr (lb/in2) = x (R-value) for R <= 20

7. Materials of construction (Subbase), a3
Charts are available to convert the properties of pavement construction materials to structural numbers: a3, a2, and a1
Use CBR, R-value, or Mr to find a3 values
Structural number of the subbase, a3

8. Materials of construction (Base course), a2
Use CBR, R-value, or Mr to find a2 values
Structural number of the base course, a2

9. Materials of construction (AC surface), a1
0.44
Structural number of the AC surface, a1
= Resilient modulus, Mr

10. Environment Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
Temperature and rainfall affect the level of strength of the subgrade, reflected on the value of resilient modulus. AASHTO developed a chart that helps you to estimate the effective roadbed soil resilient modulus using the serviceability criteria (in terms of “relative damage, uf.”)
Determine the average uf. value and obtain Mr from the chart or the equation of uf. .
The bar on the right is used twice: Once to read uf value for each month’s sample Mr, then to read annual average Mr using the average uf value.
Step 2
Step 3

11. Drainage
The effect of drainage on the performance of flexible pavements is considered with respect to the effect water has on the strength of the base material and roadbed soil.
This effect is expressed by the drainage coefficient, mi. This value is dependent on the drainage quality and the percent of time pavement structure is exposed to moisture levels approaching saturation.

12. Definition of drainage quality and finding recommended mi values
Time required to drain the base/subbase layer to 50% saturation.
Step 1
If “Fair” and 30% exposure, then mi is 0.80.
Step 2

13. Reliability The reliability factor (FR) is computed using:
The Reliability design level (R%), which determine assurance levels that the pavement section designed using the procedure will survive for its design period (it is a z-score from the standard normal distribution
the standard deviation (So) that accounts for the chance variation in the traffic forecast and the chance variation in actual pavement performance for a given design period traffic, W18.
Why do we have a negative sign here? Are ZR values negative? Why not ZRSo! Well the clue is in Eq and the bell curve shown below.
One-sided Z-score is used here.
SD, So
Flexible pavements
Rigid pavements
Survive
Fail

14. Structural design Where,
The object of the design using the AASHTO method is to determine a flexible pavement SN adequate to carry the projected design ESAL.
The method discussed in the text (Example 20-8) applies to ESALs greater than 50,000 for the performance period. The design for ESALs less than this is usually considered under low-volume roads.
Where,
Simplify this as f(W18) = f(ZRSo) + f(SN)
We will keep the ESAL value constant and try to prove whether ZR must be negative or not. Note that So and SN are always positive. Standard deviation is always positive because it is a physical difference from the mean value, and SN is also positive because it means pavement thickness.

15. Solving the riddle of the negative values of ZR
f(W18) = f(ZRSo) + f(SN)
ESAL is an estimated value. It may actually more or less. In the design formula, however, the ESAL value is set to a constant. Then to make sure the pavement survive, you have to have a thicker one than the thickness that the estimated ESAL requires. To make that happen in the design formula, we need to subtract a value from the RHS. Hence, the reliability factor must be negative. The only way to make ZRSo smaller is to have a negative value of ZR because So is always positive.

16. How to use Fig. 20.20 to get structural numbers based on Eq. 20.13
For subbase, Mr=13,500
For base course, Mr=31,000
SN1= 2.6
This line is for the subgrade in Example Mr=1500*6=9000
SN3= 4.4
SN2= 3.8
This line has nothing to do with Example 20-8.

17. Once SN value is set, thickness design begins…
Proceed in this direction
Use Fig for a3, Fig for a2, Fig for a3, and Tab and m2 and m3. Find the depth that results in a SN value close to the SN value obtained from Fig

18. Example 20-8 Given: ESAL = 2 x 106 One week for water to be drained
Saturation level moisture exposure = 30% of the time
AC’s Mr at 68Fo = 450,000 lb/in2
CBR of base course =100, Mr = 31,000 lb/in2
CBR of subbase =22, Mr = 13,500 lb/in2
CBR of subgrade = 6, Mr = 1500CBR= 6*1500 = 9000 lb/in2
Rural interstate
Parameter values:
Reliability level (R ) = 99% from Tab
Standard Deviation (So) = 0.49, Table 20.16, p.973
Initial serviceability, pi = 4.5
Terminal serviceability, pt = 2.5
Drainage mi values = 0.8 for “Fair” category in Tab and “Greater than 25%” category in Tab