Apr June14

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Regd. No. 17549/57 with the Registrar of Newspapers Volume 74-4 April - June 2014 ` 20.00
JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN ROADS CONGRESS

Volume 74-4
JOURNAL
OF THE
INDIAN ROADS CONGRESS
April - June 2014
ISSN 0258-0500
Journal Of The
Indian Roads Congress
Volume 74-4
CONTENTS
Page
Paper No. 612 “Characteristics of Different Types of Sand Mixed Randomly with Distributed Jute Fibers” 77
J. Maity, B.C. Chattopadhyay and S.P. Mukherjee
Paper No. 613 “Planning and Controlling of a National Highway Project – A Case Study” 92
Indrasen Singh Lt. Col. P. Venkateswarlu
Paper No. 614 “Infra Red and Thermal Analysis of Neat and Modified Bitumen” 103
Maninder Singh, Praveen Kumar and M. R. Maurya
Paper No. 615 “Four Laning Hill Roads : Some Special Requirements and Precautions” 113
D.N. Handa
Paper No. 616 “Local Scour In Bridge Piers On Coarse Bed Material - Observed And Predicted By Different Methods” 126
S.K.Mazumder and R.K. Dhiman
Paper No. 617 “Safety Analysis and Evaluation of Urban Single Carriageway Roads In Kerala” 136
S. Anjana and M.V.L.R. Anjaneyulu
Paper No. 618 “Calculation of Time Dependent Losses in Prestressed Concrete Structure as per IRC: 112 and IRC: 18” 146
T. Viswanathan
Paper No. 619 “An Innovative and Out of Box Approach for Mitigation of Permanent Trouble Spot in The Form of 162
A Cut & Cover Structure Across an Active Landslide at Sonapur in North-East India on NH-44 at Sonapur in
The State of Meghalaya: A Case Study”
S.S. Porwal & A.K. Dey
Discussions held during 74th Annual Session of IRC at Guwahati on Papers 172
Published in Volume 74 Parts 1, 73-4, 2 & 3
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Annoucement - International Seminar on "Road Safety for Inclusive and Sustainable Development-Current Practice and Perspective" 207
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The Indian Roads Congress Founded: December 1934
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New Delhi April-June 2014
Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

© The Rights of Publication and Translation are reserved.
The Indian Roads Congress as a body does not hold

itself responsible for statements made, or for opinions
expressed in the Papers published in this Volume.
Edited and Published by Shri Vishnu Shankar Prasad, Secretary General, Indian Roads Congress, Jamnagar House,
Shahjahan Road, New Delhi on behalf of the Indian Roads Congress. Printed by Shri Madan Lal Goel on behalf of the
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14,000 copies, April-June, 2014

Paper No. 612
CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF SAND MIXED

RANDOMLY WITH DISTRIBUTED JUTE FIBERS
J. Maity*, B.C. Chattopadhyay** and S.P. Mukherjee***
SYNOPSIS
For the construction of subbase of roads, brickbats are used as conventional material in India. For increasing construction of roads for rapid development of
Infrastructures in a country, the quantity of bricks needed for brickbats for such subbases, will be of enormous quantity. But the production of bricks needs
good soil to be procured from mostly agricultural lands. Such lands are of limited extent to be spared because of huge population and low per capita land
holding particularly in India. Furthermore converting green bricks to burnt one, large energy is required while in India conservation of energy is of highest
priority. In such situation, sand which is available in most part of the country has been advocated as an alternate material in place of brickbats for subbase.
A systematic experimental program has been undertaken by the authors as regard to improvement of compactibility of sands, decrease in deformability and
increase in CBR of sand laid layers on mixing different types of natural jute-spoils in various proportions, with varying length of such fibers. The Jute-spoils
added in constructions are expected to provide better compact interlocking system in the sand. In this paper, results of the investigation on different sands
with inclusion of randomly distributed jute-spoil fibers have been reported.
1 INTRODUCTION to improve the compactibility of the sand, to develop

high CBR value and to sustain the compactness (Gray
In India, the sub-base in flexible pavement is and Ohashi, 1983[2]; Santoni and Webstar, 2001[3];
conventionally constructed with brickbats. However to Kumar and Singh, 2008[4]).
have good clays to make brick, encroachment is being
made on agricultural land which is itself shrinking due Randomly distributed fibers in soil are one of the latest
to industrialization. Further huge energy is required for techniques in which fibers of desired quality and type
burning to have these bricks but energy is gradually are added to the soil. In this technique the mixing of
becoming dearer in India. So to lessen pressure in reinforcement in the soil is easy and no special skill is
agricultural land for making bricks and also to lessen required. To develop high CBR value and to improve
consumption of energy for firing bricks, use of brick bats the compactness of sand different fiber materials like
in construction of road subbase is being discouraged. Glass fiber (Pazare et al, 2002)[5], Nylon fiber (Jain et al,
Alternately sand is gradually being projected as 2003)[6], synthetic fiber (Consoli et al, 1998[7], Kaniraj
alternate material for construction of subbase (Singh et al, 2001[8]) etc. are reported.
and Prasad, 2004)[1].
However, above inclusions are generally expensive and
However, to place sand in subbase with proper density non-biodegradable resulting higher costs with doubtful
and maintaining the compacted state of such sand on environmental effects. This problem can be solved by
time scale is quite complicated problem in practice. using locally available natural fibers. Natural fibers like
The sand must retain the required placement density jute, coir, sabai grass fiber etc. are mostly available in
and offer same California Bearing Ratio (CBR) value third world countries at a low cost and their supply is
achieved at the time of its initial placement to maintain ensured from agriculture products. Geotextiles made
the stability of the road itself. In this regard preliminary from natural fibres like jute or coir are being employed
research of using fibre reinforced sand shows possibility as economic and eco-friendly solution (Chattopadhyay
* Assistant Prof.
** Professor
***Professor } C.E.Dept.,Meghnad Saha Institute of Technology, Kolkata, E-mail: joymaity1975@yahoo.co.in
Written comments on this Paper are invited and will be received upto 13th August, 2014.

78 Maity, Chattopadhyay, And Mukherjee on
et.al, 1998[9], 2004[10], 2009[11]). In the proposed study, Guha (1995)[14] reveal that coir fibre differs from jute
investigation has been made by carrying out extensive fibres in an aspect other than durability, jute fibres
experimentation on composite sand-jute system to exhibit moderately high modulus as well as high
examine compactive characteristics in respect of the tenacity and very low elongation at break whereas coir
sands used. fibres behave exactly in the opposite manner, namely
moderately low modulus, low tenacity and very high
2 REVIEW OF PAST WORKs elongation at break. This difference persists irrespective
of the length of coir fibre.
Fiber inclusion causes significant modification and
improvement in the engineering behavior of soils. In the present investigation, natural jute spoil fibers
The main advantages of randomly distributed discrete collected from local jute-mill and locally available
fibres are the simplicity in mixing, maintenance of Fine sand, Medium sand and silver sand were utilized.
strength isotropy and absence of potential planes Results of the experimental study made with various
of weakness which may develop parallel to the length and proportion of jute spoils fiber by percentage
oriented reinforcement. Use of randomly distributed of weight of the dry sand mixed with different types of
fibre reinforced soils can be advantageously utilized sand are reported in this paper.
as a ground improvement technique in the case of
3 MATERIALS USED IN THIS STUDY
embankments, subgrades and in similar other problems
(Pazare et al, 2002 [5], Jain et al, 2003[6], Consoli et al, Sands:
1998 [7], Kaniraj et al, 2001) [8].
In this experimental study locally available Fine sand,
Gray and Ohashi (1983)[2] conducted a series of Medium sand, and Silver sand were used. The Fine
direct shear tests on dry sand reinforced with sand and the Medium sand are of brown colour and
different synthetic, natural and metallic fibers to are used in construction works for making mortar or
evaluate the effect of parameters, such as fiber concrete. However Silver sand is of whitish gray colour
orientation, fiber content, and fiber area ratios, and and is used for filling works. These types of sand were
fiber stiffness on contribution to shear strength. used mainly for their easy availability in many parts
Based on the test results, they indicated increased of the country for possible use in practice. The grain
shear strength, increased ductility (absorbed strain size distribution curves for these sands used in the
energy), and reduced post peak strength loss due experiments are also shown in Fig. 1.
to the inclusion of discrete fibers. Maher and Gray
The physical properties of these three types of sands
(1990)[12] conducted triaxial compression tests on
used in the experiments are tabulated in Table 1.
sand reinforced with discrete, randomly distributed
fibers and studied the influences of various fiber
properties, soil properties and other test variables
on soil behavior. They reported that the strength of
reinforced sand increases with increase in aspect
ratio, fiber content, and soil fiber surface friction.
In order to study the influence of natural fibers on the

CBR value of the silty soil, Shetty and Rao (1987)[13]
performed series of laboratory CBR tests. The results
of these tests show that coir fibers reinforced silty sand
(SM) with the addition of coir fibers (10% by volume)
resulted in increase in CBR value by 26% and 22%
under soaked and unsoaked conditions respectively. Fig. 1 Grain size distribution curve for different types of sand

Characteristics Of Different Types Of Sand Mixed Randomly With Distributed Jute Fibers 79
Natural Jute fibers: 5 MATHODOLOGY
Natural Jute fibers were collected from local market Jute fibers are processed by cutting into small pieces
for use in this experimental study. The summary of the of length 5 mm, 10 mm and 20 mm for use as fiber
physical properties of fibers are given in Table 2. material and are shown in fig. 2 The Jute fibers were
Table 1 Summary of Physical Properties of Sands
Fine Medium
Properties Silver Sand
Sand Sand
Colour Brown Brown Whitish gray
Classification (IS) SP SP SM
Specific gravity 2.63 2.65 2.54
Coefficient of uniformity, Cu 2.09 2.18 2.47
Maximum dry density (gm/cc) 1.62 1.63 1.59
Optimum moisture content (%) 15.3 14.5 15.5 Fig. 2 Jute spoils fiber cut into pieces of definite length
Angle of internal friction (φ) 38.8° 41.7° 37.2° randomly mixed in sand by percentage of weight of the
Unsoaked California bearing dry sand. Details of Sand-Jute fiber combinations of
8.4 9.1 7.2
ratio (%) at OMC mixtures are given in Table 4.
Table 2 Summary of Physical Properties of Fibers The mixing of fibers and sand was done manually with
proper care for preparing homogeneous mixture at each
Tests Jute fiber
stage of mixing. It was found that the fibers could be
Density (g/cc) 1.47 mixed with sand more effectively in the moist state
Diameter (mm) 0.03 – 0.14 than in the dry state.
4 TEST PROGRAMME Table 4 Details of different sand-jute fiber

combinations of mixtures
To investigate the effect of inclusion of the natural jute
fibers of various lengths and proportion, in different Type of Length of jute Fiber Content ( %) by
types of sands i.e. Fine sand, Medium sand, and Silver Sand used Fiber (mm) weight of the dry sand
sand taken, a series of Standard Proctor tests and
Fine Sand 20, 10 and 5 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 & 2.0
CBR tests have been conducted using Proctor mould
and CBR mould as per I.S. codal provision. Different Medium
20, 10 and 5 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 & 2.0
parameters considered in the experiments are given in Sand
the Table 3.
Silver Sand 20, 10 and 5 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 & 2.0
Table 3 Different parameters considered in the

experiments 6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONs
Type of Type of Sands % fiber by Fiber The optimum moisture content (OMC) and
fibres weight of the dry length corresponding maximum dry density (MDD) for each
sand (mm) combination was determined by conducting Standard
Fine sand, Medium Proctor tests. For each case both Unsoaked and Soaked
Jute fiber 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2 5, 10, 20.
sand, and Silver sand CBR tests were conducted at OMC.

Table 5 Summary of Results of Standard (I) Effect of Fiber Content on MDD for Different
Proctor tests types of sand
Fiber % OF Fine sand Silver sand Medium sand The variations in MDD against Fiber content for Fine
length Fiber MDD OMC MDD OMC MDD OMC sand, Silver sand and Medium sand mixed with natural
0.0% 1.613 15.2 1.588 15.6 1.625 14.5 Jute fiber of varying length are shown in Figs. 3, 4 and

0.5% 1.605 15.6 1.583 15.9 1.624 14.9 5 respectively.

Jute
1.0% 1.6 15.8 1.578 16.3 1.618 15.3
spoil
1.5% 1.591 16 1.562 16.6 1.602 15.8
0.5 cm
2.0% 1.576 16.5 1.554 17.2 1.589 16.1
0.5% 1.601 15.9 1.58 16.2 1.619 15
Jute
1.0% 1.592 16.4 1.572 16.5 1.609 15.7
spoil
1.5% 1.581 16.9 1.557 17 1.598 16
1.0 cm
2.0% 1.562 17.1 1.549 17.4 1.582 16.4
0.5% 1.584 16 1.574 16.3 1.61 15.2
Jute
1.0% 1.57 16.7 1.565 17.1 1.6 15.9
spoil
1.5% 1.557 17 1.551 17.5 1.592 16.5
2.0 cm
2.0% 1.532 17.4 1.531 17.7 1.575 16.8
The results of standard Proctor tests on sands mixed

with varying proportion of jute fibers of different lengths Fig. 3 Effect of Fiber Content on MDD for Fine sand
are given in Table 5. The effect of adding jute fibers, of
varying length and proportion by the weight of dry sand
in Fine sand, Medium sand, and Silver sand on different
compaction characteristics are discussed below.
(A) Effect of inclusion of Jute fibers with sand on

Standard Proctor tests
Variations of Maximum dry density of three different

sands namely Fine sand, Silver sand and Medium sand
due to inclusion of jute fiber of varying percentage by
the weight of dry sand are shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5
respectively.
Fig. 4 Effect of Fiber Content on MDD for Silver sand
Similarly variation of OMC of these sands due to
inclusion of jute fiber of varying percentage by the
weight of dry sand are plotted in Figs. 6, 7 and 8
respectively. From these figures effect of addition of
jute fibers of any chosen length, to the three different
sands by different percentage by weight on MDD and
OMC are shown. To illustrate the effect of length of
fibers on MDD and OMC when jute fibers are added
in same percentage by weight of the sand, to the three
different sands chosen, MDD and OMC of mixed soil,
plotted against variation of length of the fibers used in
Fig. 5 Effect of Fiber Content on MDD for Medium sand
Figs. 9 to 14.

The results show that as the fiber content increases, the The results show that as the fiber content increases, the
maximum dry density (MDD) decreases for all Fine optimum moisture content increases for all the types of
sand, Medium sand, and Silver sand. sand tested.
(III) Effect of Fiber Length on MDD for Different
(II) Effect of Fiber Content on OMC for Different types of sand
types of sand
The variation in MDD with Fiber length for Fine sand,
The variation in Optimum moisture content with Fiber Silver sand and Medium sand mixed with various
content for Fine sand, Silver sand and Medium sand percentage of natural Jute fiber by the weight of dry
mixed with various length of natural Jute fiber are sand are shown in Figs. 9, 10 and 11 respectively.
shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 respectively. The results show that as the fiber length increases,
the maximum dry density decreases for all fine sand,
Fig. 6 Effect of Fiber Content on OMC for Fine sand

Fig. 9 Effect of Fiber Length on MDD for Fine sand
Fig. 7 Effect of Fiber Content on OMC for Silver sand Fig. 10 Effect of Fiber Length on MDD for Silver sand
Fig. 8 Effect of Fiber Content on OMC for Medium sand Fig. 11 Effect of Fiber Length on MDD for Medium sand

medium sand, and silver sand. The decrease in density tested. The increase in moisture content is most likely
is most likely a result of the fiber having less specific the result of the fibers having a greater water absorption
weight in comparison to that of the sand grains. capacity than the surrounding sand.
(IV) Effect of Fiber Length on OMC for Different (B) Effect of inclusion of Jute fibers with sand on
types of sand California bearing ratio
The variation in OMC with Fiber length for different Unsoaked and Soaked CBR tests were conducted at
types of sand i.e. Fine sand, Silver sand and Medium OMC on all the three types of sands mixed with fibers
sand mixed with varying percentage of Jute fiber by of different sizes and proportions by weight of dry
the weight of dry sand are plotted in Figs. 12, 13 and sand for each mix. The CBR value both Unsoaked and
14 respectively. From these figures it is observed that Soaked obtained in these tests are tabulated in Table 6.
as the fiber length increases, the optimum moisture Since the CBR values in soaked conditions are used in
content increases initially at a higher rate and thereafter practice for design consideration, the effect of various
approaches a constant value for all the types of sand factors like length and proportion of fibers mixed
randomly on resulting CBR value in soaked condition
are discussed below.
Table 6 Summary of Results of Unsoaked CBR

tests and Soaked CBR tests
Fine sand Silver sand Medium sand

Fiber % of Un- Un- Un-
length Fiber soaked Soaked soaked Soaked soaked Soaked
CBR CBR CBR
Fig. 12 Effect of Fiber length on OMC for Fine sand CBR CBR CBR
0.0% 8.4 7.1 7.2 6.4 9.1 8.2

Jute 0.5% 10.5 9.7 11.1 9.7 9.9 8.8

fiber 1.0% 11.6 10.4 12.4 10.9 10.5 9.7
0.5 1.5% 12.2 11.2 12.8 11.4 9.5 8.6
cm 2.0% 10.8 9.6 10.7 9.2 8.8 8.4
Jute 0.5% 9.6 8.7 9.0 7.9 9.7 8.6

fiber 1.0% 10.3 9.1 10.3 9.1 10.2 9.3
1.0 1.5% 10.7 9.7 11.1 10.2 9.6 8.8
cm 2.0% 9.7 8.5 9.6 8.7 8.5 8.3
Fig. 13 Effect of Fiber length on OMC for Silver sand
Jute 0.5% 9.3 8.0 8.6 7.7 9.4 8.3
fiber 1.0% 10.1 8.9 10.1 8.9 9.9 8.8
2.0 1.5% 10.3 9.1 10.9 9.4 8.4 7.8
cm 2.0% 9.1 8.2 9.4 8.6 7.6 7.1
(I) Effect of Fiber Content on soaked CBR for

Different types of sand
For visual comparison of the variation of soaked CBR

values of three different sands namely Fine brown
Fig. 14 Effect of Fiber length on OMC for Medium sand

fine sand, medium sand, and silver sand. The soaked
CBR value is maximum for 1.0% of fiber inclusion of
the dry weight of sand for all three types of sand. The
decrease of soaked CBR value above optimum content
may be due to the fact that, at that fiber content, fiber
quantities are higher enough to effect more fiber-fiber
interaction than fiber-sand interaction.
(II) Effect of Fiber Length on soaked CBR for
Different types of sand
Fig. 15 Effect of Fiber content on soaked CBR for Fine sand
Fig. 18 Effect of Fiber Length on soaked CBR for Fine sand
Fig. 16 Effect of Fiber content on soaked CBR for Silver sand
Fig.19 Effect of Fiber Length on soaked CBR for Silver sand
Fig. 17 Effect of Fiber content on soaked CBR for Medium sand
sand, Silver sand and Medium sand due to addition of

jute fibers of various length and fiber contents by the
weight of dry sand, are shown in Figs. 15, 16 and 17
respectively
From these figures, it can be observed that the soaked

CBR values increases with the increase in fiber inclusion
(%) up to a maximum limit, after that it decreases for
Fig. 20 Effect of Fiber Length on soaked CBR for Medium sand

The CBR vs length of Jute fiber curve for different

types of sand i.e. Fine sand, Silver sand and Medium
sand mixed with varying percentage of Jute fiber by
the weight of dry sand are shown in Figs. 18, 19 and
20 respectively.
From the figures, it can be observed that the soaked
CBR values increases to a maximum value with
the increase in fiber length of 5 mm, and after that it
decreases to a constant value for all fine sand, medium
sand, and silver sand for further increase in length of
Fig. 22 Effect of Fiber content on CBRI for Silver sand
the fibers. This increase is more predominant for silver
sand. However for medium sand increase of the soaked
CBR value is negligible.
(III) Effect of fiber content on the improvement

of Soaked CBR by California bearing ratio
index (CBRI)
To highlight the improvement in soaked CBR values due

to inclusion of jute fibers, a dimensionless factor CBRI Fig. 23 Effect of Fiber content on CBRI for Medium sand
(California bearing ratio index) has been introduced. It
is defined as the ratio The variation of CBRI vs Fiber content curve are plotted
for Fine sand, Silver sand and Medium sand mixed with
various length of natural Jute fiber are shown in Figs.
To visualize the effect of 21, 22 and 23 respectively.
inclusion of jute fiber of various length and percentage
by weight of dry sands on Soaked CBR values of such For all the sands used, it is observed that there is gradual
fiber mixed sands, the non-dimensional ratio CBRI was increase in the value of CBRI with inclusion of fiber
calculated by dividing the soaked CBR value obtained content for all sands used. The trend reaches a peak
after mixing jute fiber to sand at OMC to that of soaked value at 1.5% fiber content by weight of dry sands for
CBR value of Fine sand, Medium sand, and Silver sand Fine sand and Silver sand and at 1% fiber content by
at OMC without mixing fiber. weight of dry sands for Medium sand. Thereafter the
CBRI value decreases with increase of fiber content.
Thus there is a peak value of addition of jute fibers all
the sand with fiber content in the range of 1% to 1.5%.
So optimum value of jute fiber inclusion as determined
from the experiments is around 1.5% by weight and the
optimum length of jute spoils fiber is 0.5 cm. However
the effect is not that remarkable in case of inclusion of
fiber in medium sand.
(IV)Effect of Submergence duration on CBR value

for Different types of sand
To investigate the permanency of the strength of the

Fig. 21 Effect of Fiber content on CBRI for Fine sand compacted sands with jute fiber, randomly mixed

in different proportions to different sands, the CBR and Medium sand mixed with natural Jute fiber of
(soaked) value of such compacted sand-jute fiber optimum fiber content of 1.5% by weight of dry sand
composites were evaluated in soaked condition after and optimum fiber length of 0.5 cm. From this figure it
different time interval ranging from 4 days to 1 year. is observed that the value of soaked CBR of sand-jute
fiber composite decreases slowly with time to a constant
These tests were conducted to investigate the time value. However these values are still higher than the
effect on soaked CBR value of the sand-jute composite soaked CBR value of this sands without mixing any
due to degradation of the jute fibers, if any, with time jute fibers. This decrease in soaked CBR value with
under water. To determine the soaking effect for long the duration was observed under extreme condition of
period duration the compacted soil in CBR mould were keeping of the sand-jute composite remaining under
immersed in water tank with seating load. The CBR total submergence over this long durations.
tests were then carried out at specific intervals.
7 APPLICABILITY OF JUTE FIBERS IN
The results of Soaked CBR tests at different durations PRACTICE
for different sand-jute fiber mix combinations are given
Natural fibers like Jute are already been used for
in Table 7.
different engineering solutions in practice like
Table 7 Summary of Results of Soaked CBR tests improvement of sub-grade made of fine grained soils
at different durations for road construction, erosion control for slopes etc.
and Indian Standard Code for application of such
Details of sand- 4 1 2 3 6 1 fibers are also available (IS 14986: 2001)[15]. Jute being
fibers composite days month months months months year natural product, it degrades slowly with time. However
Fine sand with loss of strength of jute fiber should not be of any
1.5% Jute fiber 11.2 11.0 10.7 10.2 9.2 8.1 concerns as by the time of decay of such fibers, they
0.5 cm have already played a very important role in providing
Silver sand with a self sustaining subgrade for most types of soils. The
1.5% Jute fiber 11.4 10.9 10.2 9.7 9.0 7.8
0.5 cm gain in the strength of the sub-grade, due to accelerated
Medium sand rate with time, can well be compensated from the loss
with 1.5% Jute 9.7 9.4 9.1 8.7 8.2 7.8 of strength of the jute fibers within same time frame.
fiber 0.5 cm
It is opined that jute fabric is useful for developing
The variations of soaked CBR are plotted against countries of the Asia-Pacific region as a money saver
duration period in Fig. 24 for Fine sand, Silver sand as well as a construction expedient (Ramswamy and
Aziz, 1989) [16].
Jute degrades through aerobic process and jute has been

found to be fairly resistant to rapid decoration when
embedded permanently in wet soil below ground water
table (Som and Sahu, 2003) [17].
In this investigation attempt has been made to visualize

the use of sand in conjunction with natural fiber as
alternate material to brickbats, conventionally used in
construction of sub-base of road.
When jute fiber is placed within the environment

surrounded by sand grains, the rate of decay of such
Fig. 24 Effect of Duration period (in month) on soaked CBR for
different types of sands
fiber becomes slower compared to that with fine grained

soils. Efficacy of using sand with jute fiber randomly MDD =-20 P2–1.62P + 1.5884, (R2=0.9892) ...5
mixed has been studied experimentally in this work.
It is found that soaked CBR value of sand can be For Silver sand mixes with 5 mm Jute spoil Fibre
judiciously improved to some extent by selecting proper length
percentage and length of fibers, to be mixed. Further MDD= -48.571 P2–0.8086P +1.586, (R2=0.9769) ...6
CBR (soaked) value of such sand-jute fiber composite
remains quite high even after submergence under water Medium sand:
over a year as tested. Thus use of sand in conjunction
For Medium sand mixes with 20 mm Jute spoil Fibre
with natural jute fibers in proper proportion, may prove
length
extremely useful for construction of rural roads or
temporary roads where routine maintenance may be MDD= -5.7143 P2–2.2457P +1.6237, (R2=0.9855) ...7
utilized to check the efficacy of such use.
8 REGRESSION ANALYSIS length
(I) Effect of Fiber Content on MDD for Different MDD = -60 P2 –0.94P + 1.625, (R2 = 0.9993) ...8
types of sand
The regression equations for the trends of the variations length
of Maximum Dry-density for each type of mixes have
been generated to correlate Maximum Dry-density MDD= -97.143 P2–0.0629P +1.6255, (R2=0.9887) ...9
value with Jute spoil content are given in equations The regression equations generated to correlate
below: Maximum Dry Density (MDD) value with Jute spoil
Fine sand: content are given in general form (with R2 value range
from 0.977 to 0.999) as below:
For Fine sand mixes with 20 mm Jute spoil Fiber
length MDD = α. P2 + β. P + c
MDD =25.714 P2–4.2943P+1.6103,(R2=0.98) ...1 Where, P= Jute spoil content, MDD = Maximum Dry
Density.
Where, P= Jute spoil content, MDD=Maximum Dry-
Density. For Fine sand mixes with 10 mm Jute spoil The value of α1 , β1 and c1 for Fine sand, Silver sand and
Fiber length Medium sand with fiber length 20 mm, 10 mm and 5
mm are given in Table 8.
MDD = -45.714 P2–1.5257P+1.6119, (R2=0.992) ...2
Table 8 Value of α1 , β1 and c1 for Fine Sand, Silver
For Fine sand mixes with 5 mm Jute spoil Fiber length Sand and Medium Sand with Different Fiber Length
MDD=-51.429 P2 – 0.7314P+1.612,(R2 =0.9895) ...3 Types Fine sand Silver sand Medium sand
of
Silver sand: Sand
Length
For Silver sand mixes with 20 mm Jute spoil Fibre 20 10 5 20 10 5 20 10 5
of
length mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
Fiber
MDD= -48.571 P2–1.7686P+1.5868, (R2=0.9931) ...4 α
25. -45. -51. -48.
-20
-48. -5.
-60
-97.
714 714 429 571 571 7143 143
For Silver sand mixes with 10 mm Jute spoil Fibre -4. -1. -0. -1. -1. -0. -2. -0.
β -0.94
2943 5257 7314 7686 62 8086 2457 0629
length
c 1.613 1.588 1.625

(II) Effect of Fiber Content on OMC for Different For Medium sand mixes with 5 mm Jute spoil Fibre
types of sand length OMC = -285.71 P2 + 87.714P + 14.47,
(R2 = 0.9963) ...18
The regression equation for the trends of the variations
of OMC for each type of mixes have been generated The regression equations generated to correlate
to correlate Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) value Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) value with Jute
with Jute spoil content are given in equations below: spoil content are given in general form (with R2 value
Fine brown sand: range from 0.972 to 0.998) as below
For Fine sand mixes with 20 mm Jute spoil Fiber OMC = α1. P2 + β1. P + c1
length OMC = -3428.6 P2 + 176.57P + 15.209,
(R2 = 0.9957) ...10 Where, P= Jute spoil content, OMC = Optimum
Moisture Content.
length OMC = -2857.1 P2 + 153.14P + 15.197, The value of α1 , β1 and c1 for Fine sand, Silver sand and
(R2 = 0.9981) ...11 Medium sand with fiber length 20 mm, 10 mm and 5
length OMC = 571.43 P2 + 48.571P + 15.249, Table 9 Value of α1 , β1 and c1 for Fine Sand, Silver
(R2 = 0.9729) ...12 Sand and Medium Sand with different Fiber Length
Where, P= Jute spoil content, OMC=Optimum Moisture Types

Content. of Sand
Length
Silver sand: of
20 10 5 20 10 5 20 10 5
mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
For Silver sand mixes with 20 mm Jute spoil Fibre Fiber
length -3428. -2857. 571. -571. 1428 -2571. -1714.

-285.
α1 -4000 71
6 1 43 43 .6 4 3
OMC=-4000 P2+188P+15.56, (R2-0.9948) ...13
176. 153. 48. 99. 49. 169. 130. 87.
For Silver sand mixes with 10 mm Jute spoil β2 188
57 14 57 429 429 43 29 714
Fibre length OMC=-571.43 P2+99.429P+15.631,
c1 15.2 15.6 14.5
(R2 = 0.9933) . ...14
For Silver sand mixes with 5 mm Jute spoil Fibre (III) Effect of Fiber Length on MDD for Different
length types of sand
OMC=1428.6 P2+49.429P+15.611, (R2=0.9941) ...15 The regression equations for the trends of the variations
of Maximum Dry-density for each type of mixes have
Medium sand: been generated to correlate Maximum Dry-density
value with Jute spoil length are given in equations
For Medium sand mixes with 20 mm Jute spoil
below:
Fibre length OMC = -2571.4 P2 + 169.43P + 14.471,
(R2 = 0.9974) ...16 Fine sand:
For Medium sand mixes with 10 mm Jute spoil For Fine sand mixes with 0.5% Jute spoil MDD =
Fibre length OMC = -1714.3 P2 + 130.29P + 14.474, -0.0015 L2 – 0.011L + 1.6124, (R2 = 0.9911) ...19
(R2 = 0.9922) ...17 Where, L= Jute spoil length in cm, MDD =

Maximum Dry-Density. Table 10 Value of α2 , β2 and c2 for Fine sand, Silver

sand and Medium sand with different
For Fine sand mixes with 1% Jute spoil fiber content
MDD=0.0005 L2–0.022L+1.6124, (R2=0.9959) ...20 Types of Fine Silver sand Medium sand
Sand sand
For Fine sand mixes with 1.5% Jute spoil
Fiber
MDD=0.0058 L2–0.0389L+1.6119, (R2=0.991) ...21 content
0.5% 1% 1.5% 2% 0.5% 1% 1.5% 2% 0.5% 1% 1.5% 2%
For Fine sand mixes with 2% Jute spoil α2

-0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. -0. 0. 0. 0.
0015 0005 0058 0137 0013 0048 0152 0148 0021 002 013 0216
MDD=0.0137 L2–0.0667L+1.6111, (R2=0.9865) ...22 β2

-0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0.
011 022 039 067 009 021 048 056 0036 004 042 067
Silver sand: c2 1.613 1.588 1.625
For Silver sand mixes with 0.5% Jute spoil

The regression equations generated to correlate
MDD = 0.0013 L – 0.0094L + 1.5878, (R = 0.9968) ...23
2 2 Maximum Dry Density (MDD) value with Jute spoil
content are given in general form (with R2 value range
For Silver sand mixes with 1% Jute spoil from 0.951 to 0.997) as below:
MDD = 0.0048 L2 – 0.021L + 1.5878, (R2 = 0.9984) ...24 MDD = α2. L2 + β2. L + c2
Where, L= Jute spoil length in cm, MDD = Maximum

Dry Density.
MDD = 0.0152 L2 – 0.0478L + 1.5864, (R2 = 0.9603) ...25 The value of α2 , β2 and c2 for Fine sand, Silver sand and
Medium sand with fiber length 20 mm, 10 mm and 5
For Silver sand mixes with 2% Jute spoil
MDD = 0.0148 L2 – 0.0564L + 1.5854, (R2 = 0.9518) ...26 (IV) Effect of Fiber Length on OMC for Different
types of sand
Medium sand:
The regression equation for the trends of the variations
For Medium sand mixes with 0.5% Jute spoil of OMC for each type of mixes have been generated
to correlate Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) value
MDD = -0.0021 L2 – 0.0036L + 1.6254, (R2 = 0.9891) ...27
with Jute spoil content are given in equations below
For Medium sand mixes with 1% Jute spoil Fine sand:
MDD = 0.0021 L2 – 0.0036L + 1.6254, (R2 = 0.9942) ...28 For Fine sand mixes with 0.5% Jute spoil
For Medium sand mixes with 1.5% Jute spoil OMC = -0.2909 L2 + 0.9855L + 15.195, (R2 = 0.9991) ...31
MDD = 0.013 L2 – 0.0415L + 1.6234, (R2 = 0.956) ...29 Where, L= Jute spoil length in cm, OMC= Optimum
Moisture Content.
For Medium sand mixes with 2% Jute spoil For Fine sand mixes with 1% Jute spoil
MDD = 0.0216 L2 – 0.0668L + 1.6228, (R2 = 0.9608) ...30 OMC = -0.4091 L2 + 1.5845L + 15.175, (R2 = 0.9945) ...32

For Fine sand mixes with 1.5% Jute spoil 0. 1. 2. 2. 0. 1. 1. 2. 0. 1. 2. 2.
β2
9855 5845 3545 7873 8136 1736 959 8482 7155 7436 2473 9191
OMC = -0.7091 L2 + 2.3545L + 15.145, (R2 = 0.9831) ...33 c2 15.2 15.6 14.5
For Fine sand mixes with 2% Jute spoil The regression equations generated to correlate
OMC = -0.8545 L2 + 2.7873L + 15.233, (R2 = 0.9954) ...34 Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) value with Jute
spoil content are given in general form (with R2 value
Silver sand: range from 0.942 to 0.997) as below:
For Silver sand mixes with 0.5% Jute spoil OMC = α3. L2 + β3. L + c3
OMC = -0.2273 L2 + 0.8136L + 15.65, (R2 = 0.9924) ...35
Where, L= Jute spoil length in cm, OMC = Optimum
For Silver sand mixes with 1% Jute spoil Moisture Content.
OMC = -0.2273 L2 + 1.1736L + 15.646, (R2 = 0.9771) ...36 The value of α3 , β3 and c3 for Fine sand, Silver sand and
Medium sand with fiber length 20 mm, 10 mm and 5
OMC = -0.5182 L2 + 1.9591L + 15.641, (R2 = 0.9895) ...37
(V) Effect of Fiber Content on CBR for Different
For Silver sand mixes with 2% Jute spoil types of sand
OMC = -0.9364 L2 + 2.8482L + 15.712, (R2 = 0.9423) ...38 The regression equation for the trends of the variations
of CBR for each type of mixes have been generated
Medium sand:
to correlate California bearing ratio (CBR) value with
For Medium sand mixes with 0.5% Jute spoil Jute spoil content are given in equations below:
OMC = -0.1909 L2 + 0.7155L + 14.59, (R2 = 0.9717)...39 Fine sand:

For Medium sand mixes with 1% Jute spoil For Fine sand mixes with 20 mm Jute spoil Fiber
OMC = -0.5273 L2 + 1.7436L + 14.516, (R2 = 0.9972) ...40 length
For Medium sand mixes with 1.5% Jute spoil CBR = -12286 P2 + 311.71P + 6.986, (R2 = 0.9517) ...43
OMC = -0.6545 L2 + 2.2473L + 14.593, (R2 = 0.9518) ...41 Where, P= Jute spoil content, CBR = California bearing
ratio.
For Medium sand mixes with 2% Jute spoil
OMC = -0.9182 L2 + 2.9191L + 14.601, (R2 = 0.9592) ...42 For Fine sand mixes with 10 mm Jute spoil Fiber
length
Table 11 Value of α3 , β3 and c3 for Fine sand,
Silver sand and Medium sand with different CBR = -15429 P2 + 384.57P + 7.0886, (R2 = 0.946) ...44
fiber length
For Fine sand mixes with 5 mm Jute spoil Fiber length
Types
of Sand CBR = -23714 P2 + 604.29P + 7.1148, (R2 = 0.9668) ...45
Fiber 0. 1. 0. 1. 0. 1.
1% 2% 1% 2% 1% 2%
content 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% Silver sand:
-0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0. -0.
α2 For Silver sand mixes with 20 mm Jute spoil
2909 409 709 855 227 227 518 936 1909 527 655 918

Fibre length CBR = -14000 P2 + 402P + 6.28, 9 CONCLUSIONS

(R2 = 0.9742) ...46
From the experimental investigation reported above,
For Silver sand mixes with 10 mm Jute spoil Fibre following conclusions may be drawn.
length CBR = -17429 P2 + 486.57P + 6.2086, (R2 =
0.9214) ...47 1. For the sands used, MDD value decreases and
OMC increases with the increase of randomly
For Silver sand mixes with 5 mm Jute spoil Fibre mixing jute fiber content within the range tested in
length the investigation.
CBR = -33429 P2 + 814.57P + 6.3886, (R2 = 0.9869) ...48 2. There is a considerable increase in the CBR
(soaked) value for both fine sand and silver sand
Medium sand:
when mixing with randomly distributed discrete
For Medium sand mixes with 20 mm Jute spoil Fibre natural Jute spoil fiber, initially upto 1 to 1.5%
length where after the value decreases.
CBR = -9142.9 P2 + 126.86P + 8.1629, (R2 = 0.9064) ...49 3. Soaked CBR value is maximum for fiber length
of 5 mm for Jute spoil fibers used. And optimum
percentage of fiber inclusion is 1.5% of the dry
length
weight of sand for jute spoil fiber.
CBR = -8571.4 P2 + 179.43P + 8.1314, (R2 = 0.8534) ...50
4. For fine sand and silver sand used in this
For Medium sand mixes with 5 mm Jute spoil Fibre investigation remarkable increase in the CBR
length (soaked) values is observed when jute spoils of
0.5 cm length are mixed around 1.5% by weight of
CBR = -12571 P2 + 239.43P + 8.1514, (R2 = 0.8098) ...51
the sand compared to that of the sand without any
The regression equations generated to correlate jute spoils. These sands in such combination with
California bearing ratio (CBR) value with Jute spoil natural jute fibers having highest CBR value may
content are given in general form (with R2 value range suit best as subbase material.
from 0.8098 to 0.9869) as below
5. The value of soaked CBR of sand-jute fiber
CBR = α4. P2 + β4. P + c4 composite decreases slowly with time to a constant
value. However these values are still higher than
Where, P= Jute spoil content, CBR = California bearing
the soaked CBR value of this sands without
ratio.
mixing any jute fibers. This decrease in soaked
The value of α4 , β4 and C4 for Fine sand, Silver sand CBR value with the duration period was observed
and Medium sand with fiber length 20 mm, 10 mm and under extreme condition of keeping of the sand-
5 mm are given in Table 12. jute composite remaining under total submergence
over observed durations.
Table 12 Value of α1 , β1 and c1 for Fine Sand, Silver
Sand and Medium Sand with different Fiber Length 6. The regression analysis has been made for
evaluations of OMC, MDD and Soaked CBR for
Types of
Fine sand Silver sand Medium sand different lengths and proportions of jute fibers
Sand
Length 20 10 20 10 5 20 10 5
mixed randomly with different types of sands.
5 mm
of Fiber mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
references
α4 -12286 -15429 -23714 -14000 -17429 -33429 -9142.9 -8571.4 -12571
β4 311.71 384.57 604.29 402 486.57 814.57 126.86 179.43 239.43
1. Singh, V. and Prasad, H.S. (2004) “Use of
c4 7.1 6.4 8.2

Sand layer as subbase materials in road 9. Chattopadhyay, B.C. (1998) “Jute Geotextile:
construction on alluvial soil”, Proc. IGC on Application in Civil Engineering”, Journal of
Ground Engineering: Emerging Techniques, Institution of Engineers (I), Vol. 79. Oct. 1998.
Warangal, Vol. 1, pp. 494-496.
10. Chattopadhyay, B.C. and Charkavarty, S.
2. Gray, D. H. and Ohashi, H. (1983). “Mechanics (2004): “Application of Jute Geotextiles
of fiber reinforcement in sand”. Journal for Purpose of Ground Improvement” Proc.
of Geotechnical and Geo-environmental International Conference on Geo synthetic and
Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 109, no. 3, Geo environmental Engineering, Mumbai.
pp. 335-353.
11. Chattopadhyay, B.C. and Chakravarty, S.
3. Santoni, R.L. and Webster, S.L. (2001) (2009): “Containment of Sulfate Pollution in
“Engineering Properties of Sand-Fiber Mixture Soil by Natural Geotextiles from Jute” Journal
for Road Construction” Journal of Geo- of Materials in Civil Engineering, ASCE,
technical and Geo-environmental Engineering March 2009.
(ASCE), Vol. 127, no. 3, pp. 258-268.
12. Maher, M.H. and Gray, D.H. (1990). “Static
4. Kumar, P and Singh, S.P.(2008) “Fiber- Response of Sand Reinforced with Randomly
reinforced Flyash subbase in rural roads.” Distributed Fibers”. Journal of Geo-technical
Journal of Transportation Engineering (ASCE), Engineering (ASCE), Vol. 116, no. 11,
Vol. 134 No. 4 pp.171-180. pp. 1661-1677.
5. Pazare, K.S., Chatterjee, P. (2002) “Behaviour 13. Setty, K.R.N.S., and Rao, S.V.G. (1987)
of Silty Soil Reinforced with Randomly “Characteristics of Fiber Reinforced Lateritic
Distributed fibres”. National seminar on Soil”. Proc. Indian Geotechnical Conference,
ROTRAN, IIT, Kharagpur, pp. 3.41-3.48. Bangalore, India, pp. 329-333.
6. Jain, P.K., Jain, R. and Kumar, R. (2003) 14. Guha, A (1995) “Characteristic Physical
“Behaviour of Expansive Black Cotton Properties of Coir Fibres and Their
Soil Mixed with Nylon Fibre”, Proc. Indian Compatability with Jute” M.Tech Thesis, IIT, Delhi.
Geotechnical Conference, Roorkee, Vol. 1,
pp. 389-392. 15. IS 14986-2001, “Guidelines for Application of
Jute Geotextile for Rain Water Erosion Control
7. Consoli N.C., Prietto P.D.M. and Ulbrich in Road and Railway Embankment and Hill
L.A. (1998): Influence of Fiber and Cement Slopes”.
Addition on Behavior of Sandy Soil, Journal
of Geotechnical and Geo-environmental 16. Som, N and Sahu, R.B.(2003, ”Jute Geotextile
Engineering, Vol-124, no.12, pp. 1211-1214. in Road and Structural Foundations”
Proceeding of JMDC, Kolkata pp. 17-34.
8. Kaniraj, S.R. and Havanagi, V.G. (2001)
“Behavior of Cement-Stabilization Fiber- 17. Ramaswamy, S. and Aziz, M., ”Jute Geotextile
Reinforced Fly Ash-Soil Mixtures. Journal for Roads” Proceeding of International
of Geo-technical and Geo-environmental Workshops on Geotextiles, 22-29 November,
Engineering, Vol. 127, No. 7, pp. 574-584. 1989, Bangalore, India.
The views expressed in the paper are personal views of the Authors. For any query, the author may be contacted at: E-mail: joymaity1975@yahoo.co.in

Paper No. 613
PLANNING AND CONTROLLING OF A NATIONAL HIGHWAY

PROJECT – A CASE STUDY
Indrasen Singh* Lt. Col. P. Venkateswarlu**
ABSTRACT
In a project with several hundreds of activities, it is much complicated and time consuming to evaluate the progress, to compare and to arrive at suggested
remedial measures. Using computer software techniques, the controlling can be done much easier, faster and with least amount of errors. Re-scheduling
several hundreds of activities by using conventional manual methods will require several man hours of top/middle management and also such methods are
prone to errors, mainly human errors. By using computer software techniques, the time required for planning, scheduling and re-scheduling is miniscule, in
comparison to the manual/conventional methods. Also, human errors are obviated to keep pace with the rapid expanding scope, quantitative and qualitative
requirements of NH construction industry there is a need for the planning to be highly dynamic and flexible. These can be achieved relatively easily by the
application of computer software techniques. In this paper the application of primavera in a highway project is discussed.
1 INTRODUCTION It is equally necessary for him to be competent in

management in various fields such as planning,
Construction of National Highways (NH) is an activity organizing, staffing, directing, controlling and
which touches, contributes and influences all sectors coordinating. He will have to take bold decisions, both
of the economy. It is an activity which is essential on technical problems as well as management problems.
for development of any country. It is vital for smooth Sound engineering management is an art, but luckily
and uninterrupted flow of men (Human Resources), the art is backed by modern scientific tools. These tools
materials, machinery etc. It can be said that this is the can consider the complex problems of choice from
physical foundation on which the development and various practical solutions. Linear Programming is one
improved living standards are established.
such tool which enables the engineer to arrive at an
In India, the development of planned and networked optimal solution to complete a project at the minimum
highways of international standards has been long cost for a specified construction time.
over due. Of late, Government of India (GOI) has
The management techniques such as Program
given this activity its due importance Development of
Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical
Golden Quadrilateral, other NH, State Highways (SH)
Path Method (CPM) have been successfully employed,
etc is a result of this impetus. Due to liberalization of
even prior to the 1970s, in various Civil Engineering
Indian economy, domestic and foreign investment is
Projects in countries like the U.S.A., Canada and
flowing into various infrastructure projects & highway
Australia. These techniques help management
projects.
in efficient and economic use of resources in the
From the inception of a highway or a bridge project to accomplishment of program objectives. They also help
its completion, there is a vast expanse of management in effective planning, scheduling, evaluating progress
and administrative tasks a modern Highway Engineer and controlling of projects and programs. Though PERT
is called upon to fulfill in the present day. It is no more and CPM techniques are basically similar, the CPM
sufficient for him to be a good professional engineer. technique is more widely used in the Civil Engineering
* Sr. Professor, and Dean NICMAR Goa Campus, (Panda) Goa-403401, E-mail: indrasensingh022@gmail.com
** Consultant, Secunderabad.

Planning And Controlling Of A National Highway Project – A Case Study 93
industry. PERT is adopted in such projects where Preparing a reasonably accurate and workable plan
activities consuming time are considered uncertain and schedule manually is difficult. Computer packages
and a probabilistic approach is resorted to. The main like MS Project and Primavera are now available as a
features of Critical Path Analysis have application to good ‘knowledge resource’. Using computer software
many programs that do not warrant the complete PERT techniques, the controlling can be done much easier,
treatment. faster and with least amount of errors.
CPM highlights minimum time required; gives an To keep pace with the rapid expanding scope,
advanced warning about future problems; helps predict quantitative and qualitative requirements of NH
the future time need, helps rationalizing, optimizing construction industry, there is a need for the planning to
and allocating and reshuffling resources and above all be highly dynamic and flexible. These can be achieved
helps in completion of projects in time. relatively easily by the application of computer software
techniques. In this paper the application of Primavera
Though the CPM had its origin comparatively in a highway project is discussed. The objective of this
recently (late 1950s), its demonstrated advantages as paper is to bring out the capabilities of the Primavera
a management tool have made it extremely popular software for planning, updating, monitoring progress
in various branches of Civil Engineering in countries and controlling of projects.
abroad, in a very short span of time, and large savings
are reported in the time and cost of projects by its 2 APPLICATION OF CPM TO HIGHWAYS
use. Its use in the highway departments has been AND RELATED MATTERS
widely accepted, in areas such as planning, design,
construction, research programmes and maintenance. CPM technique has found useful application in a variety
In India, where there are a number of constraints due of areas being dealt with by the Highway Department.
to shortage of resources such as steel and cement, non- Some of these are:
availability of skilled labour, seasonal availability of
i) Highway Planning
labour and climatic variations (the monsoon period,
the season of floods in streams etc), the planning and ii) Transportation Planning
execution of highway projects could be done in a more iii) Highway Location Studies
efficient manner by the application of CPM. Benefits iv) Investigation studies for Bridge Projects.
were reaped both by the Government Departments and v) Design of Highways
the Contractors by its use.
vi) Design of Bridges
The CPM is the schematic representation of a project vii) Acquisition of Right – of – way
by means of a diagram or network, depicting the viii) Preparation of Plans and Estimates and Contract
sequence and interplay of the numerous component Award
events that go to form the project, and the utilization of ix) Highway Maintenance
the data contained in the network for determining the
most suitable program for the implementation of the 2.1 Advantages of the Application of CPM to
project. The final program is so selected as to result in Highway Projects
the lowest cost consistent with the time factor.
The use of CPM is becoming increasingly popular
Today’s NH construction project involves several in highway projects. The general feeling that such
hundreds of activities which are incorporated in the projects do not offer precise mathematical solutions
initial planning and scheduling. Planning and scheduling as produced by CPM should not lessen the usefulness
several hundreds of activities manually is a colossal of the technique in any way. In our country, there are
task, which is highly susceptible to human errors. certain peculiar constraints such as non – availability of

94 Singh and Venkateswarlu on
essential materials and it is often argued that the initial 2.2 Limitations of CPM
schedule can hardly be kept up for many projects. It
should, however, be realized that such constraints are It would thus appear that CPM has a very wide range
no deterrents to the application of CPM. In fact CPM, of application. However, it has its own limitations
owing to its flexibility not only facilitates amendments and problems. Perfection cannot be achieved without
to a large extent but also clearly indicates the effect of experience and anyone using CPM for the first time may
such delays and provides satisfactory ways of dealing not find the desired results. It is imperative that expert
with these problems. advice be had and realistic assessments undertaken
on factors like duration of activity, restraints, cycle of
Experience has shown that the application of CPM to activities, etc.
highway projects results in several advantages over the
conventional reporting system. These are: Any basic error in feeding the data to the network
cannot be checked and this would result in completely
• The pre-requisite of CPM analysis requires erroneous results.
a thorough and detailed examination of the
project. CPM costs more to implement than other planning
• It enables the planner to chalk out a logical methods since it necessitates a very detailed study of
programme with inter – dependence of the the project, which may not be called for in case of small
various activities and restraints. projects where the engineer himself is competent to do
• It provides a useful method of scheduling the correct and sound control.
resources to the best of advantage.
It is, however, felt that CPM is by far the best tool
• It indicates and emphasizes the likely activities
available to keep close watch and control on major
which may be cause of the trouble and delay in
projects and at the same time a very convenient means
the project.
of expressing himself to the common man.
• It provides a basis for reporting progress.
• It indicates, in case some activities are delayed, No doubt all the possible uses and advantages of CPM
where extra resources have to be deployed on the variety of problems encountered in highway
to restore the progress and effect timely projects have not yet been fully explored. Further study,
completion. research and application by the users themselves are
• It facilitates any change in program when the essential to obtain the maximum benefit from CPM.
situation warrants.
3 INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE
• It provides for an easy and clear method of TECHNIQUES AND THEIR APPLICATION
communicating the engineer’s plan to the
others. This gives an introduction to one of the most widely
• It can be applied to various fields such as used software techniques i.e., Primavera, and its
planning, design, construction and maintenance, application. Working knowledge of Primavera is a
which a Highway Department is called upon to pre-requisite for utilization of this package in project
deal with. planning and controlling.
• Considerable saving in time and money is 3.1 primavera 6
possible with the application of CPM.
The techniques/capabilities of this package are broadly
While CPM is no substitute for proper planning, as follows:
good estimating and effective control, it does enable
those concerned to make the best use of their skill and i) Adding a new project.
available data. ii) Organizing Activities

iii) Adjusting Activity Bars iii) Changing column titles and widths
iv) Customizing the Activity Columns iv) Modifying the height of rows in the activity
v) Assigning Constraints columns
vi) Customizing the Bar Chart v) Selecting and unselecting a group of activities.
vii) Recording Progress and Controlling Assigning Constraints
viii) Allocating Resources It consists of the following:
Adding a New Project i) ssigning a date constraint to an activity in the
A
It consists of following: Bar Chart
ii) Calculating a schedule
i) dding Activities in the Bar Chart View.
A
iii) Displaying the Constraints form
ii) Adding Activities and Relationships in the
PERT view. Customizing the Bar Charts
iii) Entering data in the activity form It consists of the following:
iv) Zooming in and out in the PERT view i) djusting the timescale
A
v) Using Time scaled PERT ii) Changing the color, endpoints, and size of all or
Organizing Activities selected activity bars
It consists of the following: iii) Filling bars with unique patterns based on
activity codes.
i) Grouping activities into bands
iv) Customizing sight lines on the Bar Chart
ii) Sorting activities
v) Changing the colour scheme of the Bar Chart
iii) Changing the colour and font of group title
bands. Recording Progress
iv) Displaying sub totals and summary bars by It consists of the following:
group i) ecording actual dates for activities with the
R
v) Outlining a project based on its WBS (Work progress
Breakdown Structure) ii) Entering the percent complete for an activity.
vi) Summarizing groups of activities iii) Manual or automatic schedule calculation
Adjusting Activity Bars iv) Showing progress based on percent complete
It consists of the following: or remaining duration
v) Changing the colour of progress bars and
i) hanging the start and finish of an activity to
C critical activities.
reflect changes in your schedule.
ii) Extending the finish data and remaining Allocating Resources
duration of an activity. It consists of the following:
iii) Using the Data meter to navigate through time
i) Displaying a resource profile
periods.
ii) Adding new resources to the Resource
Customizing the Activity Bars Dictionary
It consists of the following: iii) Defining resource calendars
i) iding or displaying columns in the activity
H iv) Designing driving resources
columns v) Allocating resources to activities.
ii) Adding a column to the Activity columns vi) Changing the activity type.

4 CASE STUDY vii) Protective works for roads/bridges

Case study of NH construction project NH–14: viii) ther miscellaneous works like environmental
O
DEESA to RADHANPUR in Gujarat, as a part of East- items etc
West corridor. The project involves Rehabilitation ix) ectification of the defects during construction
R
and Upgradation of Radhanpur – Deesa Section of and defect liability period.
NH-14 (km 372.600 to km 458.00). This package is The overall length of 85.40 km NH has been further
designated as EWP6. divided into smaller packages as follows:
Keeping in view the importance and lively nature of the (i) Package VI – A From km 372.600 to 397.600
project it is considered as a case study in this research (ii) Package VI – B From km 397.600 to 418.000
paper. (iii) Package VI – C From km 418.000 to 438.000
(iv) Package VI – D From km 438.000 to 458.000
The basis for any such computer package is the Bill of
Quantities (BOQ) prepared by the Contractor. These 5 ANALYSIS OF DATA
BOQ items of work are required to be prepared keeping in
view the computerization. If the BOQ was not prepared Analysis of data including Scope of work, salient
initially keeping in view the computerization aspect the features of the road, physical scope of work and
splitting/modification of BOQ items and quantities to Assumptions.
suit computerization will involve additional time effort,
as was in this case. 5.1 Physical Scope of Work
4.1 Brief Description of the Project Grade Separators Nos 02

Railway Over Bridge (ROB) No 01
i) ite clearance, removal of tree stumps and
S Major Bridges Nos 02
dismantling of obstruction etc., before Minor Bridges No 01
commencement of work. Under Passes Nos 17
Slab Culverts on Main Carriageway Nos 06
ii) etting out all layouts and setting up of Bench
S Slab Culverts on Cross Roads Nos 40
marks. Box Culverts on Main Carriageway Nos 23
iii) arth work in widening of existing carriageway
E Pipe Culverts on Main Carriageway Nos 67
and strengthening including camber corrections, Pipe Culverts on Cross Roads Nos 60
construction of new road/parallel service Toll Plaza No 01
road, bituminous pavements, remodeling/
5.2 Scope of Work in Quantities
construction of junctions, bus bays, lay byes
etc.
(i) Earth work (Excavation, cum 32,65,000
iv) upplying and placing of drainage channels,
S Embankment sub grade)
guard posts, guard rails and other related (ii) Granular Sub Base (GSB) cum 4,01,500
items. (iii) Wet Mix Macadum (WMM) cum 4,77,000
v) onstruction/extension of cross drainage
C (iv) Kerb rm 2,65,000
works, Construction of Major Bridges Minor (v) Prime & Tack Coat sqm 63,11,000
Bridge, Underpasses, Railway Over Bridge, (vi) Dense Bituminous Macadam cum 2,10,500
Grade Separators, Approaches and other related (DBM)
works for all these. (vii) Bituminous Concrete with cum 91,000
vi) upplying and placing of Road Markings, Road
S CRMB (BC)
Signs and Kilometre/ Hectometre stones etc (viii) Concrete Works cum 1,72,175

5.3 Broad composition of pavement iii) I t is assumed that monsoon rains would disrupt
works progress in the months of July and August
The composition of pavement is given in table 1.
every year to an extent of 50%. However, no
Table 1 Broad composition of pavement in EWP 6 Cyclone impact (or, any other detrimental forces
Sl. Chainage Type of Thickness Remarks of nature) has been considered to adversely
No. pavement affect the duration of work.
1. km 372.600 Flexible Widening iv) It is considered that the Construction Drawings
to km Pavement to four shall depict the final alignment and profile,
458.000 of lanes without requiring any changes, which would
NH – 14 otherwise cause repetitive surveying and
2. For Main (a) BC 50 mm resultant delay in progress of works.
Carriageway
(b) DBM 120 mm (2 layers
v) It is considered that the approvals to materials,
each 60 mm) mix designs and work methods besides decisions
(c.) WMM 300 mm (2 layers and clearances shall be made by the Engineer's
each 150 mm) representative within 14 (Fourteen) days from
(d) GSB 200 mm the date of submission of such designs, to
(e) Sub 500 mm (2 layers facilitate timely completion of works.
Grade of 150 mm each & vi) It is assumed that the Engineer and his
(SG) 1 layer of 200 mm representative would be at Site for processing
3. For Service (a) BC 30 mm the following for approval:
Road • Surveying, Setting out, Alignment fixing
(b) DBM 50 mm and OGL determination
(c.) WMM 200 mm
(d) GSB 200 mm
• Cross-Sections and Quantities for
(e) Sub 300 mm (1 layer
earthwork.
Grade 200 mm and top • Borrow area materials, Aggregates, Mix
(SG) layer 100 mm) Designs etc.
• Work methods for each of the activities
5.4 Assumptions made in the Programme
• Development of facilities for Engineer
i) ommencement date has been considered as
C • Starting of work activities including
12 Feb 2005. supervision and testing.
ii) anding over and possession of site, duration
H vii) It is assumed that the Employer and the
and completion dates have been considered as Engineer’s Representative shall render all
given in Table 2. possible assistance, provide recommendations,
issue documents and certificates as necessary
Table 2 Dates of Commencement for importing Plant/ Equipment/ Materials, if
Comme Handing over Time for any, required for the project.
Chainage Remarks
ncement sequence completion viii) It is assumed that the progress of works in the
km 372.60 to 11.02. At 40.4 km 33 Months Actual
km 378.00, 2005 comme including commencement
other packages of East-West Corridor Project
and, km ncement all bridges date is would not hinder in any way the progress of
419.00 to of work and considered as works in our stretch.
km 428.00, structure 27.06.2005,
and, km sites after the ix) Calculations are based on a 6-day week, but
432.00 to clearance of whenever required to meet the shortfall in
km 458.00 encumbrances progress, if any, Contractor would be working
km 378.00 to 27.06. 40 km
km 419.00, 2005
extra time including Sundays and Holidays,
and, km with prior approval from the Engineer. It is
428.00 to presumed that necessary supervision shall be
km 432.00
provided by the Engineer.

x) I t was planned to substantially complete the xviii) I t is considered that the: survey team will
works as per the schedule given above. be allowed to conduct field survey such as
xi) he Programme is an initial plan and has been
T establishment of working bench marks, staking
conceived on the basis of the assumptions and the new road center line etc., in all the sections
considerations detailed above. The plan would simultaneously.
be subject to necessary changes within the 6 PLANNING AND CONTROLLING OF NH
overall obligations of the Contract in the event CONSTRUCTION
of any changes that may arise during actual
execution of the works. This deals with the actual planning and controlling of
xii) I t was planned all aspects substantially to the project by using Primavera Project Planner.
complete the works as per the schedule given 7 ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES TO
above. VARIOUS ACTIVITIES
xiii) hough it is the responsibility of the Contractor
T
to arrange all sources of materials such as All activities in the package have been suitably allocated
borrow areas, stone/ sand, quarry for earth, with relevant resources out of the resources as per the
aggregates & sand, it is presumed that in techniques of Primavera.
case of extreme difficulty, the assistance of 8 INITIAL PLANNING
the Employer/ Engineer's representative will
be available to resolve administrative issues The program has been initially prepared with. 27 June
relevant to obtaining clearances for procuring 2005 as the start of Project, and with the package name
such materials from the local authorities. as EWP6.
xiv) I t is considered that temporary diversions to
9 MONITORING AND CONTROLLING
maintain uninterrupted flow of traffic will be
permitted in stretches where it is not possible The progress as on 30 June 2006 has been taken from
to maintain the traffic on existing carriageway, the Bill Of Quantities (BOQ). Taking 30 June 2006 as
and will be paid under BOQ item. control point, the project has been revised and updated
xv) I t is presumed that one will be allowed to use as EWR3.
Concrete from Batching Plants to proceed with
Fig. 1 represents CURRENT ESTIMATE for Aggregate
the concreting works for structures. for the duration of the project can be generated for any
xvi) s and when required, aggregates will
A resource material over any duration of the project.
be procured from the local market for the
execution of Wet Mix Macadam, Asphalt
works, Concreting works of structures including
facilities for the employer and the Engineer’s
representative in order to compensate for any
unforeseen reasons beyond our control, with
prior approval from Engineer.
xvii) I t is presumed that one will be allowed to
proceed with Filter material & Granular filling
behind Abutments/ Wing walls/Return walls
of structures after a period of 28 days from the
casting of initial lift of Abutment/ Wing wall/
Fig 1 CURRENT ESTIMATE for Aggregate (as on the date of
Return wall, whichever is later, without waiting updating. i.e., 30 June 2006), for the duration of the Project. Can be
for the completion of structure. generated for any resource/ material, over any duration of the project

Fig. 2 represents EARNED VALUE of aggregate as Fig. 5 represents requirement of Dense Bituminous
on date of updating can be generated for any resource/ Macadam over the duration of the project.
material over any duration of the project.
Fig. 5 Requirement of "Dense Bituminous Mecadam" over the

duration of the porject
Fig. 2 EARNED VALUE of Aggregate as on the date of updating
(30 June 2006). Can be generated for any resource/ material, over EWP6 represents initial planning of East-West corridor
any duration of the project
package 6.
Fig. 3 represents Resource table for the month of
EWP6-PK6A represents initial planning of pavement
November 2006. This could be generated for any
sub package 6A.
month.
EWP 6-BANS represents initial planning of Banas
bridge.
EWR 3 represents updating and reschedule No.1 of
EWP6.
EWR 3-PK 6A represents updating and reschedule
No.1 of pavement sub package 6A.
EWR3-BANS represents updating and reschedule No.1
of Banas bridge.
10 DISCUSSIONS OF RESULTS
Fig. 3 Resource Table for the month of November 2005. This
could be generated for any month Following results were seen from the packages EWP6
Fig. 4 represents requirement of resource Excavator and EWR3 packages:
over the duration of the project.
i) ackage has been made in modular manner.
P
Package has been made to suit the WBS of
the project. Total number of Activities in the
Project is 1096.
ii) ackage has been sub-divided into sub-
P
packages to suit the requirement of the project
and as convenient to users.
iii) I tems of work as given in the BOQ have been
codified and fed into the package through the
Fig. 4 Requirement of resource "Excavator" over the system of Resource Allocation. Costs were also
duration of the porject fed into the package.

iv) hough the BOQ was not made keeping in view

T 11 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
the computerization aspect in view, as the BOQ
has already been in use and as computerization Scope
was contemplated for this project during its
To summarize the capabilities of Computer software
progress, the BOQ could not be modified to
packages and the advantages and benefits accrued by
suit computerization. However, attempt was
their use as already enumerated in the earlier sections
made to convert the BOQ items into resources,
and, to arrive at conclusion and recommendations.
codify and feed them into the package. If the
computerization is contemplated initially, the 12 RELEVANCE AND IMPORTANCE
BOQ items could be better initialized to suit OF COMPUTER TECHNIQUES IN
the requirements of Computerization as well as PLANNING AND CONTROLLING
Billing.
i) lanning is the most important activity in
P
v) redecessor and Successor relationships have
P
any project. This is the stage wherein all
been established, along with Lags where
activities of the project are listed and analyzed.
applicable.
Various resources are allotted to these
vi) dequacy of resources for the project can be
A activities and scheduled. Any inadequacies in
easily checked at any stage, both by Resource Manpower scheduling, Material scheduling,
profiles, or, by Resource tables. Requirement Plant scheduling, Time scheduling, Money
of additional resources, if any, can be easily budgeting etc., will lead to colossal losses to
checked at any stage and remedial measures the Government as well as the Contractors,
can be taken accordingly. and to the Nation as such. Considering the
fact that planning is the stage where the seeds
vii) rints out can be generated to meet various
P
of these inadequacies are shown, it is always
requirements.
wise to use these powerful Computer packages
viii) ar charts can be seen activity wise, or, resource
B starting from planning stage to prepare the most
wise etc., as per the capabilities of Primavera competent plan.
package.
ii) oday’s NH construction project involves several
T
ix) pdating the package is easy and simple,
U hundreds of activities which are incorporated
however, the same is to be done regularly, for in the initial planning and scheduling. Planning
better results. Monitoring is simple and easy. and scheduling several hundreds of activities
x) ontrolling is easy and simple. The package
C manually is a colossal task, which is highly
susceptible to human errors. Preparing a
highlights shortages, if any. Resource Leveling
reasonably accurate and workable Plan and
can be done, without affecting the Logic of
Schedule manually is difficult. There is merit
Network.
in use of packages like MS Project, Primavera
xi) Critical Path is system-generated. etc., for effective control of major projects.
xii) he package gives several views and layouts to
T iii) ontrolling involves monitoring the progress
C
suit user requirements. at various stages of the project, comparing this
xiii) ny changes in the budgeted quantities,
A progress with the planned progress, and then,
resources, times constraints etc., are instantly taking remedial measures to set the progress on
incorporated into the package and Primavera the planned path.
does internal calculations and presents various iv) o achieve effective control; the project
T
views instantaneously. planning, scheduling, monitoring and re-

scheduling have to be really dynamic and the activities are clearly identified and the
flexible, to incorporate the requirement of relations amongst them are defined logically,
adding/reducing resources, switching over all calculations are carried out by the computer.
resources among activities, from time to time. Critical Path is system -generated.
This can be achieved much easier and quicker,
iv) esource allocation is simpler, and once done,
R
by using Computer techniques.
the system maintains resources data bank.
13 ADVANTAGES OF COMPUTER v) dequacy of resources for the project can be
A
TECHNIQUES OVER MANUAL easily checked at any stage, both by Resource
TECHNIQUES LIKE CPM profiles, or, by Resource tables. System
generated resource profile charts and tables
Though CPM has a very wide range of application, it can give the hourly/daily/weekly/monthly
has its own limitations and problems, mainly in large deployment of resources instantaneously.
projects having several hundreds of activities. The Requirement of additional resources, if any,
advantages of Computer software techniques over can be easily checked at any stage and remedial
manual methods like CPM are as follows: measures can be taken accordingly.
i) erfection cannot be achieved without
P vi) eveling of resources is much simpler and
L
experience and use of CPM by someone without quicker in the case of Computer techniques.
adequate knowledge and experience may not vii) osting of various activities can be done much
C
yield the desired results. It is imperative that easier and quicker with Computer techniques.
expert advice be had on factors like duration of
activity, restraints, cycle of activities, etc. In the viii) ny changes in the budgeted quantities,
A
case of Computer software techniques, though resources, times constraints etc., can be easily
the durations of activities are still taken from incorporated into the package at any stage and
past data and experience, it is easy to maintain the Computer software package does internal
data banks and recall the information for use at calculations and presents various views
any instant, at any point of application. instantaneously.
ii) ny basic error in feeding the data to the

A ix) omputer software packages give several views
C
CPM network cannot be checked and this and layouts to suit user requirements.
would result in completely erroneous results. x) eneration of various types of daily/ weekly/
G
In the case of Computer software techniques, monthly Reports is much faster and simpler.
errors like redundancies, illogical relationship
amongst activities, duplication of activities are xi) ata storage is much simpler and needs less
D
intimated by the system at various stages like space. Data retrieval is much simpler, faster.
at the time of codifying the activities, setting xii) esource data and their scheduling can
R
predecessor and successor relationships, be interchanged between various projects
allotment of resources, scheduling etc. instantaneously.
iii) I n a project having several hundreds of activities 14 CONTRACTUAL REQUIREMENTS
each having several types of resources deployed,
the calculation of EFT, LFT, Floats, Critical In the case of all major projects where assistance is
activities and Critical Paths is laborious, time provided by World Bank, Asian Development Bank
consuming and susceptible to human errors. etc., it is now mandatory for the Contractors to submit
In comparison, the Computer packages are the Computerized package on planning, monitoring
much simpler to understand and use. Once and controlling of the project. Such clauses are required

Singh and Venkateswarlu on
102 Planning And Controlling Of A National Highway Project – A Case Study
to be incorporated even in big projects owned by The use of Computer software techniques in the
Government of India as well as State Governments. planning and controlling of National Highway Projects
is useful in view of the capabilities of these software
However, it is generally seen that Projects are still packages and the advantages and benefits accrued by
being planned, monitored and controlled by manual their use as brought out.
means only. The requirement of a computerized
package, even if it exists in the contract conditions, REFERENCES
is being implemented in letter but not in spirit. Such
1. PRIMAVERA Tutor and Reference Manual of
packages shall become a part of the thinking process of Primavera, 2008.
the managers and influence their actions and decisions, 2. Archibald, R.D. and Velloria, R.L. “Network based
thereby achieving optimum utilization of resources and Management Systems (PERT/CPM)”, Tata Mc
the best possible results and rewards. Graw Hill, Mumbai, 1987.
3. Singh, Indrasen (Dr.), “Planning and Management
15 CONCLUSION of National Highway Construction Work by
Computer Simulation Approach”. Journal of
Computer packages like Primavera are useful Indian Roads Congress, New Delhi, 2002.
management tools available to Project Managers at 4. Fishman G.S., “Concepts and Methods in Discrete
all levels. These software packages can contribute Event Digital Simulation”, John Willy, New York,
1973.
to considerable savings of all types of resources and
5. Wiest, J.D. and F.K. Levy, “A Management Guide
help the construction industry and the Government in to PERT/ CPM”, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi,
achieving timely completion of projects. 1984.
The views expressed in the Paper are personal views of the Authors. For any query, the author may be contacted at: E-mail: indrasensingh022@gmail.com

Paper No. 614
INFRA RED AND THERMAL ANALYSIS OF

NEAT AND MODIFIED BITUMEN
Maninder Singh*, Praveen Kumar** and M. R. Maurya***
ABSTRACT
Bituminous Binders are made use of for the carpeting of almost all the pavements in cities worldwide. Processes of asphalt modification involving natural
and synthetic polymers were patented as early as 1843. In India the use of modified binders started some four decades ago. Pavement with polymer and
others additives exhibits greater resistance to rutting, thermal cracking, and decreased fatigue damage, stripping and temperature susceptibility. In the
present research, samples of unaged and RTFOT (Rolling Thin Film Oven Test) aged Styrene buta-di-en Styrene (SBS) and Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA)
modified bitumen and neat bitumen were analyzed at different modifier contents of 3%, 5% and 7% by Fourier Transform Infra red Spectroscopy (FTIR),
thermogravimetry (TG), derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) . FTIR analysis showed that neither any old bond
diminishes nor any new bond formation takes place on modifying the bitumen. Thermal characterizations suggested that modified bitumen have a better
thermal stability compared to neat bitumen at all the test temperatures.
1 INTRODUCTION However, the enhanced properties of these PmB’s can

evolve as a result of ageing during mixing, storage and
Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is one of the most common application in service (Lu and Isacsson,1998). Ageing
spectroscopic techniques used by organic and inorganic is already a very complex process in conventional
chemists. Simply, it is the absorption measurement of bitumens and the complexity increases when Polymer
different IR frequencies by a sample positioned in the modified bitumens are involved. It is well known that
path of an IR beam. The main goal of IR spectroscopic the principal cause of ageing in service of bituminous
analysis is to determine the chemical functional groups binders is the oxidation by oxygen from the air of certain
in the sample. Different functional groups absorb molecules. This oxidation results in the formation of
characteristic frequencies of IR radiation. Using highly polar and strongly interacting oxygen containing
various sampling accessories, IR spectrometer accepts functional groups (Mill,1996, Petersen, 1998). Many
samples in gaseous, liquid, and solid phases. Thus, methods have been applied to investigate the process
IR spectroscopy is an important and popular tool for of ageing of base and modified binders. Siddiqui
structural elucidation and compound identification. (1999) and Liu (2002) investigated the change of the
asphaltene in bitumen by the Corbett method and thin-
Modifiers used for bitumen modification are normally
layer chromatography. Using Fourier transform infra
polymeric materials which have different structures such
red (FTIR) method, Lamontagnea (2001, 2001a) tried to
as atactic, isotactic and syndiotactic. These structures give
reveal the change in the chemical structure of bitumen
characteristic features in spectroscopy analysis. Thus,
after ageing. However, all of the above research mainly
spectroscopy techniques are highly useful in identifying
focused on one aspect that is the ageing of bitumen.
the structure and functional groups present in polymeric
materials. The applications of IR method to polymer The goal of this particular study was to understand the
modified bitumen include characterization of polymers, chemical mechanism involved in the functional and
determination of polymer content and the functional structural changes that occurs in the formation of PmB
groups, prediction of the PMB compatibility and and thereafter compare their stabilities using thermal
investigation of the dissolution of polymers in bitumen. analysis technique.
* Asstt. Professor, Civil Engg. Dept, Punjab University, Patiala, Punjab.
** Professor, Transportation Engg. Group, Civil Engg. Dept. IIT Roorkee E-mail: pkaerfce@iitr.ac.in
*** Professor, Chemistry Dept. IIT Roorkee.

104 Singh, Kumar and Maurya on
2 IRFREQUENCY RANGE AND SPECTRUM IR absorption information is generally presented in the
PRESENTATION form of a spectrum with wavelength or wave number
Infrared radiation spans a section of the electromagnetic as the X-axis and absorption intensity or percent
spectrum having wave numbers from roughly 13,000 transmittance as the Y-axis. Transmittance, T, is the ratio
to 10 cm–1, or wavelengths from 0.78 to 1000 μm. of radiant power transmitted by the sample (I) to the
It is bound by the red end of the visible region at radiant power incident on the sample (I0). Absorbance
high frequencies and the microwave region at low (A) is the logarithm to the base 10 of the reciprocal of
frequencies as shown in Fig.1. IR absorption positions the transmittance (T).
are generally presented as either wave numbers ( ) or
A = log10(1/T) = - log10T = - log10 I/Io
wavelengths (λ). Wave number defines the number of
waves per unit length. The transmittance spectra provide better contrast
Thus, wave numbers are directly proportional to between intensities of strong and weak bands because
frequency, as well as the energy of the IR absorption. In transmittance ranges from 0 to 100% T whereas
absorbance ranges from infinity to zero. The IR region
is commonly divided into three smaller areas: near IR,
mid IR, and far IR.
This research focuses on the most frequently used mid

IR region, between 4000 and 400 cm–1 (2.5 to 25 μm).
Infrared spectroscopy exploits the fact that molecules
have specific frequencies at which they rotate or vibrate
corresponding to discrete energy levels (vibrational
modes).
3 PRINCIPLE OF IR
The principle of this method is that absorption

of electromagnetic radiations in the infrared (IR)
region results in changes in the vibrational energy of
the molecules. Infrared spectra are recorded as the
transmittance (%) against the wavelength (µm) and/
or wave number (cm-1). The method is widely used
in the identification and structural analysis of organic
Fig. 1 Electromagnetic spectrum materials. The infrared spectra are used in an empirical
manner by comparison with samples of known materials
the contrast, wavelengths are inversely proportional to
and by reference to charts of group frequencies.
frequencies and their associated energy. At present, the
recommended unit of wavelength is μm (micrometers), The infrared spectrum of a sample is collected by
but μ (micron) is used in some older literature. Wave passing a beam of infrared light through the sample.
numbers and wavelengths can be interconverted using Examination of the transmitted light reveals how much
the following equation: energy was absorbed at each wavelength. This can be
done with a monochromatic beam, which changes in
wavelength over time, or by using a Fourier transform

Infra Red And Thermal Analysis Of Neat And Modified Bitumen 105
instrument to measure all wavelengths at once. From this, interferometer. After passing through the sample, the
a transmittance or absorbance spectrum can be produced, measured signal is the interferogram. Performing a
showing at which IR frequency the sample absorbs. mathematical Fourier transform on this signal results
Analysis of these absorption characteristics reveals in a spectrum identical to that from conventional
details about the molecular structure of the sample. (dispersive) infrared spectroscopy.
4 SAMPLE PREPARATION FTIR spectrometers are cheaper than conventional

spectrometers because building of interferometer is
The solid samples were prepared by grinding the easier than the fabrication of a monochromator. In
sample of bitumen to fine powder with a mulling agent addition, measurement of a single spectrum is faster
(usually Nujol) in a marble or agate mortar, with a for the FTIR technique because the information at all
pestle. A thin film of the mull is applied onto salt plates frequencies is collected simultaneously. This allows
and IR spectrum was recorded. The second method used multiple samples to be collected and averaged together
was to grind a quantity of the sample with a specially resulting in an improvement in sensitivity. Because of
purified salt (usually potassium bromide) finely (to its various advantages, virtually all modern infrared
remove scattering effects from large crystals). This fine spectrometers are FTIR instruments.
powder mixture was then pressed in a mechanical die
press/pelletizing machine with 14 ton pressure to form Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) is
a thin translucent pellet through which the beam of the a simple analytical technique that has been widely
spectrometer can pass. The IR spectra were recorded on applied to study chemical and structural modifications
a Nicolet NEXUS Aligent 1100 FT-IR spectrometer. In in different samples and allows revealing the functional
the spectrometer, a beam of infrared light is produced groups present in various material formations. In this
and split into two separate beams. One is passed through study FTIR analyses were performed with a Nicolet
the sample, the other passed through a reference which Magna 550 spectrometer, in the transmission mode.
is often the substance in which the sample is dissolved Bitumen films were prepared on sodium chloride plates
in. The beams are reflected back towards a detector, using a controlled temperature hot plate. The scanning
where first they pass through a splitter and finally the was performed in the Middle Infrared Region (MIR,
two beams enters the detector. The two signals are then 400–4000 cm−1), with a resolution of 4 cm-1; each
compared and a printout is obtained. spectrum is an accumulation of 32 spectra. A computer
A reference is used for two reasons: software program “Omnic” was used to process the
Attenuated Total Refraction (ATR) interferogram into
1. This prevents fluctuations in the output of the an absorption diagram (spectrum) through Fourier
source affecting the data Transformation function, thus the name ATR/FTIR.
We applied this methodology to study bond formation
2. This allows the effects of the solvent to be on addition of SBS and EVA to VG 30 grade bitumen.
cancelled out (the reference is usually a pure The infra red spectroscopy study was also carried out
form of the solvent the sample is dissolved/ on pure modifiers. The spectra were also analyzed in
mixed in) order to monitor functional and structural changes
in the fraction of binders due to severe oxidation
5 FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED
process by the RTFO tests, in particular those related
SPECTROSCOPY
to the formation of carbonyl (band centered around
In Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, 1690 cm-1) and sulfoxide (band centered around 1030
instead of recording the amount of energy absorbed cm-1) functional groups. This monitoring was done
when the frequency of the infra-red light is varied considering structural indices, instead of band areas,
(monochromator), the IR light is guided through an because of the variations of sample film thickness. The

plots of IR have been obtained with X-axis representing characterize SBS polymers. Peaks at 965 and 700
the wave number i.e frequency of radiations in cm-1 and cm-1 show the styrene part of the SBS polymer of
Y-axis representing transmittance in percentage. the modified binder (Lu et al. 1999). The band at 966
cm-1 was corresponding to the bending vibration of
6 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
C-H in the butadiene double bonds –CH=CH-.
6.1 IR spectra of Pure Samples
The main bands for characterizing the butadiene
6.1.1 VG 30 segment within SBS are CH2 scissoring at 1449
cm−1, trans-1,4 C=C out of plane deformation at 966
The FTIR spectrum of the base VG 30 asphalt is cm−1(McLauchlan, 2010), =CH stretching at 3005
shown in Fig. 2. As bitumen is a complex mixture cm−1, C–H stretching at 2916 and 2844 cm−1 and
of asphaltenes and maltenes, it contains number of the stretching vibrations in vinyl-PB at 1640 cm−1.
compounds with various functional groups, each having
Regarding the PS segments, styrene absorption
its own characteristic peak in the IR spectrum. The
occurs at 700 cm−1, C–H out of plane deformation
strong peaks within 2850–2960 cm-1 region were that
occurs at 3060 cm−1 and at 1600 cm−1 aromatic C–C
of typical C-H stretching vibrations in aliphatic chains.
The peak at 1604 cm-1 was attributed to C=C stretching stretching occurs.
vibrations in aromatics. The C-H asymmetric deforming
in CH2 and CH3, and the C-H symmetric deforming in
CH3 vibrations were observed at 1458 cm-1 and 1375
cm-1 respectively. The peak at 1030 cm-1 was ascribed
to S=O stretching vibrations. Small peaks within
740–910 cm-1 region were typical C-H vibrations of
benzene ring.
Fig. 3 IR spectrum of pure SBS modifier
6.1.3 Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA)
Based on the infrared (IR) spectrum of EVA (see

Fig. 4), the determination of Vinyl Acetate (VA)
content appears to be obvious. The characteristic
Fig. 2 IR spectrum of pure VG 30 bitumen
absorbance of some bands assigned to the VA units
6.1.2 Styrene Buta-di-en Styrene (SBS) (1740, 1240, 1020 and 610 cm-1) and others can be
related to the absorbance of the ethylene groups
Fig. 3 shows the IR spectrum of SBS modifier. Peaks (2920, 2850, 1470 and 720 cm-1). Several infrared
of IR absorbance at 965 and 700 cm-1 were used to absorption peaks representing the characteristic

chemical bonds in the EVA molecules can be seen,

including the peaks at 2852 (C-H stretching), 1736
(C=O of ester), 1241 (C-O-C of ester ether), 1099
(C-O), and 1370 cm-1 (C-H). Stoyanov (2001)
observed similar peaks during analyses of IR spectrum
of EVA. Meszlenyi (1999) suggested that the thinner
the EVA films are, the more bands are suitable for the
infrared spectroscopic measurements.
Fig.5 IR spectra of SBS modified bitumen
6.2.2 EVA Modified Bitumen
Fig.6 shows the IR spectra of VG 30 bitumen modified

with varying percentage of 3%, 5% and 7% EVA
modifier. Comparing the spectra of base bitumen (VG
30) and EVA modifier, the peaks absorbance of the
base bitumen and EVA modified bitumen show few
difference and it seems that the peaks absorbance are
partly strengthen or weaken, no new peaks absorbance
appear and no peaks absorbance disappear. Therefore,
it verified that no reaction occurred between the
Fig. 4 IR spectrum of pure EVA modifier EVA and the bitumen in the system of EVA modified
bitumen. Similar observations were made by Luo and
6.2 IR spectra of modified bitumen Chen (2011).
6.2.1 SBS Modified Bitumen
Study by Xiao et al. (2005) on SBS polymer

modified found that the spectra of SBS modified
asphalt is the simple superposition of the SBS
spectrogram and asphalt spectrogram. Fig. 5 shows
the IR spectrum of VG 30 bitumen modified with
3%, 5% and 7% SBS. It was observed that there
is only physical mixing without any chemical
reaction between SBS and matrix asphalt. Peaks
at 1375 and 810cm-1 of asphalt, and 966 and 699
cm-1 of SBS could be used for quantification. The
peak height at 966 and 699 cm-1 is proportional to
copolymer content. Fig. 6 IR spectra of EVA modified bitumen

6.3 IR Spectra of RTFOT Aged Samples 6.3.2 Aged SBS Modified Bitumen
Asphalt binder is a colloidal dispersion of asphaltenes in
The observed differences in the aged modified asphalts
an oil medium of maltenes. Oxidation generally causes the
increase of asphaltenes content and increase of hardness should be attributed to the structural differences and to
of asphalt (Ruan et al., 2003). The principal products of their respective thermal behavior provided they share the
oxidative ageing of asphalts are aromatic ketones and same base asphalt. The main chemical modifications that
aliphatic sulfoxides. Ketone formation may be more takes place (during RTFOT ageing) are the formation of
related to decreased moisture damage than sulfoxides oxidation products coming from the asphalt and from
for the following reason. Ketones are generated from the degradation of the polymer, giving place to insoluble
benzylic carbons that are part of polarizable aromatic ring cross-linking products as well as to those coming
systems and might also contain other polar heteroatom from other radical reactions. Bands at 1030 and 1695
functionalities; this would produce polyfunctional cm-1 correspond to S=O sulfoxide and C=O carbonyl
molecules that are more polar than their precursors. compounds modes of vibration, respectively. There is
These polyfunctional molecules would likely be more
a definite increase in their intensities as a consequence
resistant to water displacement from aggregates than
of the severity of the ageing as seen from Fig. 8. The
single functional group sulfoxides. Sulfoxides are most
functional group sulfoxide, formed in asphalt from the
likely formed from rather non-polar precursors, alkyl
sulfides. If the results observed with this limited number oxidation of sulfide groups, is already present in the
of oxidatively aged asphalts prove to be a general trend, unaged material, which indicates that they are probably
then mild ageing should confer resistance to moisture formed at the stage of blending of the base asphalt with
damage. Usually, asphalts do not experience much age the polymer. A small stretching of O-H (3435 cm-1) band
hardening until several years after pavements are laid is assigned to the degradation products of the polymer
down. This may explain early failure of pavements from (Masson et al., 2001). The increase in the intensity of
moisture damage (Huang et al., 2003). the bands from the C=O, S=O and O–H groups with
6.3.1 Aged VG 30 Bitumen ageing, correlates with an increase in the content of the
most polar components that constitute those of higher
In infrared spectra of base asphalt before and after
molecular size. (Cortizo et al., 2004)
ageing, the peak intensity of 1700 cm-1 and 1600 cm-1 are
fortified slightly and peak positions moved to low wave
number, other peaks were of basic uniform position After ageing, the characteristic peak of SBS modified
and size, indicating that absorbing–oxygen oxidation asphalt did change conspicuously, and –C=O telescopic
reaction took place during base asphalt’s rotating thin vibration peak in 1700 cm-1 of SBS modified asphalt
film oven ageing. The IR spectrum for aged VG 30 is fortified, so did benzene ring skeleton vibration peak
shown in Fig. 7. in 1600 cm-1, –C=C– absorption peak in 1650 cm-1,
indicating polybutadiene’s carbon-to-carbon rupture
of SBS modified asphalt content after rotating thin
film oven ageing. The ageing of SBS modified asphalt
comprised not only the ageing of asphalt, but also the
ageing of SBS.
The monitoring of ageing was performed by studying

the changes in the spectra obtained, in particular those
affecting three characteristic bands: the carbonyl
functions C=O (centered around 1700 cm-1), the
butadiene double bonds (centered around 966 cm-1)
Fig.7 IR spectra of aged and unaged VG 30 bitumen and the sulfoxide functions S=O (centered around 1030

cm-1). The first provided the monitoring of the oxidation increase in the percent weight of oxygen in asphaltenes
of the whole binder, the second the monitoring of molecules which indicate insertion of substantial
the deterioration of the SBS copolymer as a result of amount of oxygen in the asphaltenes after each level
modification of the butadiene copolymer by diminution of oxidation.
of the double bond and the third monitoring might
provide the monitoring of the change on the structure Sulfoxide Groups of Modified Binders:
of the vulcanized SBS copolymer.
Vibration of sulfoxide (S=O), a functional group easily
formed in bitumen upon oxidation of sulphide group
and observed as intense peak at ca. 1030 cm-1 from the
IR spectrum. The increase ageing time subsequently
increase the area ratio in v(S=O) where during the
oxidation process, oxygen was absorbed by the sulphide
compound of asphaltene molecular structures (Hamzah
and Shahadan, 2011).
Fig.8 IR spectra of aged and unaged SBS modified bitumen
6.3.3 Aged EVA Modified Bitumen
During the artificial ageing processes, the modified

binders were oxidized in which aromatization,
dehydrogenation and intermolecular and intramolecular
hydrogen bonding of polar groups were substantially
increased. The chemical functional and structural Fig.9 IR spectra of aged and unaged EVA modified bitumen
changes are precisely analyzed through infrared at 7 THERMAL ANALYSIS
vibration modes of C=O and S=O. The Fig. 9 clearly
shows the increasing trend of spectra at carbonyl and Thermal analysis is a technique used to measure
sulfoxide groups ageing condition. It can be observed changes in the weight (mass) of a sample as a function
that the absorbance value increases at every level of of temperature and/or time under controlled atmosphere
oxidation at carbonyl and sulfoxide regions. such as air or inert gases like nitrogen, helium or Argon.
Thermal analysis is commonly employed in research
Carbonyl Groups of Modified Binders: and testing to:
Carbonyl and/or carboxyl groups were detected by IR i) determine thermal stability and characteristics
spectra with the presence of distinct v(C=O) absorption of materials such as polymers.
at 1700 cm-1. This is due to oxygenation of resin.
ii) determine degradation temperatures, absorbed
During the ageing process oxygen was being taken up
moisture content of materials, the level
by asphaltene molecular structure. This is similar to the
of inorganic and organic components in
findings of Siddiqui and Ali, (1999) where there was an
materials.

iii) decomposition points of explosives, and solvent
residues.
This analysis relies on a high degree of precision

in three measurements: weight, temperature, and
temperature change. It incorporates three closely
related techniques:
• Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) which

involves monitoring weight while varying
temperature.
• Differential thermal analysis (DTA) which
Fig.10 TGA test equipment
involves comparing the precise temperature
difference between a sample and an inert neat and modified bitumen, the decomposition of
reference material, while heating both. neat bitumen is more compared to modified bitumen
• Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) which at all temperatures, confirming that the stability of
is similar to DTA except that electrical energy is bitumen after modification increases. For example,
used to restore the cooler of the two materials to as the modifier content increases from 3% to 7%, the
the same temperature as the other. This allows stability increases (see Table 1). But the stability of
direct measurement of energy changes. SBS modified bitumen is slightly more compared to
EVA modified bitumen for all temperatures. Table 1
8 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF TGA summaries the percentage of residue obtained after
every 100oC for various types of binders.
The thermal analysis tests were carried out on Perkin
Elmer (Pyris Diamond) TGA/DTA setup shown in Table 1 Percentage of residue left at various
Fig.10 in the Institute Instrumentation Centre of IIT temperatures of different binders
Roorkee. The heating rate applied to each sample
was 10°C/min with maximum up to 600°C. The Residue (%)
atmosphere condition of air was applied at the rate Temperature
of 200 ml/min. The output plot is depicted in the (oC) VG
3S 5S 7S 3E 5E 7E
form of temperature on X-axis while values of DTA, 30
TG and DTG are shown on the vertical Y-axis. The
DTG (Derivative Thermogravimetry) gives the rate 100 99.5 99.7 99.8 100 99.7 99.7 99.9
of weight change, TG (Thermogravimetry) gives
change in weight of the sample and DTA (Differential 200 98.8 99.4 99.4 99.5 99.0 99.2 99.2
Thermal Analysis) gives information about heat
evolved or absorbed. From the analyses of the Fig.11- 300 95.7 97.3 97.3 97.4 96 96.1 96.7
17 of neat and modified bitumen, it is observed that
trace amount of moisture was present in the samples 400 70.3 81.3 82.5 83.6 74.7 76.41 77.1
during the recording in the test setup. As observed
from the figures, with the increase in temperature, 500 2.7 29.8 31.2 32.5 29.2 30.11 31.8
the mass loss increases exothermically due to
decomposition of the volatile organic matter. For a
particular temperature, more is the decomposition 600 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
lesser is the stability of the binder. Comparing the

Fig. 11 Thermal analysis profile of VG 30 bitume Fig.15 Thermal analysis profile of 3% EVA modified bitumen
Fig.16 Thermal analysis profile of 5% EVA modified bitumen

Fig.12 Thermal analysis profile of 3% SBS modified bitumen
Fig.13 Thermal analysis profile of 5% SBS modified bitumen Fig.17 Thermal analysis profile of 7% EVA modified bitumen
CONCLUSIONS
The infrared spectroscopy study was carried out on pure

modifiers, neat bitumen, and modified bitumen. The
spectra were analyzed in order to monitor functional
and structural changes in the fraction of binders before
and after modification and also due to severe oxidation
process by the RTFO tests. The IR spectra of modified
bitumen revealed that there is only physical mixing
without any chemical reaction between the modifier
Fig.14 Thermal analysis profile of 7% SBS modified bitumen
(SBS and EVA) and matrix asphalt. Comparing the

Singh, Kumar and Maurya on
112 Infra Red And Thermal Analysis Of Neat And Modified Bitumen
spectra of RTFOT aged and unaged binders, it was 7. Lu, X and Isacsson U. (2002),“Effect of Ageing On
concluded that the main chemical modifications that Bitumen Chemistry and Rheology”, Constr Build Mater;
takes place (during RTFOT ageing) are the formation 16(1): pp. 15–22.
of oxidation products coming from the asphalt and 8. Luo Wen-qian and Chen Jiu-cun (2011), “Preparation
and Properties of Bitumen Modified by EVA Graft
from the degradation of the polymer, giving place to
copolymer”, Construction and Building Materials 25,
insoluble cross-linking products which result in stiffer pp. 1830–1835.
matrix after ageing and this may explain early failure 9. Lu, X., Isacsson, U. and Ekblad, J. (1999), “Phase
of pavements from moisture damage. Separation of SBS Polymer Modified Bitumens”,
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, ASCE, Vol.
The thermal analysis tests confirm that the stability 11, No. 1, pp. 51-57.
of bitumen after modification increases. For example, 10. Masson, J.F., Pelletier, L. and Collins, P. (2001),
as the modifier content increases from 3% to 7%, the “Rapid FTIR Method for Quantification of Styrene
stability increases. But the stability of SBS modified Buta Di Ene Type Copolymers in Bitumen”,
bitumen is slightly more compared to EVA modified Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol. 79,
No. 5, pp. 1034-41.
bitumen for all temperatures.
11. McLauchlan, C.C., Hooker, J.D., Jones, M.
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Characterization of Asphalt-Aggregate Interactions 1998;16(9–10):1023–59.
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Effect of Long-term Oxidation on the Rheological
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Properties of Polymer Modified Asphalts”, Fuel, Vol.
(2001),“Comparison by Fourier transform infrared
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The views expressed in the paper are personal views of the Authors. For any query, the author may be contacted at: E-mail: pkaerfce@iitr.ac.in

Paper No. 615
Four Laning Hill Roads : Some special Requirements

and Precautions
D.N. Handa*
Abstract
A (a) Introduction
In contrast to plains, construction of roads in hills involves heavy cutting of hill slopes including blasting of rocky reaches, construction of lot of protective
and drainage works and bridging of number of streams and rivers which makes it not only difficult but expensive also. In addition, some major areas of
concern are:
i. Land acquisition and getting environment clearance including diversion of forest land.
ii. Problem of landslides and soil erosion.
iii. Limited working season.
iv. Disposal of waste/unserviceable materials.
v. Geo- environmental and Ecological Degradation, and
vi. Traffic Management during construction etc.
The construction of roads in hills has been restricted so far maximum to two-lanes National Highways. The above problems will further be aggravated with
widening to four-lane width involving enormous earthwork and increased height of cutting which calls for some special requirements and precautions as
discussed under various sub-topics below.
(b) Project Appreciation
(c) Alignment/Re-alignment and Bypasses:
(d) Construction:
This section includes some salient features of (i) Formation widening including rock cutting and disposal of waste; (ii) protective works, (iii) Drainage
works and, (iv) pavement design and construction.
(e) Slope Stability and Erosion Control
The performance of a hill road is related to the degree of stability of hill slope on which it is built and thus forms an integral part of hill road planning,
design, construction and maintenance.
(f) Environmental and Ecological Management
The ill effects of road construction can be prevented to a great extent by taking due care at the time of project conception, planning including alignment,
design, construction and at maintenance stage. “Development without Destruction” should be the aim. There is a need for a green approach.
(g) Highway Aesthetics and Plantation
(h) Roadside Facilities/Amenities.
(i) Conclusion and Some suggestions
The objective of development of wide and quality roads is to provide socio-economic impact with faster, safe and comfortable journey. The project
road should follow shortest alignment entailing distance and time saving. The efficient movements will reduce the vehicle operating cost. An advance or
faster system of land acquisition, clearances and approvals without beaurocratic red tape is the need of the hour. The project has to be environmentally
sustainable. Sustainability comes from socio-economic, environmental and ecological management of a project. As the construction of a hill road is quite
different, difficult and much expensive as compared to plains, the norms as applicable to plains need to be modified suitably in PPP mode on BOT basis. In
dispute resolution, Amicable Settlement through ADR methods should be encouraged so that progress on the work does not suffer.
1 Introduction operating cost and also increases efficiency of road

transportation. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
There is an increasing appreciation that expansion of (MoRT&H), Govt. of India has decided to take up the
wide and quality roads is a key to development as it development of some National Highway corridors
results in lot of savings due to reduction in vehicle in hills where the traffic has increased considerably
* Former Engineer-in-Chief (HP PWD) Himachal Pradesh, E-mail: dn_handa@yahoo.com


114 Handa on
necessitating the augmentation of existing capacity problems will further be aggravated with widening to
from two-lane to four-lane width for safe and efficient four-lane width. The other constraints in hills are:
movement of traffic. The widening to four-lane width,
besides socio- economic and tourism development is 1.1 Land Acquisition
also important from strategic considerations as many
National Highways in Himalayan region connect The additional two lane as per formation widening
sensitive international borders. In hilly areas, the hydro- plan including service roads, bus bays and truck lay
electrical potential is being exploited with many power byes, toll plaza and other roadside facilities involves
projects in progress and some others coming up in additional land. In hills, the acquisition of agriculture
near future adding heavy traffic with multi-axle loads. land, being quite limited gives rise to lot of public
Accordingly, National Highways Authority of India resistance. Moreover, the process of acquisition of land
(NHAI), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and private property, both residential and commercial is
has proposed to implement some of the projects under quite lengthy and tedious particularly when the affected
Public Private Participation (PPP) mode on Build, people exert lot of political pressure and even approach
Operate and Transfer (BOT-Toll) basis due to acute courts. The process of diverting forest land under
budgetary constraints. Two such projects approved in “Forest Conservation Act” and getting environmental
the state of Himachal Pradesh to be executed as BOT clearance is also quite lengthy and time consuming.
are:
1.2 Limited working season
1. Four Laning of Parwanoo-Shimla section of
NH 22. Hill road construction in India is mostly in Himalayan
2. Four Laning of Kiratpur to Nerchowk section region characterised by its inhospitable terrain and
of NH 21 from km 73.20 to km 186.50 ( Initial extreme weather conditions reducing the working
portion from km 73.20 to km 86.0 falls in the season and even the construction speed. Himalayas,
state of Punjab which generally is rolling receive monsoons from mid June to mid September
terrain). and also receive rains and snow during winter months
of mid November to mid March limiting the annual
The widening to four-lanes of these roads will not only
working period practically fifty percent resulting in
boost Himachal’s economy and tourism but will also
delay in completion of the developmental projects.
enhance country’s security.
In contrast to plains, construction of roads in hills 1.3 Landslides and Soil Erosion
is quite different, difficult and much expensive as
The problem of landslides and soil erosion is wide
it involves heavy cutting of hill slopes including
spread in Himalayan region founded on young
blasting of steep rocky reaches, construction of lot
geology and unconsolidated rock system. The road
of protective and drainage works and bridging of
numerous streams and rivers. Whereas not much cutting disturbs the natural inclination of the hill
adverse impact of road building activities is observed face in such a way as to create condition of large
in plains, road development in hills is associated with scale landslides particularly in first few years after
lot of geo-environmental and ecological problems like formation widening. The problem is compounded
loss of forests and vegetation, geological disturbances, by heavy rainfall, snow and toe erosion by streams
mass wasting (a twin problem of landslides and soil and rivers and is further aggravated by mining and
erosion), disturbance of water resources and drainage other developmental activities. The high seismicity of
patterns and siltation of water reservoirs etc. Damage Himalayan region also constitutes a serious constraint
to agricultural land due to road construction is also a as earthquakes trigger many landslides. The widening
cause of great concern to both farmers and the Govt. process from two to four-lanes width is expected to
as hilly areas have very limited cultivable land. The result in further landslide and soil erosion problems.

Four Laning Hill Roads : Some special Requirements and Precautions 115
1.4 Disposal of Waste b) Mountainous Terrain: This is with cross slope

25% to 60% corresponding to maximum slope
Besides damage to forest wealth and land degradation angle of 31 degrees.
due to disposal of debris and boulders along green hill c) Steep Terrain: Refers to cross slope greater
slopes, the damage to agricultural and horticultural land than 60 % corresponding to slope angle greater
and even life below the road formation has been a cause than 31 degrees.
of great concern to the farmers and the government.
Heavy compensation for loss is also required to be paid On practical considerations, the stretches should be
for the damages. classified as mountainous or steep depending on pre-
dominated terrain. Continuous hard rock reaches
1.5 Environmental and Ecological Degradation involving lot of cost and time in widening and slide /
rock fall prone areas, if any, need special mention.
In addition to difficulties posed by inhospitable terrain,
extreme weather conditions, the problems are further 2.2 The Scope of The Project Broadly Consists
amplified by environmental and ecological degradation of Widening the Existing Two-Lane
of green hill slopes. Carriageway to Four-Lane Width. the
Project Shall Include:
1.6 Traffic Management during Construction
a) The additional carriageway to be constructed at
Unlike plains, the traffic management during construction the same level as that of existing carriageway
is a serious problem due to space constraints both on or as separate alignment at different level
hill side and valley side. There are typical situations (contours) to form a split highway after
during formation cutting, blasting of rocks, disposal of evaluating the existing condition of the road,
muck and construction of cross drainage works besides feasibility and its geo-technical stability.
blockade caused by landslides, due to which traffic b) Realignment or improvement of existing
management becomes quite difficult. Traffic accident alignment in some portions and alignment of
rate is much higher. An advance traffic management additional bypasses, as required.
plan to regulate traffic during construction is therefore c) The details widening of existing road, new
of paramount importance. alignment and bypasses to be developed.
d) Proposed Right of Way (ROW) i.e. details of
The four laning of hill roads thus pose some special extra land required to be acquired for additional
problems. The purpose of this paper is to supplement two-lane width as per formation widening
section 13 of Manual of Four Laning of Highways plans and also for service roads, bus bays and
through PPP mode relating to Hill roads (IRC: SP: 84- truck lay byes, toll plazas and other road side
2009). structures and facilities to be developed.
e) Preparation of Plans, L-sections and Cross
2 Project Appreciation sections of the proposed widening including by
passes, bus bays and truck lay byes etc.
The project appreciation requires a thorough knowledge
f) Preparation of suitable designs of required
of hill terrain, its climatic conditions and rainfall data
Protection and Drainage works, Pavement,
and pattern.
Bridges, Tunnels, Rail Over Bridges (ROBs)
and other structures like Over or Under passes
2.1 Hill Terrain Comprises
and Intersections etc.
a) Rolling Terrain: This generally is foothill area g) Slope protection and soil erosion control
close to plain with cross slope of the country up measures wherever required.
to 25% corresponding to maximum slope angle of h) Provision of general roadside facilities to road
14 degrees. users and as specific to travel along a hill road.

116 Handa on
The project appreciation, besides describing the and beyond where the existing alignment is running
background of the existing road, important towns and with unnecessary ups and down in steep grades and
villages connected and its importance from economic, also having many substandard curves. The road also
tourism, strategic and other considerations may also passes through frail hill slopes susceptible to frequent
include preparation of detailed inventory of its existing slides during rains. The re-alignment also reduces the
salient features and deficiencies such as Width of Road distance by about 34 km. In Parwanoo-Shimla section
Land or Right of Way (ROW), Formation width and of NH 22, it is proposed to follow existing alignment up
Carriageway, Protective and Drainage works, Pavement to Kaithlighat. Thereafter, a new alignment is proposed
condition, Bridges, Bypasses and other Structures. to bypass steep rocky slopes and also congested areas
Sources of construction materials and available working of Shogi, Taradevi and Shimla.
period during the year as per climatic conditions of the
area need to be discussed for a realistic planning. 3.2 Tunnels
3 Alignment / Need ofRe-alignment As alignment of roads in hills is circuitous, construction

and Bypasses of tunnels, viaducts even though costlier initially, should
be a preferred option particularly in four laning to ensure
The basic requirements of an ideal alignment of a hill straight alignment or easy curvature for uniform speed.
road linking obligatory and control points are that it has Tunnels, besides reducing length and land acquisition
to be short, stable, easy and economical in construction, reduce interference with ecology. The tunnels thus will
maintenance and operation. A most favoured alignment ultimately prove not only to be economical and eco-
after evaluating various alternatives should fit well in friendly but also make the operation of highway easy,
the landscape and surroundings. The salient data to be safe and reduce the travel time. The tunnels shall be
collected during alignment is as per IRC:52. designed as two-lane bio-directional traffic tunnels as
per IRC: 91-2010. The location of the portal should have
3.1 The new road should follow shorter alignment sound rock conditions not affected by slides or rock
entailing distance and time saving. The additional fall. A cross section of a tunnel with 7.0 m carriageway
two-lane carriageway in four-laning may either be may be referred in IRC:52.
constructed at the same formation level of the existing
road or at different level/contour to form a split highway 3.3 Escape Lane
depending on technical and economical feasibility and
stability of the hill slope. However, in steep terrain, Where long continuous descending grades exist or
it will generally be not possible to carry out further where locational or topographical conditions require,
cutting into the hills beyond two-lanes as it will involve the design and construction of an emergency escape
enormous quantity of earthwork/rock cutting and height ramp at an appropriate location and at an interval of
of cutting. In such situations even in mountainous about 2 km is considered desirable for the purpose of
terrain, it may be desirable to plan a separate alignment slowing and stopping of an out of control vehicle away
for additional two-lanes so as to avoid the instability from the main traffic stream. Such lanes are constructed
of hill slopes that have stabilised over the years. The with reverse gradient and loose arrester bed to slow
possibility of an alternate road on different hill face in down the vehicle in case of emergency arising due to
certain portions can also be investigated. A bypass will brake failure.
be required in a congested town or built up area where 3.4 Passing places
it is not possible to widen the existing carriageway
A separate lane will be required on a four-lane highway
The scope of the work may include re-alignment to tow aside a disabled vehicle so that it does not
of some portions of the existing road due to steep obstruct the main traffic flow. As this extra lane will
gradients etc. In four-laning project of NH-21, it is involve extra formation widening with additional land
proposed to re-align the portion from a point near acquisition, it is considered appropriate to provide two
Himachal Pradesh boundary with Punjab to Bilaspur to three usual passing places per km. on hill side. On

valley side, extra width/space on curves is generally g) The back slopes adopted in accordance of with
available to serve this purpose. type of soil and those recommended for four-
lane highway are as under:-
The other geometrics will be in accordance with
S. Recommended for
IRC:52. Soil classification Prescribed
No four-lane highways
4 Construction i. Ordinary soils (Pick work) 1:2 1:1
Hard soils including soils
4.1 Formation Widening ii. mixed with boulders (Pick 1:4 1:2
jumper work)
In hill road construction, the stage up to formation Soft rock and shale etc.
iii. 1:8 1:4
(jumper work)
widening including essential protective and drainage
Medium rock (Jumper
works initially involve major efforts. iv.
blast)
1:16 1:8
v. Hard Rock Near Vertical 1:16
4.1.1 Earthwork
a) Most economical combination of cut and fill is a) Gentler side slopes for four-lane highway are
decided depending upon the cross hill slope so recommended to check even minor slide debris
as to involve minimum disposal of debris along on the carriageway which can prove to be
the hill slope. dangerous to vehicles at high speed.
b) In hard rock, if the height of open cutting exceeds
b) In rolling terrain, the widening may be entirely
8 m, half tunnelling with minimum vertical
in cutting of the hill side or entirely in filling
clearance of 5 m. is adopted or otherwise, it will
as valley side widening or can be suitable
entail prohibitive quantity of rock cutting.
combinations of cutting and filling as per site
conditions. 4.1.2 Rock cutting and useful stones
c) In mountainous terrain, the formation should
generally be taken partly in cutting and partly in “Rock cutting by blasting” is one of the most important
filling as central widening with reference to the operations which is expeditiously accomplished with
centre line of the existing road to avoid heavy explosive. Blasting should always be controlled with
cutting of hill slope. Filling being retained by deep holes and less charge which does not allow the
a retaining wall and a cut slope being checked stones to fly off. Unplanned, slipshod and uncontrolled
from sliding by a breast wall where required. heavy blasting is undesirable as it causes large scale
(Fig.1) shattering of the hill slope resulting in not only
permanent slide problems, damage to green hill slopes,
d) As the earthwork in soils is much faster than
land and property below but also wastage of useful
rock cutting, the work of rock cutting is so
stones required for protective, drainage and pavement
planned in advance that the machinery and works. The blasted rock mass get fragmented and
other resources do not become idle. maximum stones fly off and roll down. It is therefore
e) In steep rocky slopes, half tunnelling and even essential that maximum quantity of stones is retrieved.
tunnelling can be resorted to so as to reduce the There is however, tendency on the part of some
quantity of rock cutting. contractors to resort to heavy blasting with deep holes
f) The section of formation cutting in a narrow and excessive charge for immediate benefit which needs
and long spurs is done as gulley cutting or box to be checked. Being risky, rock cutting by blasting
cut to straighten or improve the curvature. It involves maximum safety precautions. Utmost care
has however been observed that such gulley must be exercised in handling and use of explosives as
cuttings are prone to frequent landslides due per laid down procedures. Vibrations by blasting should
to excessive height of cutting on both the sides be avoided near habited areas and important structures
and even breast walls prove to be ineffective. like bridges, dams and pipelines etc. Sufficient warning
In such situations “cut and cover” method be arrangements should exist at the site for the workers
adopted as seen in Kalka-Shimla railway line. and public in such situations.

118 Handa on
4.1.3 Disposal of waste Some common causes of failure of retaining and breast
walls are:-
The hilly areas are facing a serious environmental threat
due to haphazard disposal of unserviceable material. i) Poor foundation conditions.
The excavated materials particularly the blasted rock ii) Substandard stone masonry.
and boulders should not be thrown haphazardly. The iii) Poor drainage.
excavated waste should be moved to selected locations iv) Improper back fill, without required
to fill up depressions in the vicinity. During clearing compaction, and
debris manually or with machines, maximum possible v) Toe erosion etc.
stones should be retrieved and stocked / shifted to
suitable locations for use in protective, drainage and Retaining and breast walls are generally constructed
pavement works. on standard designs evolved on the basis of theory and
some practical experience. As an abundant precaution,
4.2 Protective Works it has to be ensured that the stated conditions in
standard design conforms to the actual site conditions
A retaining or restraining structure placed at the foot of in questions as this may be one of the main causes of
the slope helps in resisting the movement of soil mass frequent failures besides reasons stated above. In view
and also in protecting the toe against scour thereby frequent failure every year during rains, it is necessary
obtaining a stable road formation. It is not possible that the design and construction of retaining and breast
walls on hill roads are reviewed taking in to account
to construct roads in hills without retaining walls and
some latest approaches being adopted abroad.
breast walls. Retaining walls are built on valley side
of the road to resist earth pressure of filling and traffic Retaining walls and breast walls in plum concrete instead
loads. of conventional masonry walls, being more durable
and easy to construct are being widely constructed in
Breast walls are provided on hill side to protect the Himachal Pradesh. They are cheaper than fully mortared
hill face from sliding due to road cutting or action of stone or mass concrete walls. Unlike masonry, there is
rain. Breast walls have to carry higher back pressure no local rupture (bulging) due to shear forces acting on
and thus have to be stronger than retaining walls. individual stones as frequently seen. The plums could
Breast walls where needed should be provided at the be in size ranging from 100 mm to 150 mm filled in
layer of lean concrete. The contents of plums may vary
earliest as landslide if once starts, it becomes difficult
from 20% to 30%. Another modification being followed
to control it. Retaining and Breast walls are generally
in the State P.W.D is to fill plum concrete within the
being constructed as cement banded dry masonry walls back and front skin of hammer dressed stone masonry
as per standard designs. However, an expedient way which not only avoids centering and shuttering but
of construction of retaining or breast, other check walls also adds to aesthetics. Pre-fabricated lean concrete
and river training works is to construct them is wire or plum concrete blocks can also be placed in position
crated stone walls particularly where the foundation to form the desired wall section. Parapets are also
conditions are not sound and seepage conditions being provided in plum concrete which has been found
are poor. The construction is quick, easy and less more durable and stable than masonry parapets. The
expensive as the stones available from road cutting are removal or pilferage of stones from parapets and walls
used without much dressing. Besides checking slope as generally seen is checked.
movements effectively, they can take considerable In addition to above, there are other alternative retaining
differential settlements. Because of the open structure techniques suitable for hilly areas:
such walls provide free drainage of water reducing
hydrostatic pressure. They are also very effective in i) PReinforced soil retaining walls.
checking the undercutting of toe by stream or river. The ii) PAnchored or tie-back earth retaining walls.
damaged portion can easily be replenished. (Fig.2)

iii) PSoil nailing. road side drainage and cross drainage works of adequate
iv) P Mechanical soil stabilization etc. capacity will prove ultimately to be a false economy.
v) As hill roads in many cases are aligned 4.4 Pavement Design and Construction
along river courses, river training works like
revetments or slope pitching, aprons and spurs The basic design of pavement in plains or hills follows
are required to be provided at the toe of the the same basic principles of soil and traffic parameters.
valley slopes to prevent erosion and subsidence However, in designing pavement for hill roads some
of road bed. specific aspects relevant to hilly areas like terrain,
topographic conditions, climate conditions and altitude
4.3 Drainage Works
effects etc. have to be considered. Some of the major
The drainage of roads in hills having high rainfall and aspects that require special considerations for pavement
even snow is very vital for satisfactory performance. design and construction in hills are:
Water is the main activating agent responsible for a
slide to occur. Construction of side drains and suitably a) The sub grade that supports the pavement in
located culverts is needed to ensure efficient drainage plains is mostly homogenous due to borrowed
of water from the road surface. The biggest cause of materials whereas the same in hilly areas is
failure of road formation is badly designed, constructed admixture of gravel, rocky materials with
and inadequately maintained drainage system. In brief, soil matrix. CBR test is not applicable on
quick, efficient and well connected drainage to lead the materials having aggregate larger than 20 mm
run off to nearby natural water courses is the backbone size whereas the material generally consists of
of road development in hills. mixtures of gravels to boulders of varying sizes.
Thus, the CBR evaluation method is rendered
Location of cross drainage works should be so decided as inapplicable in hilly region and specific design
to avoid damage to life and property below. The outfall methodology is required to be evolved.
of culverts, wherever required, should be provided
b) Hilly regions normally receive high rainfall
with protection works e.g. suitably stepped walls and
during monsoons and winter spread over
aprons to check erosion and damage to agricultural
almost six months in a year creating problems
land below. Catch water or interceptor drains may
of drainage, erosion and instability. The
be provided above the cut slope where considered
construction period available is thus very limited
essential to collect and remove the run off from upper
especially in high altitude areas requiring work
slopes to nearest culvert or natural channel. It has to
to be carried out with proper planning and
be ensured that the catch water drains are provided in
speed.
stable hill slopes and also where the rock stratification
is not dipping unfavourably parallel to the hill slope. 4.5 Traffic Management during construction
Improvement proposals of drainage works in four-laning The need to provide good road signs and marking as life
should include extension, widening, reconstruction saving guides in traffic management hardly needs any
and new construction. RCC hume pipe culverts of emphasis. The signs are intended to warn drivers well
minimum 1.2 m. dia should be provided particularly ahead of any obstruction or construction operation and
in four-lane highways in hill terrain as with lesser dia., also to protect workers from vehicles passing through
it will be difficult to clear if it gets choked with debris the work site. To be effective, the signs and marking
and boulders during rains due to insufficient space for should be simple, command respect and convey clear
a person to enter and clear about 17 m length. 1.2 m dia warning and attention of the road users. As fog is a
pipe culverts may be provided to cater for road surface problem in some areas in hills, use of luminous paints
water only. Even on minor drainage lines, slab or box and strips may be used for sign boards. Even white
culvert of minimum 1.5 m span will be functional. It is washed guide stones and vertical strips on hill face
important to mention that any economy in providing have been observed to be quite effective.

120 Handa on
4.6 Protective tools and Appliances a complex phenomenon. No slide is attributed to a

single cause and may exhibit more than one type of
Many accidents can be prevented with use of Personal movement. Regardless of the type of the slide, the
Protection Equipments as per IRC Manual of Hill failure of slope occurs when the driving force exceeds
Road. The mates, gang men and supervisors should be the resisting force. The driving force consists of
trained in safety measures required during construction. a) gravitational force, b) seepage or hydrostatic pressure
Another suggestion is that insurance of workers in and c) earthquake force etc. The resisting force is shear
high risk areas can be made compulsory and suitable resistance of the soil mass which is low during rain and
provision made in the contract. snow seasons.
5 Slope Stability and Soil Erosion
5.2 Slope protection measures
Control
The slope protection measures and erosion control can
The road construction in hills is beset with the problem
be classified by two main approaches:-
of landslides and soil erosion. In Himalayan region
where the geological structure is young and unstable, a) Civil Engineering Structures.
rain intensity is high, climate conditions are severe
and even seismological disturbances are frequent, (conventional construction of retaining walls, breast
engineers encounter lot of practical problems of slope walls, revetments etc. for checking landslides. Use
stability and soil erosion. The landslides and subsidence of mulches, geo fibre netting etc. for checking soil
thus constitute serious problems which are met with erosion.)
great frequency in road construction and subsequent b) Bio-engineering measures:
maintenance.
i) Bio-technical/mixed construction (with
5.1 Landslides live plants in association with civil
engineering structures)
The performance of hill road is related to the degree
ii) Bio-soil Engineering / vegetative
of stability of the slope on which it is built and thus
stabilization (with use of grasses and live
forms an integral part of hill road planning, design,
plants only)
construction and maintenance. Road construction
disturbs the natural inclination of the hill face causing 5.2.1 Civil Engineering Measures
landslides and disrupting the communication system.
The knowledge of slope stability is thus useful in i) Change of alignment
deciding the alignment of the road, in construction
An obvious method of minimizing landslide
and subsequent maintenance. Landslides occur due to
problem is to avoid the troublesome area by
both natural and man-made causes. Some of the natural
changing the alignment to a geological stable
causes are geology of the region, rainfall, toe erosion
terrain than resorting to elaborate protective
by rivers or streams, seepage and earthquakes. Rainfall
measures during and after construction. The
including cloud-burst and consequent flash floods has realignment of some portion of NH-21 for four
been recognised as major cause of extensive damages laning being changed to avoid frail hill slopes
suffered every year. Choice of bad alignment, heavy susceptible to slides frequently.
blasting during construction, inadequate provision
of protective and drainage works and deforestation ii) Tunneling
are some of the manmade causes. The landslides,
therefore can be prevented to a considerable extent by Besides reducing the length, tunneling reduce
taking due care at the time of alignment, construction the problem of landslides and interference with
and maintenance. Landslides in general, represent the ecology.

iii) Slope flattening and benching 5.2.2 Bio Engineering for Slope Stabilization and
Erosion Control
Other measures aim at either reducing the
driving forces or to increase the forces resisting Bio-engineering is one of the most viable, conventional
the movement of the soil mass. Flatter back ecologically compatible and cost effective alternatives
slopes have been recommended in accordance against surfacial erosion and shallow mass movements.
with the type of soil under “Formation Plantation of fast growing plants, shrubs and grass etc.
Widening” to check the slide debris on the as available locally is done to strengthen and stabilize
carriage way. Benching is one of the solutions the affected slopes. It involves the use of vegetation
towards reducing the driving force. alone as soil bio-engineering measure or in conjunction
with civil engineering structures called bio-technical
iv) Drainage slope stabilization methods. Live plants have been used
for centuries to control erosion problems on slopes
Water is the main activating agent responsible for and along river bank world over. The use of these
slide to occur. Increase in unit weight of soil due natural methods of erosion control and slope stability
to saturation and development of excess water became less popular with the arrival and extensive
pore pressure within the slope are major driving use of concrete and steel technology as hard and
forces causing slope instability. Poor drainage inert structures in the engineering projects including
thus increases the incidence of landslides on construction and maintenance of roads. However, with
the road. Drainage not only reduces the weight the recent awareness about the need for ecological and
of the mass tending to slide but also increases environmental friendly technology especially in fragile
the strength of slope forming material. It is Himalayan region, emphasis is now increasingly on
therefore, most important that the drainage is bio-engineering alternatives for controlling erosion
given the highest priority in devising remedial and landslides. These are being preferred because of
measures. Efficient drainage means collection low expenses particularly where the labour is cheap
of surface and sub-surface water and leading it and non-local materials are expensive due to high
away from the area of slide to nearby culvert, transportation cost in hills.
natural drain or stream. The performance of
road is thus related mostly to efficient drainage 5.3 Control of Erosion
of water, control of landslides and soil erosion.
The drainage works have been discussed in Erosion, if unchecked tends to produce soil mass
detail under the topic “Construction” movement. Many of landslide problems have their
origin in cumulative erosion on hill slopes. If erosion is
v) Restraining structures allowed to continue unchecked, the extent of slope area
affected increases as well as deepens affecting overall
A structure placed at the foot of the slope helps stability of the slope. Water erosion also includes stream
in resisting the movement of soil mass and also channel erosion. Besides bank erosion & bed scour,
protects the toe against scour and undermining. the stream erosion is also responsible for landslides
Engineers tend to rely primarily on restraining induced by under cutting of the toe or base of the slope.
gravity walls (retaining walls, breast walls, Early re-vegetation of exposed earth surfaces and bio-
gabions or wire crated walls etc.), toe walls engineering solutions for slope protection are suggested
and cribs etc. Wire crated walls are particularly to minimize road induced erosion. Turfing of cut
suited, where foundation conditions are not slopes besides checking the erosion will give pleasing
sound. Various types of protective works appearance. Some other engineering methods are
have been discussed in detail under the topic a) Asphalt mulching treatment and b) Slope treatment
“Construction”. by geo-fiber netting etc.

122 Handa on
6 Environmental and Ecological iii) Pollution from heating bitumen.

Management
In order to ensure that a hill road project is
Any developmental activities will result in disturbance environmentally sustainable, its positive and negative
to eco-system of hills unless adequate mitigation impacts are highlighted in the “Environment Impact
measures are taken. Recent accelerated pace of Assessment” (EIA). Sustainability comes from
economic development like construction of roads, environmental, ecological and social management
buildings and hydro-power projects have put a severe of a project. The purpose of EIA is to identify the
strain on the fragile ecology of Himalayas gifted with environmental impacts including effects of human
green valleys, pleasant climate and environment. activities in implementation of the project. The check
Unplanned road construction along hill slopes, list of EIA relate to land, air, water, vegetation,
stable otherwise is considered a destructive process aesthetics and socio-economic aspects. For EIA of
a road project, a geologist, a representative of forest
as it creates large scale problems of soil erosion and
department and an environment specialist should be
landslides. Development should be coupled with due
associated. The EIA is then followed by Environment
concern for preservation of environment and ecology
Management Plan (EMP).
of hills so that a balance between road development
and eco-system is maintained. 6.2 Mitigation Strategies
6.1 T
he Road Construction is Associated with The ill effects of hill road construction can be prevented
Adverse Environmental and Ecological to a great extent by taking due care at the time of project
Impacts as under: conception, planning including alignment, design,
construction and subsequently at maintenance stage. It
i) Loss of forest and vegetation cover.
is important that the mitigation measures as under form
ii) Loss of flora and fauna. an integral part of the project and are implemented at
iii) Land degradation due to soil erosion and the planning and construction stages.
landslides.
iv) Indiscriminate and unscientific mining and i) Forests form a significant part in performing an
quarrying of stone, sand and gravel for huge ecological balancing function towards protection
of species, air, water, soil, and climate and thus
requirement of crushed materials for road
create equilibrium between development and
construction and other developmental activities
environment. The forests have therefore to be
are playing havoc with ecology.
preserved. Compensatory afforestation to make
v) Disturbance of water resources and drainage good the loss of trees should be carried out.
pattern. Water supply sources are likely to go Besides, providing protection to hill slopes and
dry in the coming years. improvement of landscape, the trees intercepts
vi) Siltation of water resources. the annoying smoke and sound waves of the
vii) Damage to limited agricultural land available vehicles.
in hills. Where a road has necessarily to pass through
viii) Dust and noise pollution by construction forest land, necessary clearance under
activities. “Forest Conservation Act 1980” is required
to be obtained from Ministry of Forest and
During construction operations, the main sources of Environment through state forest department
pollution are: for use of forest land for non-forest purpose.
It is required to be certified by the user that the
i) Exhaust and fuel gases from road construction requirement of forest land is unavoidable and is
equipment. barest minimum.
ii) Dust and noise resulting from machinery and ii) Project road to be outside any natural park and
construction operations. wildlife sanctuary.

iii) User’s agency shall be responsible for any loss xi) Stability of slopes is the key environmental
of flora and fauna. and ecological issue. The slope protective
iv) User’s agency shall certify that no waste material and erosion control measures including bio-
or debris shall be thrown along hill slope. It will engineering solutions have already been
be thrown at pre-identified dumping place only. discussed under the topic of “slope stability and
As far as possible the earth work in cutting erosion control”. Besides, slope stabilisation
and filling should be balanced so as to avoid and erosion control, bio-engineering measures
disposal of large quantity of debris. are cost effective and environment friendly and
v) Applicable permits/clearances also enhance the scope for landscaping. Our
efforts may be incomplete if suitable conditions
• Permission of the state Govt. for extraction
in this regard in the bidding documents are not
of boulders and sand from hill slopes and
incorporated.
river beds shall be obtained. Unplanned
and unscientific quarrying being a major 7 Highway Aesthetics and
culprit in destroying the eco-system. Plantation
• Permission of State Govt. for cutting
trees. An aesthetically designed, constructed and maintained
• Permission of State Pollution Control road not only enhances the environmental qualities but
Board and even village panchayat for also is pleasing to eyes and safe in operation especially
installation of stone crushers. in hills. The activity involves selection of alignment
that fits well with the natural surroundings and
• Clearance of State Pollution Board and
landscape. The roadside plantation or arboriculture has
village panchayat for setting up batching
both aesthetical and functional aspects. The purpose
plants and bitumen hot mix plants.
is to avoid environmental degradation associated with
• Permission of State Govt. or village construction of a new hill road. Vegetation protects
panchayat for borrow earth. slopes against erosion by rain and wind. Trees give
• Any other permits or clearances required structural support to the slope against sliding. Trees
under applicable laws. help in soil conservation. Besides landscaping and
vi) Before the start of the construction operations, beautifying the road, plantation helps in keeping
the engineer should ensure that the machinery the environment free from pollution including noise
and equipment brought to the work site conforms pollution. The landscaping with plantation and grassing
to the prescribed standards and are fitted with will avoid monotonous driving particularly along a long
pollution control devices as per stipulations made in journey and thus can be important factor contributing
the contract. to road safety.
vii) All polluting equipment are located at some
distance from the settlements. Landscaping should in general be done as per
IRC:SP:84-2009 (Manual for Four Laning) and
viii) The activities resulting in noise and dust
IRC: SP:21-2009 Manual on Landscaping and Tree
pollution are performed during non-peak
Plantation. While building divided highway at different
hours.
level to form a split highway, the fall/slope between
ix) Necessary noise barriers or noise insulation two carriageways can effectively be treated with local
measures and temporary screens etc. are flowery plants and grass. In choice of bridges, the basic
provided particularly in school, hospital and consideration should be that these should not only be
residential areas. structurally sound but also of pleasing appearance
x) Use of bitumen emulsion is encouraged as blending appropriately with natural surroundings.
heating of bitumen give rise to lot of air The arch bridges generally harmonize with the hill
pollution. landscape.

124 Handa on
8 Road side Facilities/Amenities problems and thus has been identified as major
stumbling block in starting the road projects. In PPP
In hilly areas there is a general constraint of space and mode, it is required that 80% of the land is acquired
the layout of the facilities or wayside amenities shall by Government/NHAI and given to the private
accordingly be designed. The project facilities shall entrepreneurs free from all encumbrances before taking
include suitable location and size for which additional up the work. One of the reasons for delay is grievances
land shall be required to be acquired. The concessionaire / objections by the people losing their land and property
shall construct roadside facilities as per section 12 of particularly in hills where the cultivable land is very
IRC: SP:84-2009 with specific requirements in hill limited. The removal of ribbon development along the
roads as under:- existing highway is another major bottleneck.
a) ll buildings works shall be designed to meet

A The engineers having no control over such constraints
not only the functional requirements but also calls for an advance or faster action by Govt. at some
should be compatible with hill architecture and higher level before inviting bids as other departments
climate. Locally available materials e.g. stones like Revenue and Forest are involved. The state road
and slate etc. may be used. projects, as per practice in earlier times in Himachal
Pradesh were planned in two stages a) Pre-construction
b) est Areas:- The development of roadside rest
R stage and b) Construction stage. The estimate for pre-
areas is intended as “Rest a While” for long construction stage included survey & investigations,
distance travelers. These may be provided at cutting of 1 m trace and land acquision only. The
an interval of about 50 km in hills and should pre-construction stage well ahead of actual execution
be at location having commanding view of thus provided sufficient time for land acquisition,
a) snow peaks, b) a river, c) a lake, d) a water redessal of public grievances/objections and also
fall or e) other scenic spots. Provision should be getting all clearances. This procedure needs to be
made for drinking water supply, toilets, food/ followed especially in hills for better planning and
snacks etc. Overall considerations should be implementation.
that these have good natural surroundings with
appropriate landscaping treatment and trees. In addition to capacity enhancement, there is now
There are some natural spring water sources emphasis on ancillary environment preserving measures
in hills which can be development as “Water including bio-engineering alternatives which not only
Points” contributes to slope stability but are also attractive and
cost-effective.
c) rovision for accommodating utilities as
P
underground within utility corridor should also Four-Laning of National Highways is generally being
be included. taken up on PPP Mode on BOT basis for which, a
9 Conclusion and Some viable gap of funding up to 40% is being contributed
Suggestions by NHAI and balance 60% by private investors. This
norm being adopted both in plain and hill areas is not
The objective of development of the project is to provide considered rational and justified in view of the fact that
socio-economic impact in terms of faster, safe and more the cost of road construction in hills is about two to
comfortable journey with better road geometrics, riding three times higher than the cost in plains. It has to be
surface and traffic management. The efficient traffic appreciated that an investor would be prepared to invest
movement will reduce the vehicle operating cost. The in any project only if it provides him good return on his
acceleration of road development in mountains is also investment. It is accordingly suggested that:
of paramount importance to facilitate army movements
and logistic supplies in the border areas. a) Viable gap funding may be increased from 40%
to 50% minimum.
Acquisition of land and diverting forest land including b) The income from roadside facilities / amenities
environment clearance are beset with number of like rest/parking areas at scenic spots,

restaurants, motels, fuel stations and shopping informations facilitating writing of this Paper.
areas (of produce and handicrafts of hills)
etc. will generate considerable revenue to the References
entrepreneur and enhance the viability of the 1. “ Manual of Specification &Standards for four Laning
project. of Highways through Public Private Partnership”
c) It would be reasonable that the concession IRC: SP: 84-2009.
period of the road project in hills be enhanced 2. “Recommendations about the Alignment, survey &
by 20% to 30% Geometric Design of Hill Roads “ IRC:52:-2001.
3. “Hill Road Manual” IRC:SP:48-1998.
One of the challenges on any project is to resolve
4. “Concern for Economy and Ecology in Hill Road
disputes that generally occur, as early as possible as Constructing“ D.N. Handa, Indian highways 2005.
disputes are distraction in its successful completion.
5. “Safety measures in Hill Road Construction and
Experience has shown that arbitration presently is Maintenance”. D.N.Handa. Seminar on Integrated
neither inexpensive nor time saving. It is, therefore, Development of Rural Roads, New. Delhi 5-6
suggested that provision may be made for amicable Dec.2003.
settlement through Alternative Dispute Resolution 6. “Bio-technical and Bio-soil engineering slope
(A.D.R.) methods like mediation or conciliation having stabilisation” Donald H. Gray, Robin B.Sotir.
statutory recognition. Amicable settlement helps the 7. “Sustainable Road Development in Himalayan
disputants to identify the problems, issues involved and Region: Need for Green Approach” D.N.Handa
participate in negotiating process. It should therefore be Seminar on Roads in High Precipitation Areas,
made obligatory to the parties in the contract that before 19-20 Feb. 2010.
going to arbitration they will make good faith efforts to 8. IRC: SP: 21-2009, Manual on Landscaping and
resolve the disputes so that progress on the work does Tree Plantation.
not suffer. This is a need of the hour to give a boost to 9. Environmental and Ecological Management in
the infrastructure construction industry in the country. Construction of Hill Roads. D.N. Handa “Indian
Highways Dec. 2012”
Acknowledgement 10. IRC codes as referred in the Paper.
11. The author gratefully acknowledge the help taken
The author is highly grateful to Er Satish Kaul, Director
from some Articles published in “Indian Highways”
NHAI Office, Shimla for his valuable suggestions and and “IRC Journals” of IRC.
The views expressed in the paper are personal views of the Authors. For any query, the author may be contacted at: E-mail: dn_handa@yahoo.com

Paper No. 616
LOCAL SCOUR IN BRIDGE PIERS ON COARSE BED MATERIAL

- OBSERVED AND PREDICTED BY DIFFERENT METHODS
S.K.Mazumder* and r.K. Dhiman**
Abstract
IRC and other Indian codes recommend use of Lacey’s regime formula for finding maximum depth of scour as 2R below high flood level or R below river
bed level for fine bed materials (d50<2mm), where R is Lacey’s regime depth. Codes are silent about scour depth in piers on coarse bed materials (d50>2mm)
like gravels, cobbles, boulders etc. Scour in coarse bed material is generally less than that in fine bed materials due to armoring effect in well graded and
non-uniform coarse sediments. Several mathematical models used for prediction of local scour depths have been discussed and limitations of empirical
equation like Lacey are stated. Predicted local scour depths in six bridge piers founded on coarse bed materials have been obtained by both empirical
and mathematical models and compared with scour depths observed by USGS in some of the streams in the Missisipi river basin in U.S.A. Scour depths
predicted by mathematical models are conservative and closer to the observed ones in comparison with those obtained by Lacey’s equations. Based on
an earlier study by the first author (Mazumder, 2006) in fine bed materials and the present one, it is concluded that the local scour depths in both fine and
coarse sediments should be estimated by use of mathematical models.
1 INTRODUCTION (coarse-bed streams) is generally less than that in finer-

grained (fine sand and silt) streambeds under similar
Determination of scour in bridge piers is an important hydraulic conditions. The difference in scour depth is
consideration in the hydraulic analysis and design of attributed to formation of an armor layer in coarse bed
highway bridges that cross streams, rivers, and other streams.
waterways. There are a large numbers of studies by
a number of gifted workers on the subject who have Numerous bridges, all over the world, have failed due
developed a number of mathematical models for the to foundation failure of piers. One of the major causes
prediction of scour around bridge piers. Scour depth of such foundation failure is due to scouring around pier
should neither be under-predicted (for safety) nor during the passage of floods. In India, a large numbers
over-predicted (for economy). It is established that of existing bridges rest on piers both in fine (<2mm) and
local scour in coarse bed material is substantially less coarse bed materials (>2mm). New bridges are going
than that predicted by IRC method based on Lacey to be constructed in hilly and mountainous terrain
type theory (1930) which is applicable only for very where the river bed materials are coarse consisting of
fine alluvial bed material. Considerable economy gravels (2-64mm), cobbles (64-256mm) and boulders
can be achieved by computing local scour by using (>256mm). All Indian codes (IRC:5-1998, IRC:SP:13-
mathematical models developed recently. Most of the 2004, IRC:78-2014, IS:6966-Pt.I-1989, MOR-1985)
models developed over the years are, however, based prescribe equations based on regime theory of Lacey
on laboratory flume study since measurement of scour (1930) for computation of scour in bridge piers for river
in field is a difficult task-especially during floods when bed consisting of fine materials only and are silent about
scour is supposed to reach its maximum. Scour depth scour in coarse bedded materials. Lacey’s equation
for piers in non-cohesive, non-uniform streambeds considers only two parameters, namely, discharge and
with a mixture of sand, gravel, cobbles, and boulders mean size of bed materials (d50). Actually, scour is
* Former Emeritus Prof. of Civil Engg., Delhi College of Engg. and Former General Manager, ICT Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. E-mail: somendrak64@gmail.com
** Director, (Works and Budget) Border Roads Organisation E-mail:d_himan12@yahoo.com

Local Scour In Bridge Piers On Coarse Bed Material - Observed And Predicted
By Different Methods 127
governed by many other parameters, which have been pier and pier foundation and the consequent changes
duly considered in the recently developed mathematical in the flow field around the piers. Because of variation
models. in velocity from top to bottom of a pier, the stagnation
pressure head is the highest at top and lowest at the
Mazumder and Kumar (2006) computed total scour bottom of pier, thereby inducing a pressure gradient,
depths in bridge piers (consisting of general scour, since the potential head is highest at the top and lowest
contraction scour and local scour) on fine bed materials at the bottom of the pier. This causes a downward
using different mathematical models and compared vertical flow impinging the bed. At the pier base, two
them with those obtained by IRC method. It was noticed horse-shoe vortices develop due to flow separation. It
that in all the cases IRC method over-estimated the total is primarily due to the horse shoe vortex formation,
scour depths to the extent varying from 5% to 275%. It wake vortices and the downward flow impinging on
was, however, found that the local scour depths predicted the bed that cause local scour at the base of the pier as
by the different mathematical models did not differ schematically shown in Fig. 1.
significantly as compared to IRC method which over-
predicted the scour depths in all the cases. It was not It is observed that there is virtually no local scour
possible to confirm whether the mathematical models around a pier till the approach velocity (V0) is about 0.5
should be adopted for prediction of local scour in the Vc50 where Vc50 is the critical velocity corresponding
absence of measured scour depths under identical flow to mean sediment size d50 given by Shields (1936)
and geometric conditions. However, it was revealed equation
that IRC method predicted very high scour value in
comparison with those predicted by the mathematical Vc50/u*c =5.75log (5.53y0/d50) ...1
models developed by eminent researchers like. Mellvile
here u*c is given by the relation
and Coleman (2000), Richardson and Davis (1995),
Breussers and Raudkivi (1991), Kothyari-Garde- u*c= [ qcgd50(S-1)] 0.5 ...2
RangaRaju (1992). All these models prescribe that the
general scour, contraction scour and local scour depths qc= t0/[rgd50(S-1)] ...3
should be computed separately and added up to get
the total scour depth. Some of the models distinguish here u*c is critical shear velocity =√(t0/r),t0 is bed shear
between clear water and live bed scour as discussed in stress, r is density of water, qc is non dimensional value
following paragraphs. Dey (2005-06) also prescribed of Shields function (qc = 0.056 for coarse sediments of
that total scour depth in bridge piers on boulder-bed size d50 greater than 6 mm (Garde, 2006), r is density
rivers should be determined by adding up the general of fluid, y0 is flow depth, S is specific gravity of coarse
scour, contraction scour and local scour to be computed sediments (S=2.65).
separately by use of mathematical models developed by
him on the basis of laboratory flume study. Fig.2 illustrates the variation of measured non-
dimensional local scour depths (ys’/b) with non-
In this paper, authors have used some of the dimensional approach velocity (V0/Vc50) for fine bed
mathematical models and empirical formulae discussed material (dotted line) and coarse bed material (full
under section-3 to predict local scour depths in bridge line). It may be noted that these curves are the envelop
piers founded on coarse bed materials at different sites covering maximum scour depths at different flow
where observed local scour depths are available. velocities measured at different bridge sites as noted
under explanation. The curves show that in case of fine
2 DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL SCOUR bed materials, the peak value of maximum local scour
AROUND BRIDGE PIERS depths is about 2.4b and it occurs at threshold condition
Local scour in bridge pier occurs due to obstruction by of bed motion (V0/Vc50 =1 ). In coarse bed materials,

128 Mazumder and Dhiman on
however, the peak value of scour depth is found to be ys/b = f [V0/Vc, y0/b, b/d50, σg, Sh,a, G, t/te, V/Ö ( gb) ] ...4
about 1.3b and it occurs at clear water condition when
V0/Vc50 = 0.75. Both the curves show that the scour where, V0 is mean approach flow velocity, Vc is the
first reduces after attaining the peak values and again critical velocity at threshold condition of sediment
increases with further rise in approach velocity and motion corresponding to mean sediment size (d50) -
then stabilizes at an equilibrium value (yse) less than also known as incipient flow velocity, y0 is approach
the peak values with further increase in V0 - both under flow depth, b is the effective thickness of pier, σg is
live bed conditions. Whereas the reduction in peak is the geometric non-uniformity coefficient of sediments
about 10% in fine soil, it is about 18% in coarse soil. expressed as (d84/d16)0.5, d16, d50 and d84 represent
The reduction in peak values of scour under live bed sediment sizes corresponding to 16%, 50% and 84%
condition is due to the fact that once the river bed starts fineness, Sh is the effect due to pier nose shape, a
moving (for V0>Vc50) , the scour hole starts receiving gives the alignment of pier with respect to flow (also
sediments from upstream resulting in partial filling of known as flow obliquity with respect to pier axis), G
the deepest scour hole formed near threshold condition. represents the non-uniformity of approach flow and
It may be also noted, that whereas the equilibrium value shape of cross-section of the approach channel, t/te is
of scour yse/b occurs at V0/Vc50 = 1.5, the same occurs at a non-dimensional time parameter representing the
V0/Vc50 = 4 since the process of scour to attain actual time of scour (t) with respect to the equilibrium
equilibrium state is slow in fine soil compared to coarse time (te) required to attain equilibrium scour depth
one. (yse), and the last parameter (V/√ (gb)) gives Froudes
number of approach flow based on pier size(b). Thus
3 PARAMETERS GOVERNING LOCAL the local scour around a pier is determined by a large
SCOUR IN BRIDGE PIERS
number of parameters pertaining to flow intensity
From non-dimensional analysis of the different (V0/Vc), shallowness of incoming flow (y0/b) coarseness
parameters governing scour around a pier, it can be of sediments (b/d50) and other parameters mentioned
proved that the local scour depth below river bed (ys) above.,
can be expressed as
Fig.2 Comparison of Pier scour (ys/b) in coarse (solid line) and

fine (dotted) bed material with relative velocity (V0/Vc) ( Taken
from Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5107, USGS)
3.1 Mathematical Models for Prediction of Scour

in Bridge Piers Founded on Non-Cohesive
Fine and Coarse Bed Materials
Fig.1 Flow field around a bridge pier and principal hydraulic

There is large number of research study on local scour
features (modified from Melville, 1995) around bridge piers all over the world and a large

number of mathematical models have been evolved Kyb = 2 √(y0b) when 0.7 < b/y0 <5
for estimating local scour around piers, principally on
the basis of laboratory model study. Some of the most K1 is flow intensity factor including sediment gradation
popular mathematical models which have been used to and armoring effect, Kd is sediment size factor, Ks is pier
predict local scour depths in a few bridges (Table 1) are shape factor, Kal is pier alignment factor, Kg is channel
briefly discussed in the following paragraphs. geometry factor, Kt is the time factor. For evaluation
of the different K-values, the various mathematical
3.1.1 HEC-18 Model (Richardson and Davis) equations and the design curves are given in the book
“Bridge Scour” by Melville and Coleman (2000). The
Richardson and Davis (1995) recommend use of the local scour depths computed by Melville and Coleman
following mathematical equation for both clear water method for few bridges are given in Table 2.
and live bed scour depth, ys (measured below bed), in
terms of approach flow depth, y0 as 3.1.3 IAHR Model (Breussers & Raudkivi)
Breussers and Raudkivi (1991) have given different
ys/y0 = 2K1. K2 . K3 . K4. (b/y0)0.65 . Fr 0.43 ...5
equations for live bed scour and clear water scour up
where, K1 is correction factor for pier nose shape, to threshold condition.
K2 is correction factor for flow obliquity (a)., K3 is For clear water condition, local scour depth (ys) is
correction factor for bed forms i.e. ripple and dune bed given by
etc., K4 is the correction factor due to armoring of bed
in non-uniform sediments, Fr is the Froudes number ys//b = 2.3 Kσ K(b/d50) Kd Ks Kα when V0 < Vc ...8
of approaching flow upstream of pier given by the
and for live bed condition, local scour depth is given
relation
by
Fr = V/ √ (gy0) ...6 ys/b = X. K(b/d50). Kd. Ks. Kα when V0>Vc ...9
Values of K1, K2, K3, K4 are given in HEC-18 Here ys is the equilibrium scour depth measured below
(Richardson and Davis – 1990) as well as in the book river bed, Kσ is a coefficient for gradation of non-
“Hydraulic Design Hand book” by Mays, (1999) in uniform sediment (σg), K(b/d50) is a coefficient owing
Chapter 15. Local scour depths for the few bridges to size of sediments with respect to pier size ‘b’, Kd is a
computed by HEC-18 model are given in Table 2. factor due to depth of flow or flow shallowness (y0/b),
Ks is shape factor for pier nose, Kα is the pier alignment
3.1.2 Melville and Coleman Model
factor due to skewness of flow(a). Maximum value
Melville and Coleman (2000) computed local scour of X is 2.3 when V > 4Vc. When Vc<V0<4Vc, value
depth (ys) below river bed for both clear water and live of X varies from 2 to 2.30 for uniform sediments (σg
bed by the following equation ≤1.3) and “X”varies from 0.5 to 2.0 for non-uniform
sediments (σg >1.3). Values of the different coefficients
ys = Kyb. K1 Kd . Ks . Kal . Kg . Kt ...7 are available from design curves given in the book
“Scouring” by Breussers and Raudikivi (1991). Local
All other parameters except Kyb are non-dimensional
scour depth computed by IAHR method for few bridges
and Kyb is having the same dimension as that of ys i.e.
are given in Table 2.
scour depth. Kyb is depth-size or shallowness factor and
is given by the relation 3.1.4 Kothyari – Garde - Rangaraju (K-G-R)
Kyb = 2.4 b when b/y0 < 0.7,
Model
Based on the analysis of extensive laboratory data
Kyb = 4.5y0 when b/y0 > 5 and
collected for both uniform, non-uniform and stratified

sediments, steady and unsteady flows, the following Scour Depth (KR) Below HFL/FSL
mathematical equations have been proposed by
Kothyari, Garde and Ranga Raju (1992) for estimation Type of Channel/Structures K- Values
of local scour under clear water and live bed conditions Greatly Constricted Section 1.00
when the flow is parallel to pier axis without any flow Straight Channel 1.27
obliquity. Moderate Bend 1.50
Severe Bend 1.75
For clear water scour depth (ys) measured below bed : Right Angled Bend 2.00
Alongside Cliffs & Walls 2.25
ys/d50 = 0.66(b/d50)0.75 {(y0/d50)0.16} {(Vc2-V0 2 ) /g (S-1) At nose of bridge pier 2.00
d50} r - 0.30 ...10 At u/s head of guide bundh 2.75
At the shank of guide bundh 1.5
For live or mobile bed scour :
4.1 Lacey’s Method Adopted by IRC
ys/d50 = 0.88 (b/d50) 0.67 (y0/d50)0.4 r -0.3 ...11
Based on his observations in stable canals with fine
where r = (B-b)/ B, B is the centre to centre spacing bed and bank materials in Punjab, Lacey proposed a
of piers, b is the pier thickness, V is the actual mean number of equations for stable canal design. Lacey’s
velocity of flow under the bridge, Vc is the mean equations for regime width (W) and regime depth (R)
critical velocity of flow for the given bed material in meter are:
(d50) at threshold condition. Local scour depth found
from equations 10 and 11 for few bridges are given in W= 4.8 (Q)0.5 ...12
Table 2.
R = 0.475 (Q/f) 1/3 ...13
4 EMPIRICAL METHODS OF SCOUR
PREDICTION AND THEIR LIMITATIONS where Q is regime flow in m3/s and f is silt factor given
by the relation
Based on regime concept and field data collected
in India, Kennedy (1895 ), Lacey (1930), Inglis f = 1.76 (d50)1/2 ...14
(1949), Lane (1955), Blench (1957), Chitale (1966 )
Based on observed maximum depths of scour in 17
developed several empirical equations for the purpose
railway bridge piers founded on very fine alluvium
of design of stable chnannel/canal with fine/very fine
(d50-varying from 0.17 mm to 0.37mm) in major north
incoherent alluvial bed materials. These equations for Indian rivers (CWPRS,1944), Railway Board, Govt.
regime depth (R) and regime width (W) are based on of India, recommended 2R as maximum scour depth
two parameters only i.e. discharge (Q) and mean size below HFL for design purpose, using Lacey’s regime
of sediments (d50). Multiplying the regime depth (R) depth R given by equation 13.
with factors (K), the regime concept has been further
extended to predict maximum scour depth below HFL/ In case a channel flows in regime width (W), using
FSL in river/canal for design of hydraulic structures equations (12) and (13) the regime depth (R) can also
in India and some neighboring countries. Different be expressed as
K-values as found from field observations in very fine
soil (CBIP-1989) commonly used for design purpose R= 1.35 (q2/f)1/3 ...15
are given in Table 1.
where q = (Q/W) i.e. discharge intensity in m2/s, IRC
Table 1: K-Values Adopted for Finding Maximum has recommended Lacey’s equations for R as given
by equation (15) for computing scour depth. IRC

Prescribes 2R as maximum scour depth at pier nose ●● L

ocal scour depth around a pier is taken arbitrarily
measured from HFL or in other words R as maximum equal to 2R below HFL or otherwise R below bed
local scour depth measured below river bed. Lacey’s surface in both Lacey’s and Blench’s equations.
scour depth below river bed in some of the bridges in This is irrational since local scour and regime
coarse bed material is given in Table 2. depths are separate things governed by separate
parameters.
4.2 Blench’s Method ●● L
acey’s R-value is applicable for steady uniform
and continuous flow in canals with uniform fine
Similar to Lacey’s expressions, Blench (1969) proposed
incoherent alluvial soils in both bed and bank-
the following empirical equations for prediction of
unlike rivers flowing in fine and coarse bed with
regime depth (R in meter) for stable channels in fine
non-uniform sediments with varying flows.
and coarse bed material as
●● M
any of the important parameters governing
2/3
R = 1.20(q /d 1/6
) for 0.06 mm<d50<2 mm and local scour e.g. velocity of incoming flow with
50
....16 respect to critical velocity at initiation of sediment
motion, flow shallowness, flow obliquity, pier size,
R =1.23 ( q2/3/d501/12) for d50 > 2 mm ....17 pier nose geometry, incoming debris, size, non-
uniformity and size of sediments, bed forms etc.
Blench’s scour depths (R) below river bed in some are not considered. In Lacey, Blench and Dhiman
bridges in coarse materials computed by equation 17 formulae. Maximum scour depth is expressed in
are given in Table 2. terms of only two parameters.
●● A
ctual time of scouring(t) with respect to
4.3 Dhiman’s Formula
equilibrium time (te) to attain equilibrium scour
Based on observed scour data collected by Border depth is not considered.
Roads Organization (General Reserve Engineers ●● S
couring processes under live bed and clear
Force), Govt. of India, in some exiting bridges on water conditions are totally ignored. It is well
boulder-bed rivers without any constriction, Dhiman established universally that the local scour reaches
(2004) proposed the following empirical formula for its maximum value at threshold/critical/incipient
estimating maximum scour depth: condition of bed motion when Q= Qc or V=Vc.
Scour reduces thereafter when Q> Qc or V>Vc. It
Dmax= KVmax ....18 attains an equilibrium state and remains constant
at after V>4Vc (for clear water condition) and
where Dmax is maximum scour depth below lowest bed V>1.5Vc (for live bed condition) as shown in
level and Vmax is maximum velocity; K=1.2 for circular Fig.2. In all empirical methods, however, scour is
pier and 1,3 for rectangular pier independent of the critical conditions and it goes
on increasing with increasing values of Q or V
4.4 Limitations of Empirical Methods
which is far from truth.
Some of the limitations of empirical methods adopted
5 LOCAL SCOUR IN PIERS FOUNDED ON
by IRC/IS/RDSO codes for finding local scour depth in COARSE BED MATERIAL IN MISSOURI
bridge piers are stated below. BASIN
●● T
hey do not distinguish between general, As explained in section-2 and illustrated in Fig.2,
contraction and local scour. local scour depth for piers in stream bed with non-
●● T
otal scour around piers are measured below HFL cohesive, non-uniform coarse materials - a mixture of
in Lacey/Blench equations. sand, gravel, cobbles, and boulders- is less than the

scour depth in fine-grained (mostly fine sand and silt)

streambeds under similar hydraulic conditions. The
difference in scour depth is attributed to formation of
an armor layer. Armoring of bed takes place in coarse
and non-uniform bed material when the bigger particles
in the scour hole are found to shelter the fine ones
reducing scour depths.
USGS in its Scientific Investigations Report 2011–

5107(Holnbeck, 2011) measured local maximum
scour depths in coarse bed streams at 103 bridge sites Fig.3 Surveyed cross section showing pier-scour holes and
in Montana, USA with the objective of evaluation of reference bed surface used to determine local scour depth in piers
K4-values (representing size and gradation effect of (taken from Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5107, USGS)
sediments on local scour) in HEC-18 model. Fig.3
is under live bed conditions. All the local scour depths
illustrates a typical cross-section of a river showing
given in table -2 are below river bed level. The values
the reference bed level and local scour depth. Fig.4
indicated in bracket under scour depths give K-values
shows the plot of observed scour depths (ys’/b) against
i.e. the ratio of scour depths and Lacey’s scour depth
sg [=√(d84/d16)] where ys’ is the observed scour depth.
(R) below bed.
Envelop curves covering the maximum observed
scour depths were plotted for different sizes (d50) of 5.2 Observed and Predicted Scour Depths in
sediments indicating the peak values (under clear water Bridge Piers
condition). It is apparent that the peak scour reduces
with both size (coarseness) and gradation (sg) of non- Scour depths by empirical methods (e.g. Lacey and
uniform sediments. Blench) far exceed the observed values of scour in all
cases. Columns 3 to 8 in Table 2 give the predicted
5.1 Flow parameters, Pier Geometry, Sediment scour depths, including the empirical methods of Lacey
Sizes and Blench K- values are given in brackets below the
observed and predicted scour depths. Lacey’s and
Particulars of flow and geometric data of piers and
Blench scour depths are found to be higher than the
sediments at five bridge sites are given in Table 1.
predicted depths of scour by mathematical models in all
There was no contraction and flow obliquity in all
these bridges and all of them were founded on coarse
bed material of different sizes (d50) varying from
17.1mm to 102 mm, non-uniformity (sg) varying from
1.95 to 4.14) as given in the table. While bridge sites
1,10,11,16 and 22 were in the Missouri river basin,
the particulars given under M&C refer to an example
worked out by Mellvile and Coleman (2000) for a
bridge pier in a river in New Zealand.
Table 2 gives the observed maximum local scour depths

at first five bridge sites in Missouri basin. No observed
scour depth was, however, available for the last bridge
site. Maximum local scour depths predicted by different Fig.4 Relation between relative pier scour and gradation
methods in Table 2 correspond to clear water conditions coefficient for pier-scour showing the effect of size and gradation.
except the last bridge where the predicted local scour (taken from Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5107, USGS)

the cases except at bridge site-10 where only Melville scour depths are found to be closer to the observed
and Coleman method gives almost same value of scour scour depths.
depth as Lacey’s one. Except this case, all the predicted
Table 1 Flow and Geometric Data of Bridge Piers in Missouri River Basin, Usa
Pier Geometry Sieve size of Bed Material in mm
Flow
Flow Depth Obliquity
Bridge Site Velocity Width Nose σg=
(y0 in m) of flow d16 d50 d84 d95
(V0 in m/s) (b in m) Shape √(d84/d16)
(a)
1 2.29 2.29 0.61 Sharp 0o 40.5 102 176 269 2.09
10 0.98 1.72 0.854 sharp 0o 29.9 79.8 149 253 2.23
11 1.44 1.22 0.915 Round 0o 2.58 17.1 44.1 82.9 4.14
16 4.85 1.91 1.0 Sharp 0o 5.91 22.3 57 89.6 3.11
22 2.92 4.5 1.83 Sharp 0o 7.36 22.7 44 59.3 2.44
M&C 9.21 4.34 1.81 Round 0o 7 20 44.1 100 2.5
Table 2 Comparison of Local Scour Depths (Observed and Predicted by Different Methods)
Predicated Scour Depth
Observed Scour (ys in m)
Bridge Site Depth Melville
(ys’ in m) Lacey(R) Blench HEC-18 & IAHR K-G-R
Coleman
0.35 2.29 2.29 0.69 0.57 0.43 0.46
1
(0.15) (1.00) (1.00) (0.30) (0.25) (0.19) (0.20)
0.24 0.98 1.22 0.76 0.99 0.38 0.90
10
(0.25) (1.00) (1.24) (0.77) (1.01) (0.39) (0.92)
0.42 1.44 1.44 0.98 1.27 0.33 1.02
11
(0.42) (1.00) (1.00) (0.68) (0.88) (0.23) (0.71)
0.63 4.85 4.85 1.44 1.70 1.39 1.34
16
(0.12) (1.00) (1.00) (0.29) (0.35) (0.28) (0.27)
0.91 3.69 5.27 2.21 2.19 0.90 1.67
22
(0.25) (1.00) (1.43) (0.60) (0.59) (0.21) (0.45)
9.21 11.22 5.24 4.34 2.35 4.17
M&C --
(1.00) (1.22) (0.57) (0.47) (0.25) (0.45)
Note: 1. The values given in bracket are ratio of scour depth and Lacey’s scour depth (R) below river bed.
2. M & C stand for Melville & Coleman – No measured scour depth is available
3. K-G-R stand for Kothyari – Garde – Ranga Raju method.
5.3 Comparison of Average Predicted Scour rows of the table respectively. The last row gives the
Depths by Mathematical models and Lacey’s ratio between Lacey’s scour depth and the average
Values with Observed Scour in Piers at scour depth obtained by mathematical models.
Different Bridge Sites
It is apparent from Table 3 that the average scour
First and second rows of Table 3 summarize the depths computed by different mathematical models
observed scour depths and average of scour depths are more (because all the parameters are taken from
predicted by different mathematical models at the upper boundary of measured values) than the observed
different bridge sites (obtained from Table 2). Ratios scour depths but much less than Lacey’s scour depths
of the average scour depths (by mathematical models) as adopted in IRC codes due to several reasons already
and observed scour depths and Lacey’s scour depths mentioned under section 4.3. It is advisable, therefore,
and observed scour depths are given in third and fourth to compute local scour depths in bridge piers on coarse

material using mathematical models all of which give bridge piers founded on coarse bed materials by using
conservative values compared to observed scour depths both empirical methods and mathematical models at
and are much economic compared to Lacey’s scour five bridge sites in Missouri river basin and one in a
depths adopted in IRC guidelines on bridge scour. river in New Zealand. Observed maximum local scour
depths under clear water conditions in the Missouri
Table 3 Comparison of Scour Depths by basin are compared with local scour depths predicted by
Different Methods empirical equations as well as different mathematical
models under identical flow, sediment and pier
Bridge Sites → 1 10 11 16 22 M&C characteristics. Scour depths predicted by mathematical
Observed Scour Depths models, although higher than the observed ones, are
0.35 0.24 0.42 0.63 0.91 ----
(in m) closer to the observed values in comparison to scour
Average Scour ((in m) depths obtained by Lacey’s and Blench’s equations. In
(by Different Math. 0.53 0.75 0.90 1.46 1.74
4.02 the case of bridge site (M&C) in New Zealand also,
Models) the scour depth obtained by Lacey’s method is more
Lacey’s Scour Depth
than two times the scour depth predicted by different
2.29 o.98 1.44 4.85 3.69 9.21 mathematical models.
(in m )
Average Scour/Observed
1.51 3.12 2.14 2.31 1.91 ---- Based on the previous study on scour in fine bed
Scour
materials and the present one in coarse bed material, it
Lacey’s Scour/Observed is concluded that the IRC method of scour computations
6.54 4.08 3.42 7.69 4.05 -----
Scour based on Lacey’s equation should be replaced by
Lacey’s Scour/Average mathematical models developed by eminent research
4.32 1.30 2.37 3.32 2.12 2.29
Scour workers from India and abroad over the years.
6 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES
Determination of scour around bridge piers is important 1. Blench,T. (1957) “Regime Behavior of Canals
in deciding the foundation level of the piers. It is a and Rivers” Butterworth Scientific Publications,
universal practice to find total scour depth as sum London.
of general scour, contraction scour and local scour, 2. Blench,T.(1969),”Mobile Bed Fluviology,
except in India where the total scour depth in piers is University of Alberta Press, Edmonton, Canada.
arbitrarily determined as 2R below HFL or R below bed 3. Breussers, HNC and Randviki, A.J. (1991)
level where R is computed by Lacey’s theory. Local “Scouring” , Chapter-5 “Scour at Bridge Piers” A.A.
scour depth around pier is not governed by R but many Balkema Pub., IAHR Hydraulic Structures Design
other parameters related to pier size and geometry, Manual.
flow conditions and sediment characteristics. Based on 4. CBIP (1989), “River Bhaviour, Management and
these parameters, several mathematical models have Training, Vol.I”, Central Board of Irrigation and
Power, Malcha Marg, New Delhi.
been developed in India and abroad for predicting
maximum local scour depth to be measured below river 5. Chew, Y.M. (1984), “Local Scour at Bridge Piers”,
Report No.355, School of Engg., The Univ. of
bed level. In an earlier paper, Mazumder and Kumar
Auckland, Newzealand.
(2006) computed total scour depths in some bridge
6. Chitale, S.V (1966), “Design of Stable Channels,”
piers founded on fine cohesion less bed materials and
Q-20, R-17, Proc. 6th Congress of ICID, New
compared them with those found by IRC method based Delhi.
on Lacey’s theory. It was found that in all the cases,
7. CWPRS(1944), “Annual Report (Tech)”, Central
IRC method overestimated the total scour depth when Water & Power Research Station, Pune.
compared with those found by the several mathematical
8. Dey, S. (2005-06), Principal Investigator of the
models and the error ranged between 5% to 275%. In Research Project “Determination of Scour Depth
this paper, authors computed local scour depths around (for General Bed, Within Channel Contraction and

at Bridge Piers) in Boulder- Bed Rivers Under High 18. Kothyari, U.C., Garde, R.J. and Ranga Raju, K.G.
Stream Velocities (B-33)”- Sponsored by The Min. (1992a) “Temporal Variation of Scour Around
of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Govt. Circular Bridge Piers”, JHE, A.S.C.E., 118(8),
of India, Highway Research Record No.33, ( 2005- pp. 1091-1106.
06), IRC Highway Research Board, Indian Roads 19. Lacey, G. (1930) “Stable Channels in Alluvium”
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9. Dhiman, R.K. (2004,), “Scour in Bouldery Bed- Vol. 229, William Clowes & Sons Ltd., London,
Proposed Formula” Paper No 508 Pub. in Journal of U.K. P. 259-292.
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Coarse-Bed Streams in Montana, 2001 through 21. Mazumder, S.K. and Kumar, Y.K. (2006) “Estimation
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London, Vol.119. Schiffbau, Berlin, No.26.
The views expressed in the paper are personal views of the Authors. For any query, the author may be contacted at: E-mail: somendrak64@gmail.com

Paper No. 617
SAFETY ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF URBAN SINGLE

CARRIAGEWAY ROADS IN KERALA
S. Anjana* and M.V.L.R. Anjaneyulu **
Abstract
Road safety is a matter of grave concern in many developing countries including India, and it is now considered as an integral part of the highway planning
and design process. In the absence of scientific analysis of crash data, only broad and general road safety improvement measures can be suggested
which rarely give the desired results. This study aims at developing a simple and effective technique for safety evaluation of geometric design and traffic
control measures, based on analysis of traffic crashes on urban single carriageway roads in Kerala. Crash prediction models are developed to establish the
relationship between the explanatory variables and crash frequency.From the prediction models it is found that traffic volume, carriageway width, shoulder
width, condition of sidewalk, land use, presence of bus stop, minor intersecting roads, at grade pedestrian crossing and desirable warning signs significantly
influence the occurrence of crashes on single carriageways. Crash Modification Factors (CMFs), a useful tool for evaluating the safety effect of alternate
geometric design, traffic and control measures, are developed forurban single carriageway roads.
1 INTRODUCTION critical gaps in the management of highway safety in

India is the lack of reliable methods for estimating the
The year 2011 was marked by the launch of the decade safety performance of an existing or planned roadway.
of action for road safety by the United Nations. On this
occasion the UN proposed policies to ensure that the Crash Modification Factor (CMF) is a tool that has
decade leads to real improvement in road safety and gained worldwide popularity in the field of road safety
recommended member countries to develop action analysis and evaluation. CMF is a multiplicative factor
plans for the decade 2011-2020. As a response many used to compute the expected number of crashes after
countries, including India, target up to 50% reduction implementing a given countermeasure at a site. It can
in fatalities by 2020 (IRTAD 2013)[1]. also be defined as the relative change in crash frequency
when a particular geometric design component is added
In India, the main thrust of crash prevention and or removed, or when a design element is changed in
control is on the 4 E’s namely Education, Enforcement, size (Hauer 2002, Bonnesson and Zimmerman 2007,
Engineering and Emergency care. In addition to the 4 Gross et al. 2010)[2, 3, 4].
E’s, a fifth E is gaining popularity in road safety studies
worldwide. This fifth E is evaluation and it broadly aims By applying effective safety countermeasures after
at assessing the road safety using safety performance statistical analysis of crash data and evaluation of
indicators. Such indicators are reliable, simple and the safety treatment measures, many developed
efficient tools for comprehensive road safety analysis nations have achieved excellent results in road safety
and assessment of the impact of new and alternate improvement. Worldwide comparison of traffic deaths
safety treatment measures. Though comprehensive road per one lakh population since 1970 shows that most
safety plans have been formulated in India that focus of the developed countries have a sharp decline in
on education, enforcement measures and emergency the crash rate. Unfortunately, many of the treatment
care, there is a lack of sound and rational engineering measures applied in the developed world cannot be
measures to improve the road safety. One of the most directly applied on Indian roads which experience a
* Research Fellow
** Professor } Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Calicut, E-mail: mvlr@nitc.ac.in

Safety Analysis And Evaluation Of Urban Single Carriageway Roads In Kerala 137
totally different traffic mix, geometric standards and is a discrete and random event. The family of Poisson
control measures. regression models appears to be more suitable for
model lingcrashes than multiple linear regression
The present study aims to develop a safety evaluation models. By relaxing the condition of mean equal to
tool for analysing, evaluating and identifying effective the variance, the negative binomial regression models
road safety treatment measures for urban single have more desirable properties than Poisson models to
carriageway roads. Crash prediction models are describe the relationship between crash occurrence and
developed that relate the crash frequency to various road characteristics (Chin and Quddus, 2003)[20]. To
geometric and traffic variables. CMFs developed by handle count data with excess zeros, the zero-inflated
cross-sectional approach are used in this context to negative binomial or zero-inflated Poisson models can
evaluate the safety treatment measures and to find the be employed. (Kumara and Chin, 2003) [21].
percentage reduction in crashes after implementing the
treatments for single carriageway roads. Research works in India unanimously agree that road
crashes increase with increase in vehicle population,
2 LITERATURE REVIEW population density and road length. Shaheem and Gupta
(2005)[11] found that upgrading highway from two lane
Many studies found that the geometric factors affecting
to four lane by increasing carriageway width leads to
midblock safety are carriageway width, shoulder
increase in major traffic attraction points and thereby
width and condition, deficiency in road signs and
increase in crash rate. From studies conducted abroad
road markings, presence of minor intersections or
researchers found no safety benefit in lane widening
driveways and traffic volume (Srinivasan et al. 1987,
beyond 3.5 meters in urban road segments (Hauer
Hadi et al.1995, Miaou 1996, Vashi and Damodariya
2000, Hauer et al. 2004)[19,9].Wider shoulders provide
2003, Hauer et al. 2004, Sarin 2005, Shaheem and
safety benefit for both urban and rural road segments
Gupta 2005) [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. In India, many researchers
(Harwood 1986, Hadi et al. 1995, Miaou 1996, Zegeer
used regression models to correlate annual crash data
et al. 1998, Vogt and Bared 1998, Harwood et al., 2003)
to the number of registered motor vehicles and the [22,6,7,18,23,24].
Prohibition of on street parking is beneficial
population for different metropolitan cities. (Srinivasan
in reducing crashes on urban roads (Elvik and Vaa
and Prasad 1979, Tuladhar and Justo 1981, Kadiyali
2004) [25].
and Venkateshan 1984, Murthy et al. 1991, Rastogi
2006) [12,13,14,15,16]. Vashi and Damodariya (2003) [8] used Crash prediction models are useful tools for identifying
simulation and Artificial Neural Network technique the crash prone locations and crash causative factors,
to develop crash prediction models for Vadodara city. but they are deficient for safety evaluation or
They suggest that it is necessary to further refine the selection of a best alternative out of many proposals
models using more number of explanatory variables for for safety treatment of a facility. Crash Modification
getting a more realistic picture in predicting crashes. Factor is the latest concept in road safety evaluation
Shaheem and Gupta (2005) [11] used regression analysis and it is a constant or an equation that represents the
for relating crash rate to population density and volume/ change in crash frequency following a change in the
capacity ratio. Kalaga and Silanda (2002) [17] state that design or operation of a facility (Pratt and Bonneson
a quadratic model gives the best fit for relating crash 2010)[26]. There are currently two main resources for
count to average daily traffic. developing quality CMFs; the AASHTO Highway
Safety Manual (HSM) and FHWA Crash Modification
Many researchers used regression techniques like
Factors clearinghouse (AASHTO 2010, Carter et al.
Poisson, negative binomial and zero inflated models
2012)[27,28]. Numerous CMFs have been evaluated
to predict crashes on road segments (Hadi et al. 1995,
in many developed nations for safety evaluation of
Miaou 1996, Zegeer et al. 1998, Hauer 2000, Hauer et
countermeasures for road segments. Researchers
al. 2004) [7, 6, 18, 19, 9]. They infer that crash occurrence

138 Anjana and Anjaneyulu on
unanimously agree that research results should not be ‘b’ is given in equation 1.
directly transferred across application sites that have
Expected average crash frequency with site
different traffic, environmental, design, enforcement
condition 'b'
measures and different crash investigation practices CMF ...1
Expected average crash frequency with site
(Chassiakos et al. 2004, NCHRP 2008)[29,30] . So far condition 'a'
very limited studies have been reported on CMFs for
In this approach, crash prediction models are used
safety evaluation of urban midblocks in India.
to evaluate the average crash frequency for varying
3 METHODOLOGY geometric and traffic conditions. The values of CMFs
are determined for a specific set of base conditions of
A safety evaluation methodology has been formulated single carriageway roads. These base conditions serve
that best suits the single carriageway roads with traffic the role of site condition ‘a’. This allows comparison
flow in both directions in India. It has its root in the of treatment options against a specified reference
safety evaluation procedure described in HSM and CMF condition of single carriageways. Under the base
clearinghouse.In this study, crash frequency, expressed conditions, the value of CMF is one. CMF value less
as crashes/kilometer/year, of midblock segments than one indicates that the alternative treatment (site
that have homogeneous geometric and traffic control condition ‘b’) reduces the average crash frequency in
features,is the fundamental basis for safety analysis. comparison to the base condition and value greater
A predictive model is used to estimate the expected than one indicates that alternate treatment increases
average crash frequency of a single carriageway crash frequency. The relationship between CMF and
midblock section under given geometric design, traffic expected percentage change in crash frequency is given
volume and operational conditions. in equation 2.
The HSM proposes two approaches for development of Percentage reduction in crashfrequency = 100*
CMFs, cross-sectional study and observational before- (1- CMF) ...2
after study. A before-after study uses techniques by
which one may study the safety effect of some change 4 DATA COLLECTION AND
that has been implemented on a group of entities. PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS
Before-after study is widely recognized as the state of
the art methodology for CMF development, but there Crash, road geometry and traffic data of 92 midblock
are many practical limitations that preclude its use sections in four major urban centers in Kerala
in road safety analysis. In contrast to the before-after namely, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Ernakulam and
study, the cross-sectional approach uses regression Thiruvananthapuram are used for the study. Crash data
models to estimate crash frequencies from a large of 3 years from 2008 to 2010 were collected from the
sample of roadway facilities whose design attributes database maintained by the city traffic police stations
vary systematically. This study adopts a cross-sectional in the respective cities. Detailed information regarding
approach for development of CMFs as it is the most the severity, type of collision and exact location of the
feasible and appropriate method for the evaluation of crash were taken from the First Information Report
geometry and control measures of single carriageways (FIR). The single carriageways considered for the
in India. study are undivided midblocks with two-way vehicle
operation. The individual sections have a minimum
CMF represents the relative change in crash frequency length of 0.5 kilometers and are atleast 100 meters away
at a site due to a change in one specific condition, when from major intersections. Road inventory data were
all other conditions and characteristics remain constant. collected by direct observation and include geometric
The calculation of CMF for change in expected average data, traffic control measures and roadside information.
crash frequency from site condition ‘a’ to site condition The three hour classified directional volume count was

conducted from 8.00 A.M to 11.00 A.M. In addition,

24 hour volume count was taken at two representative
locations in each of the cities. From the 24 hour
volume counts, adjustment factors were found out for
converting short duration volume count to average
daily traffic volume. The data records were converted
to a comprehensive digital database for analysis and
modelling. Correlation analysis shows that lane width,
shoulder width, number of minor intersecting roads and
traffic volume correlate with crash frequency of single
carriageways. Scatter plot analysis as shown in Fig. 1
reveals that crash frequency increases with increase
in carriageway width, traffic volume, and number of
minor intersecting roads. Presence of wider shoulders
reduces the crash frequency. It was also seen that spot
speed was highly correlated with many variables like
carriageway width, number of desirable warning signs
and landuse. Since inclusion of correlated variables
violates the independance assumption of the model,
speed was not considered as an explanatory variable.
Fig. 1 Scatter plot analysis of single carriageway roads
5 MODEL CALIBRATION
Two-third of the total data collected is used for

calibrating the models. Crash frequency expressed
as crashes/km/year is the dependant variable in the
model. Crashes are classified based on severity into
fatal, injury and property damage only crashes (PDO)
and models are developed for predicting crashes of
different severity. Only those explanatory variables
that show significance at the 0.01 level are chosen
for modelling. Multiple linear regression, Poisson,
negative binomial and zero inflated models are the
model forms used. One-third of the data that is not
used for calibration is used for validating the models.
The models are validated by calculating the Prediction
Error Sum of Squares (PRESS) (Montgomery and Peck
2001)[31] statistic for the validation dataset to understand
how well the models perform in predicting new data.
A model with a small value of PRESS is desired. It is
seen that Poisson model is the best model for total crash
rate and for crashes of different severity zero inflated

Poisson models performs better. The models are shown 6 MODEL VALIDATION
in the following equations 3, 4, 5 and 6.
The results of t-test for coefficients in the models are
Poisson Regression Model for Total Crashes given in Table 2. Except for fatal crashes, most of
the variables used in the models are significant at the
Crash rate=exp (-1.415+0.139*CW-0.132*SHW 0.05 level. For total and injury crashes traffic volume
+0.328*SWR-0.108*NB+0.053*MI+0.262*APC+ is the most significant variable. For fatal crashes, only
0.0312*ADT) ...3 carriageway width is significant at 0.1 level. For PDO
crashes, carriageway width is the most significant
Zero Inflated Poisson Model for Fatal Crashes
variable. Summary statistics of the Poisson model for
Fatal crash rate = exp (-0.816 +0.0862* total crashes is shown in Table 3.
CW+0.0417*LU) ...4
Table 2 t-test for significance of coefficients
Zero Inflated Poisson Model for Injury Crashes in the models
T-statistic
Injury crash rate=exp (-0.766+0.0828* CW-0.101* PDO
SHW+0.27SWR-0.103* NB+0.0359* MI +0.0310* Predictor
Total crashes Fatal crashes Injury crashes
(Zero
(Poisson (Zero inflated (Zero inflated
ADT) ...5 inflated
regression) Poisson) Poisson)
Poisson)
Zero Inflated Poisson Model for PDO Crashes Carriageway
4.066 1.875 3.083 5.366
width
Shoulder width -2.066 * -1.953 *
Property damage crash rate = exp (-0.74+0.1836* CW-
Sidewalk type 3.347 * 3.602 *
0.03* NS+0.063* LU+0.0156* ADT ...6 No. of bus stops -1.904 * -2.091 *
No. of minor
Where CW is the carriageway width in meters, SHW 3.750 * 2.281 *
intersections
is the shoulder width in meters, ADT is the Average Pedestrian
4.987 * * *
Daily Traffic in 1000 PCU/day, SWR is the rating for facilities
sidewalk type and condition, NB is the number of bus Traffic volume 5.485 * 7.039 2.776
Land use * 1.517 * 1.981
stops along the roadway, MI is the number of minor
Number of
intersecting roads per kilometre, APC is the presence * * * -2.715
warning signs
or absence of at-grade pedestrian crossing indicated by Note: * indicate insignificant variable
0 and1, LU is the rating given for land use and NS is
the number of desirable warning signs per kilometre. Table 3 Summary statistics of Poisson model
for total crashes
Ratings are given for sidewalks and land use on a five Summary statistic Total crashes (Poisson
point scale as shown in Table 1. regression)
Log likelihood -171.598
Table 1 Ratings for sidewalk and landuse Chi-squared 82.680
Significance level 0.000
Sidewalk type and condition Land use Rating
G - squared 144.468
Best facility with paved sidewalk and
Residential 1
mountable curbs
The statistics like log likelihood, Chi-squared and G –
Paved sidewalk with non mountable
curbs in fair condition
Recreational 2 squared values are compared to find out the best model
Intermediate facility with concrete among the many models for the same data. The log
Industrial 3
slabs in good condition likelihood function is the logarithm of the probability
Intermediate facility with concrete
Institutional 4 of observing the data that has been observed, given the
slabs in poor condition
No sidewalk Commercial 5 parameters of the model. Chi-squared test is done to

check the model fit and it is found to be significant. The CMFs are depicted in the form of graphs as shown
G- squared value is the sum of deviances the model in Figs. 2 to 9. The increasing trend for CMF means
with the lowest value of this statistic is preferred. For that the safety of a midblock is reduced by increasing
fatal, injury, and property damage crashes, the Vuong the value of that design feature and vice versa.
statistic is greater than 1.96 which favours zero inflated
Poisson models over unaltered Poisson models.
7 GENERATION OF CMF
Cross-sectional approach suggested by Hauer

(2002) [2] is used for the development of CMF for various
geometric and traffic control variables of midblocks.
For development of CMF, the predicted crash count for
a base location of typical geometric design and traffic
variables is compared with the crash count after varying
the value of any geometric variable, assuming that the
other variables remain constant. Values as shown in
Table 4 are chosen for the explanatory variables in the Fig. 3 CMF for shoulder width
model to represent a base section. The base values are
standard geometric values taken from the IRC design
guidelines for urban carriageway.
Table 4 Base conditions for AMF development

(IRC: 106 1990, IRC: 86 1983)
Feature Base values
Carriageway width 7 meters
Shoulder width 2 meters
Number of minor intersections 0
Number of bus stops 0
Sidewalk rating 1
Presence of pedestrian crosswalk 0
Land use 1
Average Daily Traffic 7,000 PCU Fig. 4 CMF for minor intersections
Fig. 2 CMF for carriageway width Fig. 5 CMF for number of bus stops

Fig. 6 CMF for pedestrian crosswalk Fig. 9 CMF for traffic volume
10 DISCUSSIONS
The CMFs depict the trend in crash occurrence

with change in the values of geometric variables
or change in road environment and operational
characteristics. From Fig. 2 it is evident that safety of
single carriageway roads decreases with an increase
in carriageway width. This study obtained a CMF of
2.64 for increase in carriageway width from 7 to 14
meters. Lesser carriageway widths limit the overtaking
opportunities and increase in width induces more
overtaking manoeuvres. Lack of physical separation
on single carriageway roads increases the exposure of
overtaking vehicles with vehicles from the opposite
Fig. 7 CMF for sidewalk rating direction. Wider carriage way widths also induce
faster travel speeds and closer following. These may
be causing more crashes with increase in carriageway
width. Though no studies were found that evaluated the
effect of carriageway width on safety, few studies have
evaluated the effect of lane width on safety of rural
roads. For urban roads, Bauer et al. (2004) [32] obtained
a CMF of 1.11 for freeway conversion from 4-lane to
5-lane by narrowing existing lanes and shoulders.
It is observed that increasing shoulder width is beneficial

for safety of single carriageways. CMF obtained for
increase in shoulder width from 0 to 3 meters is 0.90.
Harwood et al. (2003) [24] obtained CMF of 0.90 for
increase in shoulder width from 0.9 to 2.4 meters.
When the number of minor intersections increased from

Fig. 8 CMF for land use 0 to 10, CMF obtained is 1.43. Reducing driveway

density reduces injury and total crashes. Elvik and Vaa Number of bus stops 2
(2004) [25] found that CMF for reducing private driveway Number of minor intersections 4
density from 6 to 15 to less than 6 is 0.75. It is seen that Land use rating 5 (Commercial)
increase in the number of bus stops from 0 to 4 reduces Pedestrian cross walk 0 (Present)
crashes on single carriageways. In Kerala, the absence Average Daily Traffic (PCU) 44,847
of bus bays forces the drivers to stop the buses on the
road. This reduces the speed of the vehicles and gives The procedure for estimating the safety effect of change
limited overtaking opportunities for other vehicles. in geometric design elements is as follows:
It is observed that absence of at grade pedestrian 1. Estimate the expected number of crashes for
crosswalks increased CMF to 1.2. The presence of base conditions Nbase
pedestrian crossing facilities induces gathering of 2. Adjust the value obtained from the base model
pedestrians at a safe location on the roadway before to reflect the existing condition as given by
crossing. This increases their safety in the road equation 7.
environment by making themselves more visible and
Nb = Nbase * CMFc ...7
allowing drivers to lower speeds at locations with
high pedestrian activity. CMF for installing at grade Where, Nb is the expected number of crashes with site
crosswalks at road sections is not yet reported. One condition ‘b’ and CMFc is the combined CMF for all
study by Chen et al. (2012)[33] found that installing high changes from base conditions as shown in equation 8
visibility crosswalksat intersections has a CMF of 0.6.
The present study proves that improvement of sidewalk CMFc= CMF1 * CMF2*…CMFn ...8
condition is beneficial for the safety improvement of
CMF1, CMF2 etc. are the CMF for the changes from
single carriageway roads.
base condition to site condition ‘b’.
When the land use changes from residential to
(3) Specify a design change and identify the
commercial the crash frequency increases. Crashes
corresponding CMF from charts.
also increase with increase in traffic volume. Increase
in exposure increases the chance of conflicts. The (4) Estimate the number of crashes with site
high vehicle exposure in commercial areas compared condition ‘a’ corresponding to the specified
to residential and recreational land uses increases the change by multiplying with corresponding
crash frequency. CMF values to get Na. Compute the percentage
change in crashes as shown in equation 9.
11 PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Percentage change in crashes = (Na-Nb)/
As a practical example, the effect of safety treatment on (Nb)* 100 ...9
an urban arterial passing through Nallalam in Calicut
city is shown. A description of the section is given in Equation 9 can be further simplified as equation 10
Table 5.
Percentage change in crashes = (((CMFc)a/
Table 5 Details of urban arterial road passing (CMFc)b) – 1)*100 ...10
through Nallalam
Here (CMFc) a and (CMFc)b are the combined CMFs
Feature Value
for site condition ‘a’ and ‘b’
Crashes/ year 22
Carriageway width (meters) 11.7
Shoulder width (meters) 4 The result of evaluation after proposing safety treatment
Sidewalk rating 5 (No sidewalk) is given in Table 6.

Table 6 safety treatment evaluation for urban Urban Transport, IIT Madras for funds and support
arterial in nallalam rendered throughout the research work.
Variables Existing CMFb Proposed CMFa %
Condition change change REFERENCES
in
crashes 1. I nternational Road Traffic and Accident Database
Carriageway 11.7 meters 1.92 7.5 meters 1 -47.90 (2013), “Road Safety Annual Report 2013”,
width International transport forum, Organisation for
Shoulder 4 meters 0.77 2 meters 1 Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),
width France.
Sidewalk No side- 3.71 Provide 1.93 -59.94 2. Hauler, E. (2002). “Observational before-after
walk sidewalk Studies in Road Safety”, Pergamon, Oxford.
with concrete
3. Bonneson, J. and Zimmerman, K. (2007), “Procedure
slabs in good
condition
for Rising Accident Modification Factors in the
Highway Design Process”, Report 0-4703-P5, Texas
transportation Institute, Texas.
From the table it is found that reduction in carriageway
width from 11.7 to 7.5 meters brings about 47.90 4. Gross, F., Persaud, B. and Lyon, C. (2010). “A
Guide to Developing Quality Crash Modification
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Srinath, K. (1987), “Scientific identification
12 CONCLUSIONS and Improvement of Accident Prone Locations
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The views expressed in the paper are personal views of the Authors. For any query, the author may be contacted at: E-mail: mvlr@nitc.ac.in

Paper No. 618
Calculation of Time Dependent Losses in

prestressed concrete structure as per IRC: 112
and IRC: 18
T. Viswanathan*
Synopsis
As per IRC: 112, the time dependent losses have to be calculated in a detailed manner. The procedure is not familiar to Design Engineers. This article lays
down, the detailed method of calculation for arriving at the losses using IRC: 112. In addition the losses have also been calculated using IRC: 18. At the
end comparison has been made between the codes for losses and also for the total time dependent losses and proved both the codes lead to same result for
50% RH only. This article will familiarize the Engineers with the procedure for the calculation of time dependent losses using IRC: 112.
1. INTRODUCTION
In prestressed concrete, estimation of losses plays vital

role in arriving at the residual prestress. Total losses can
be divided into immediate losses, and time dependent
losses. The time dependent losses consist of relaxation
of steel, shrinkage loss and creep loss. IRC: 112 has
changed the method of calculation for shrinkage and
creep losses. For calculating the relaxation loss beyond
1000 hr and upto 30 years, formula has been given in Cross – Section of Beam
Annexure A2. For calculating shrinkage loss, drying
(a) Table 1 Properties of Section
shrinkage and autogenous shrinkage both have to be
taken care. Creep coefficients are given depending
Properties of Area m2 yt in m ybin m I in m4 Ztgm3 Zbgm3 Ztsm3
upon the age of loading and relative humidity. Thus
the changes will involve different procedure for Precast 0.496 0.590 0.510 0.066 0.1114 0.1288 -
Beam
computation of losses which were earlier carried out by
using IRC: 18. In order to familiarize the Engineers with Composite 0.940 0.464 0.836 0.179 0.6756 0.2137 0.38
Beam
this new concept, an example showing the calculation of
losses is presented both by using IRC: 112 and IRC: 18
b) Cable details:
and a comparison is also made and commented.
Cable No.1 and 2:12-T13 (Second stage cables)
2 Data for calculation of losses
and Cable No.3 10-T-13 (First stage cable).
PSC girder in M45 grade and deck slab in M40 grade c) Stressing and Casting Schedule:
shown below provided with 3 cables. Loss calculations
need to be carried out. Cable No. 3 Stressed on 7 days Cable No.1,2
* Director – Aarvee Associates. E-mail: tvish123@hotmail.com


Calculation of Time Dependent Losses in prestressed concrete structure as per IRC: 112 and IRC: 18 147
Stressed on 28 days Girder placed on bearing Loss between 45 days and 70 days = (2.65 – 2.45) = 0.20%.
35 days Deck slab cast on 45 days Crash
Barrier erection by 70 days Wearing coat to be Loss on 90 days Effective hours = 1992 hrs.
completed by 90 days
d) Bending Moments:
Due to self-weight = 62 tm
Loss between 70 days to 90 days = 2.76 – 2.65 = 0.11 %
Due to deck slab = 62.4 tm
Due to crash barrier = 24.8 tm Loss between 90 days to α Refer clause 6.3.6.
Due to wearing coat = 19.55 tm
Long term loss is 3 times of 2.5 = 7.5%.
e) Prestressing Details:
Loss between 90 days to
Jacking force for cable 1 and 2 = 175t Jacking
force for cable 3 = 146t Prestressing force at Table 2 Relaxation Loss on 1st Stage Cable
center after friction and slip loss in cable 1
and 2 is 157t Prestressing force at center after Loss between 7 days and 28 days = 2.25%
Loss between 28 days and 45 days = 0.20%
friction and slip in cable 3 is 131t
Loss between 45 days and 70 day = 0.20%
3 Loss of Prestress due to Loss between 70 days and 90 days = 0.11%
Relaxation Loss between 90 days and ∝
= 4.74%
Referring to clause 7.9.2 (1) and figure 6.3 of IRC: 112 Total Loss (Check) = 7.50%
the maximum Jacking force shall be 0.87 x 0.9 = 0.78
fp. Taking average stress to be 95% of above value and This check step shall be carried out to see whether it
taking 5% loss due to elastic shortening, the average works out to be 3 times of 1000 hr value or not.
stress in the cables after anchorage will be 0.78 x 0.95 x
0.95 = 0.70 fp. As per table 6.2 of IRC: 112, the relaxation b) Relaxation Loss on stage 2 cable.
loss for 0.7 fp for low relaxation steel is 2.5%.
Similarly proceeding for 2nd stage cables.
a) Relaxation loss on stage 1 cable Stressed on 7 Second stage cables are stressed on 28 days.
days On 28 days: Loss between 7 days and 28 Loss between 45 days and 28th day. Effective
days shall be accounted. Effective days after hours 408.= 87% loss takes place. Loss will be
prestress applied is 28-7=21 days. Total no. of 0.87 x 2.5 = 2.18% Loss on 70 days. Hours
hours: (28-7) x 24 = 504 hrs. As per Table 6 between 70 days and 28 days = 1008 hrs. Taking
for 500 hrs loss will be 90 % of 1000 hrs loss. it as 1000 hrs, loss will be 2.5%. Loss between
Loss up to this stage is = 0.9 x 2.5 = 2.25% 70 days and 45 days will be 2.5 – 2.18 = 0.32%.
Loss between 7 days and 45 days, Total no. Loss on 90 days. Effective hours = 1488.
of effectivehrs = 912% of loss = 98%. Hence
loss will 0.98 x 2.5 = 2.45%. Loss between 28 Loss =
days to 45 days = (2.45-2.25) = 0.20%. Loss
on 70 days. Effective hours = 1512 hrs. As Loss between = 70 days and 90 days 2.65-2.50
it has exceeded 1000 hrs. Refer clause A2.11 = 0.15% Loss up to α = 7.5% Loss between 90
equation A2-38. days and α = 7.5 – 2.65 = 4.85%
1512 0.143
P 1512=2.5 1000 P =2.65% Summarization the losses on 2nd Stage cable.

148 Viswanathan on
Table 3 Relaxation Loss on Stage 2 cables Autogenous shrinkage strain

. The strain is computed for all the
Loss between 28 days and 48 days = 2.18% time intervals and shown in the table.
Loss between 45 days and 70 days = 0.32%
Loss between 70 days and 90 days = 0.15% Table 4 Autogenous Shrinkage Strain
Loss between 90 days and ∝ = 4.85%
Shrink- Part of Part of Part of shrinkage Autogenous shrinkage
Total (check) = 7.5% age on Shrink- Remain- occurred in between strain during the interval
days age ing the days affecting the = part of shrinkage
shrink- structure during the strain occurred during
occurred age interval interval x shrinkage
4 Shrinkage strain calculation strain
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

4.1 Autogenous Shrinkage
7 0.41 0.59 -
Clause 6.4.2.6 of code shall be referred to. Code
28 0.65 0.35 0.24
describes two kinds of shrinkage strains to be calculated
and added to get the total shrinkage strain.
45 0.74 0.26 0.09
70 0.81 0.19 0.07
90 0.85 0.15 0.04
∝ 1.0 0 0.15
Total 0.59
Autogenous shrinkage is defined as with drawal of
water from the capillary pores by hydration of un-
Cross check: Sum total of column 4 shall match
hydrated cement leading to volume change. In simple
with the 1st figure of column (3). Second check
terms loss of water due to hydration of cement. Table
0.59 X 65 X 106 = 38.35 X 106 should much with sum
No 6.6 of code gives strain at α
total of column no. 5.
The shrinkage strain that has already occurred upto the
4.2 Drying Shrinkage
time considered has been given by the equation 6.12
and 6.13 of code. vaporation of water from the concrete stored in
E
unsaturated air leading to volume changes is defined as
drying shrinkage. For calculation of drying shrinkage
is occurred strain at a given point of time. Balance clause 6.4.2.6 (4) and (6) shall be referred to.
strain which will affect the structure will be
Calculation of
substituting for the remaining
strain is
u is the perimeter of that part of the cross section which
is exposed to drying. Top of deck slab will be covered by
The coefficients given in the table have been multiplied wearing coat hence bottom of deck slab only considered.
by 106. Hence it has to be divided by 106 to get the Perimeter = 1.9 + 2 (0.110+0.230+0.550+
actual values. 0.235+0.250+0.350) = 5.35m,
Referring to table 6.6 for M45 grade concrete

kh works out to 0.7375 or 0.74. Consider it as 0.75 for Table 6 Total Shrinkage Strain
easy calculation.
Between Autogenous Drying Total Strain as
The unrestrained drying shrinkage value as given days Strain Shrinkage Strain per IRC:18
in table No. 6.8 relates to Relative Humidity (RH)
percentage. IRC: 18 did not relate it to RH. Assuming
RH as 50% and instead of M45 considering it as M50
the value of strain = 420 x 106 . For M45 strain = 443 x
106. Slight change and can be disregarded.
Assuming curing has been for 5 days, the ts value in

equation 6.15 shall be taken as 5 days.
Thus it can be seen that both codes give same value

at the ∝. Moreover when age of concrete is 7 days the
Drying shrinkage strain at
residual shrinkage strain left is as per IRC: 18
is same as given by IRC: 112.
5 Calculation of Creep Co-efficient
Table 5 Drying Shrinkage Strain
Shrink- Number Shrink-age Remaining Shrinkage Clause 6.4.2.7 or Annexure A2-5 may be referred, to
age of days strain occurred Shrinkage strain strain during arrive at creep coefficients.
strain after the interval
on day curing
ended he final creep coefficient given in table 6.9 can also
T
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) be arrived by using Annexure A2-5. Creep coefficient
5 0 0 - arrived by using A2-5 will always workout lesser than
7 2 the values shown in the table. The reason for this is
explained below.
28 23
45 40 he tabular value shown corresponds to M45 grade
T
concrete and without using reduction coefficient
70 65
given α1 and α2 in A2-17 which amounts to using
90 85
0 equation A2-16. Moreover the values of strain shown
in the table for 50% RH are wrongly printed. 28
Total Strain
days value should appear against 7 days and 90 days
should appear against 28 days and for 90 days value
Check: The remaining strain when first prestressing was
the value will be 2.4, 1.9 and 1.6. It will be proved also
carried out on 7th is and the total strain
both values will work out same by using the above
shown should match. Strain that has occurred between 5
modifications and working out as per Annexure A2.
days and 7 days
for the structure and this total strain
should match with figure.
4.3 Total Shrinkage Strain

The Autogenous shrinkage and drying shrinkage has to
For loading on 7
be combined to get the total strain.
days

150 Viswanathan on
For loading on 7 days . From loading on 7 days the coefficient will work out between
3.1 (corrected) and 2.6 (corrected). Similarly for other
the table . More or
ages of loading. Hence Designers are advised to go
less the values are same. For any grade higher than
by the Annexure rather than using the tabular values.
M45 using the tabulation value will be conservative
and lead to higher losses.
nly grade of concrete for which slight under

O

estimation of coefficient may be expected is for M35
when the tabulation value is used as M35 grade is the For loading on 7 days effect on other 28, 45, 70, 90
starting grade for prestressed concrete. Now reverting and days.
back to our problem. Refer Equation A2-5
Creep Coefficient on 7 days = 0
Creep Coefficient on 28 days =
Creep Coefficient on ∝ days =

imilarly values will obtained for loading on 28 days,
S
45 days, 70 days, 90 days and effect on relevant days
shall be found out and the following table may be
constructed.
Table 7 Creep Coefficient

Creep Coefficients
Age of Effects on
Creep coefficient
Concrete 7 28 45 70 90
at
at loading days days days days days
7 2.46 0 0.83 0.99 1.14 1.23 2.46
28 1.89 0 0 0.60 0.78 0.87 1.89
45 1.73 0 0 0 0.62 0.73 1.73
ges of loading are 7 days, 28 days, 45 days, 70 days,
A 70 1.59 0 0 0 0 0.53 1.59
and 90 days.Weneed to Estimate the for these 90 1.51 0 0 0 0 0 1.51
days. Construction of this table is a must for the creep analysis.
omparison of Creep Coefficients with IRC: 18 for
C
or loading on 7 days
F selective days.
similarly for 28 days 0.488, for 45 days 0.446, for 70
days 0.410 and for 90 days 0.390. Basic for loading Table 8 Creep Strain Computation as per IRC: 112
on 7 days = 3.87 x .6346 = 2.455
Days Maturity E in N/mm2 Strain for 10 MPa
Similarly for loading on 28 days = 1.890, For 45 (1) (2) (3) (4)
days 1.726 and 70 days = 1.586 and 90 days 1.510.
7 70 3 x 104
If we look at the table for 50% RH and

between the interval and also residual strain is more than

28 100 IRC: 18, the creep loss will work out to be more
than IRC: 18 when calculations are performed using
90 115 IRC: 112 for other thickness and also for 50% RH.
Table 9 Creep Coefficients from IRC: 112 for 70 years he residual strain between intervals are much higher
T
when 50% RH is encountered. However when time
50% RH 80% RH
Age at dependent losses are increased, by 20% as per IRC:18
Loading it will cover for the nominal thickness of members
50 mm 150 mm 600 mm 50 mm 150 mm 600 mm
7 3.9 3.1 2.6 2.6 2.3 2.0 both 150 mm, and 600 mm for 80% RH. The 50 mm
28 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.9 1.7 1.5 thickness may not be a practical case. Coefficients for
90 2.4 1.9 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.20 50% RH they will still be deficient in creep and 20%
enhancement will not cover the creep strains indicated
he values given in the table are corrected values for
T in IRC: 112.
50% RH as printing errors have been noticed.
6 alculation of Losses for Mid-
C
Table 10 Computation of Creep Strain as Per Span Section
IRC: 112 for 50% RH and Strain as Per IRC: 18
Cable stressed on 7th day having a prestressing force of
50% RH Strain as 131t located at 0.113 m from bottom of girder.
Days per IRC: Prestressing effect
18
50 mm 150 mm 600 mm
7
Tensile stress due to self-weight of girder
28
90
Compressive stress around cable = 577.41-373.49
Table 11 Computation of Creep Strain as Per =203.92 t /m2 Modular Ratio = 5.73 E of cable 1.95 x
IRC: 112 for 80% RH and Strain as Per IRC: 18 1.95 x 106 kg/cm2 Area of one strand = 98.7 mm2
50% RH A. Losses between 7 days and 28 days:

Strain as
Days per IRC: a) Loss due to Relaxation
18
50 mm 150 mm 600 mm
7 b) Loss due to Shrinkage

28
c) C
reep Loss = Load applied on 7 days effect on 28
90 days (0.83-0) x 203.92x 5.73 x 9.87 x 10-4= 0.97t
Losses on 1st stage cable = 2.95 + 0.74 + 0.97 = 4.66t
It can be easily seen that IRC: 18 values are nearly
matching for RH 80% and for nominal thickness
600 m. If a structure falls within these parameters
the creep loss will be same. As the strain difference At the end of 28 days net prestressing force

152 Viswanathan on
= 131 – 4.66 = 126.34t Stress in concrete due to stage cable) Refer table = 0.6 x 1343 x 5.73
1st stage cable stressing and self-weight of girder = x 9.87 x 10-4 = 4.56t Total Losses on Stage 1
577.41 (1-.0356) – 373.49 = 183.36 t/m2 cable from 28 days to 45 days = 13.0t

B. Losses between 28 days and 45 days before
casting of the deck slab Net force at the end of 45 days 126.34 - 13.0 = 113.34t
Stress in concrete due to 1st stage cable and self-
ffect of 2nd stage cable stressing Total Force 314t,
E weight
Stress at 1st stage cable

Elastic shortening loss =

(2) Losses on 2nd stage cable:
a) Elastic shortening loss

orce after Elastic shortening loss 314-9.4= 304.6t
F
After elastic shortening loss, stress in concrete due
to second stage cable
b) Loss due to relaxation
stressing =
Elastic shortening loss on 1st stage cable

c) Loss due to shrinkage = 1.03t

Balance Prestress after Elastic shortening loss ratio of areas of cable which is = 2.40
1126.34 - 7.60 =118.74t This will give a stress of d) C

reep Loss =4.56 x 2.4 = 10.94t Total losses on
2nd stage cable between 28 and 45 days = 28.01t
elf-weight effect = 373.49 t/m2 Stress in concrete =

S Net force at the end of 45 days = 314-28.0 = 286.0t
523.37 – 373.49 = 148.88 t/m2 Stress in concrete 2nd stage due to prestressing force
(1) Losses on 1st stage cables = = 1260.6 t/m2
a) Elastic shortening loss = 7.60t Effect of Casting of deck slab

b) Loss due to Relaxation
C. Losses between 45 days and 70 days after

c) Loss due to Shrinkage= casting of slab

(1) Losses on 1st Stage cable
d) Creep losses due to prestress applied on 7 days. a) Loss due to relaxation =
Refer table for creep coefficient (0.99-0.83) x
b) Loss due to shrinkage
148.88 x 5.73 x 9.87 x 10-4 = 0.13t Creep loss
due to prestress applied on 28 days (second

c) Creep loss due to 1st stage cable stressing (1) Losses on stage 1 cable.
effect=
a) Loss due to relaxation =
nd
d) Creep loss due to 2 stage cable stressing effect
= b) Loss due to Shrinkage
e) Gain in prestress due to deck slab casting =

c) Loss due to creep =
otal Losses on 1st stage cable between 45 days and 70
T

days = 0.80t
Losses due to creep due to 2nd stage cable stressing
Net force at the end of 70 days = 113.34 – 0.80
= 112.54t (0.87 - 0.78) x 1252 x 5.73 x 9.87 x 10-4 = 0.65t
Assuming losses taking place on precast section for d) Gain in prestress due to deck slab casting
this period. Thiswill not make much of change.
(0.73 - 0.62) x 375.90 x 5.73 x 9.87 x 10-4 =(-)0.23t
st
Stress in concrete due to 1 stage cable and self-weight
e) Gain in prestress due to crash barrier casting.
(2) Losses on 2nd stage cable Stress in concrete =
a) Loss due to relaxation =

b) L
oss due to shrinkage = = otal losseson 1st stage cable between 70 days and
T
1.17t 90 days = 0.65t
c) L
oss due to creep = (0.78-0.60) x 1260 x 6 x 5.73
x 1184 x 104 x 2 = 3.08t et force in the 1st stage at the end of 90 days =cable
N
112.54 – 0.65= 111.89t
d) G
ain in prestress due to deck slab casting = 1.32
x 2.4 = (–) 3.17t Stress in concrete due to 1st stage cable and self-
Total losses on 2nd stage cable from 45 days to weight
70 days = 2.0t % Loss = (2) Losses on Stage 2 cable. = 122.54-.69-1.90

Net prestressing force at the end of 70 days a) Loss due to relaxation
286-2.0 = 284.0t b) Loss due to shrinkage 2 x 0.33 x 2.4 = 0.80t
Concrete stress around cable due to 2nd stage oss due to creep (0.87-0.78) x 1252 x 5.73 x
c) L
11.84 x10-4 x 2 = 1.53t
cable stressing d) G
ain in prestress due to casting of deck slab
(0.73-0.62) x 375.90 x 5.73 x 11.84 x 10-4 x
D. Losses between 70 days and 90 days.
2 = (-) 0.56t
Assume full load of crash barrier on 70th day e) Gain in prestress due to crash barrier casting

154 Viswanathan on
2.4 x 0.3 = (-)0.72t Losses on 2nd stage cable and x =14.73t

between 70 days and 90 days = 1.49t
% Loss =
% Loss
Net Force
Net Force in 2nd stage cable at the end of 90 days
= 284 – 1.49 = 282.51t
Stress in concrete = 119.95
nd
Stress in concrete due to 2 stage cable
=
=

E. Losses between 90 days to µ Losses in 2nd Stage cable
Wearing coat completed by 90th day. a) Relaxation = 13.70t
It’s effect at cable location = b) Shrinkage =4.80 x 2.40 = 11.52t
(1) Losses in stage 1 cable c) Creep loss 7.20 x 2.4= 17.28t
a) Loss due to relaxation d) G
ain in prestress due to Deck slab
2.4 x 2.12= (-) 5.09t
b) Loss due to shrinkage = 2.47.82 x 10-6 x
9.78/103=4.80t e) G
ain in prestress due to crash barrier casting
2.4 x 0.6 = (-)1.44t
c) Creep loss on 1st stage cable due to 1st stage
prestress f) G
ain in prestress due to wearing cast casting
2.4 x 0.68 = (-)1.63t

Total Loss = 34.34t
Creep loss due to 2nd stage cable stressing
% Loss =

Net force at the end of µ
d) Increase in prestress due to casting of deck
slab =282.51 - 34.34 = 248.17t
Stress in concrete
e) Increase in prestress due to crash barrier

casting
s the losses due to creep will change due to
A
reduction in compressive stress after µ, one cycle of
iteration will be carried out using average concrete
f) Increase in prestress due to wearing coat stress during 90 days to µ period. This is not done
casting. for other cycles because of low creep loss.
Effect on 1st stage cable
Total losses on 1st stage cable between 90 days Creep loss on 1st stage cable due to 1st stage prestress:

and upto 1000 hr value are same as given in

IRC: 18. The table and 3 times of 1000 hr
value recommendation given in IRC: 18 has
(Not much of reduction)
also been retained in IRC: 112.
Creep loss in 2nd stage cable due to 2nd stage
prestress 2) Shrinkage and creep coefficients will be used
as given in IRC: 18.
(Not much of reduction) 3) Creep Strain: Maturity has been worked

based on Guyan’s formula. On 7 days – 69%,
Total creep loss = 7.4t 28 days – 100%, 45 days – 107%, 70 days –
Other losses excluding creep loss= 6.7t 111% and 90 days – 114%.
Total Losses = 14.1t (Not match of change) (A) Losses between 7 days and 28 days for cable
of 1st stage:
=
(1) Losses on 1st stage cable
At the end of days prestressing force
= 111.89 – 14.1 = 97.79t a. Relaxation Loss as before = 2.95t
% of Total force remaining = b. Shrinkage Loss
Loss in cable = 25%
Creep loss 2nd stage cable: will be 6.8 x 2.4= 16.32t c. Creep Loss =
Total losses =34.34 (-17.28-16.32)= 33.38t
% Loss = Total Loss between 7 days and 28 days = 6.84t
At the end of µ days prestressing force % Loss =
= 282.51 – 33.38 = 249.13t At the end of 28 days prestressing force

% of Total force =
= 131 – 6.84 = 124.16t
Loss in cable= 20.7%
Stress in concrete
Total prestressing force at the end of µ
= 97.79 + 249.13 = 346.92t

(B) Losses between 28 days and 45 days before
% Total force =
casting of deck slab
22% Loss for the combined system. Stressing of 2nd stage cable, effect on 1st stage cable.
6 Calculation of Losses as per Elastic shortening loss (See below) = 7.60t
IRC: 18 – 2000
Net force = 124.16-7.60 = 116.56t This force will
1) Relaxation loss: The value worked out by
give stress of
IRC: 112 shall be retained as ultimate %

156 Viswanathan on
After accounting for self-weight stress in concrete otal stress due to first and second stage and cables
T
and self-weight
= 512.44 - 373.49 =
Effect of casting deck slab = 375.90
(1) Losses in 1st stage cable:
Net stress = 1437.7-375.90 = 1061.8
a. Elastic shorteningless due to stressing of 2nd stage
cable 1343 x 5.73 x 9.87 x 10-4 = 7.60t Total prestressing force at the end of 45 days
b. Relaxation Loss =11. = 115.31 + 295.54 = 410t
hrinkage loss = 1.9-1.79) x10-4x1.95 x 106x

c. S (C) Losses between 45 days and 70 days after
9.87
3
=0.210t casting of slab
10
d. Creep loss = 0.80t (1) In 1st stage cable
otal loss on 1st stage cable between 28 and 45 dyas=

T a. Loss due to relaxation of 1st stage cable
8.85t
et prestressing force at the end of 45 days 124.16

N
– 8.85 = 115.31t b. Loss due to shrinkage
Stress in concrete
c. Creep loss
(2) Losses in 2nd Stage Cable: = 0.24t
a. Elastic shortening loss = otal Loss on 1st stage cable between 45 and 70 days
T
= 0.77t
% Loss =
b. Relaxation loss
Stress in concrete =
c. Shrinkage loss = 0.21 x 2.4 (Raito of area of

cable) = 0.50t Net Prestressing force at the end of 45 days
d. Creep loss =0.8 x 2.4 = 1.92t
otal Loss on 2nd stage cable between 28 and 45 days

T (2) Losses in 2nd Stage cable
= 18.46T
a. Losses due to relaxation loss =
et prestressingforce at the end of 45 days
N
= 314 - 18.46 =295.54t b. Losses due to shrinkage = 2.4 x 0.3 = 0.72t
Concrete Stress = c. Creep loss = 2.4 x 02.4 = 0.58t

otal loss on 2nd stage cable between 45 and 70 days

T % Loss =
= 2.25t
et prestressing force at the end of 90 days
N
Net force 295.54 - 2.25 = 293.29t = 293.29 - 1.76 = 291.53t
Stress = Concrete Stress =
Crash barrier effect = 100.40 t/m2 Wearing coat effect = 79.14 t/m2
Total force = 114.50 + 293.29 = 407.79t Concrete stress at the end of 90 days = 12.897 +
1285.68 - 375.90-100.40 - 79.14 = 859 t/m2
tress in concrete = 131.66 + 1292.70 -100.40-375.
S
90 =948 t/m2 Net prestressing force at the end of 90 days
(D) Losses between 70 to 90 days: (On 90 days = 113.82 + 291.53 = 405.35t

wearing coat cost)
(E) Losses between 90 days to µ:
(1) Losses in 1st stage cable
(1) Losses in 1st stage cable
a. Losses in 1st cable due to relaxation
a. Relaxation =
b. Shrinkage loss =
b. Loss due to shrinkage
Creep loss =
c. Creep loss = Total loss on 1st stage cable between 90 days and
µ
st
otal Loss on 1 stage cable between 70 and 90 days
T
= 0.675t et prestressing force at the end of µ: =113.82 -
N
14.0 = 99.82t
Loss %
Stress in concrete =
et prestressing force at the end of 90 days = 114.50
N
– 0.68 = 113.82t =
Stress = 131.666 - 0.718 - 1.97 = 128.97t/m2 (2) Losses in 2nd stage cable:
(2) Losses in 2nd stage cable: a. Relaxation loss =
a. Relaxation = b. Shrinkage loss = 2.88 x 2.40 = 6.91t
b. Shrinkage loss = 2.4 x .025 = 0.60t c. Creep loss = 5.68 x 2.4 = 13.63t
c. Creep loss = 2.4 x .0.3= 0.72t Total loss in 2nd stage cable between 90 days and
µ= 34.67t
Total loss = 1.76t

158 Viswanathan on
% Loss = Final force on 1st stage cable = 100.52-4.69 = 95.83t

% of force remaining =
Net prestressing force at the end of µ
Total loss in percentage = 26.8
Final force on 2nd stage cable = 258.42 – 9.20
= 249.22t
Concrete Stress =
% of force remaining =
Total loss in percentage = 20.64

Total stress including all effects = 73.10 + 1147.35 -
Total prestressing force= 95.83+249.22= 345.05t
375.90 - 100.40 - 79.17 = 665t/m2 Carrying out one
round of iteration for creep loss Percentage of total prestressing force available
345.05
Average stress = = x 100 = 77.52%
445
Revised creep loss: on stage 1 cable = = 5.03t Total loss in percentage = 22.46%
Revised Total loss = 13.95 - 5.68 + 5.03 = 13.30t Table 12 Summary of Losses 1st Stage Cable
Net 1st stage cable force at µ = 113.82 – 13.30 = Description of

Losses as
% of
Losses as
per IRC: per IRC: % Loss
100.52t Losses Loss
112 18
A Losses from 7 -
% of find force remaining =
days to 28 days
a) Elastic shorten- -
Revised creep loss on 2nd stage cable
ing
b) Relaxation 2.95 2.95
= 2.4 x 5.03 =12.072t
c) Shrinkage 0.74 3.07
Revised Total loss 34.67 - 13.63 + 12.072 = 33.11t d) Creep 0.97 0.82
Net 2nd stage cable at µ = 291.53 – 33.11 = 258.42t Total Loss 4.66 3.56% 6.84 5.22
B. Losses from 28
% of total force remaining = = 82.29% days to 45 days
a) Elastic shortening 7.60 7.60
Considering 20% extra time dependent loss: On 1st b) Relaxation 0.24 0.23
stage cable time dependent losses c) Shrinkage 0.43 0.210.
d) Creep 4.69 0.80
=(2.95+3.07+0.824+0.23+0.210+0.80+0.23+0.30+0.2 Total Loss 13.0 10% 8.85 6.75
C. Losses from 45
4+0.125+0.25+0.30+5.39+2.88+5.03) x 1.20 = 27.39t days to 70 days
a) Relaxation 0.226 0.23
On 2nd stage cable time dependent losses (6.64+0.5+
b) Shrinkage 0.48 0.30
1.92+0.94+0.72+0.58+0.440+0.6+0.72+14.13+6.91 c) Creep 1.387 0.24
+12.072)1.20=55.40t d) Gain in Prestress -1.32 -
due to casting of
Additional loss on 1st stage cable 27.39 – 22.70 = 4.69t slab
Total Loss 0.80 0.61% 0.77 0.59
Addition loss on 2nd stage cable at = 55.4 – 46.20 = 9.20t

D. Losses from 70 C. Losses from 70

days to 90 days days to 90 days
a) Relaxation 0.123 0.125 a) Relaxation 0.44 0.44
b) Shrinkage 0.330 0.25 b) Shrinkage 0.80 0.60
c) Creep 0.710 0.30 c) Creep 1.53 0.72
d) Gain in Prestress -1.28 -
d) Gain in Prestress -0.53 -
due to cast of
due to deck slab
deck slab and
and crash barrier
crash barrier
casting Total Loss 1.49 0.47 1.76 0.56
Total Loss 0.65 0.50% 0.675 0.51 D. Losses from 90
E. Losses from 90
days to days
days to days a) Relaxation 13.70 14.13
a) Relaxation 5.30 5.39 b) Shrinkage 11.52 6.91
b) Shrinkage 4.80 2.88 c) Creep 16.32 12.07
c) Creep 7.40 5.03 d) Gain in Prestress -8.16 -
d) Gain in Prestress -3.40 - due to all dead
due to all dead load loads
Total Loss 14.10 10.76% 13.30 10.15 Total Loss 33.38 10.63% 33.11 10.54
Total Loss upto 33.21 25.43% 30.435 23.22% Total Loss upto µ 64.88 20.66 55.57 17.683
Net Prestressing 97.79 74.6% 100.0565 Net force at µ 249.12 79.3 258.43 82.3
76.7%
force Additional 20%
Additional - - 4.70 time dependent - - 9.20t -
20% time loss
dependent loss - - Total Loss upto µ - - 64.78 20.63
Total Loss upto 35.14 26.8% Net force upto µ - - 249.22 79.37
Net Force upto 95.85 73.16%
Table 14 Summary of Prestressing force and Losses
Table 13 Summary of Losses on 2nd Stage Cable S. Items Prestress % Loss / Pre- % of
No. Force/ % Force stressing force /
Description of Losses as % of Losses as % Loss
Losses as per force / loss
Losses per IRC: Loss per IRC:
as per IRC: 112 loss as per
112 18
A. Losses from 28 IRC: 112 as per IRC:
days to 45 days IRC: 18 18
1. Total loss in both 98.09 22.0 99.92 22.45
a) Elastic shortening 9.40 9.40
cables
b) Relaxation 6.64 6.64 2. Total force in 346.91 345.07
c) Shrinkage 1.03 0.50 both cables
d) Creep 10.94 1.92 Total force in % 78 77.5
Total Loss 28.01 8.91 18.46 5.87
B. Losses from 45
days to 70 days Time dependent losses as per IRC: 112= 98.09 – 17.0 =
a) Relaxation 0.92 0.94 81.09t
b) Shrinkage 1.17 0.72
Time dependent losses as per IRC: 18= 99.92 – 17.0 =
c) Creep 3.08 0.58
82.92t
d) Gain in Prestress (-)3.17 -
due to casting of
ES loss = 17.0t
slab % Loss = 18.22 (IRC: 112)
Total Loss 2.0t 0.64 2.24 0.713 % Loss = 18.63 (IRC: 18)

160 Viswanathan on
7 Conclusi ons worked out based on 50% RH the shrinkage loss has
remained same. For higher RH the shrinkage strain has
The calculation of time dependent losses is a complicated to be lower.
process but once if it is practiced it will become easier.
Now each time dependent loss will be commented in As IRC: 18 had not differentiated between RH’s. The
detail. coefficients, shown appears to be based on 50% RH and
the loss will work out more in case of 80% RH as 50%
a) Relaxation Loss: RH coefficient is being followed.
The 1000 hr loss values given in IRC: 18 and IRC: 112 c) Creep Loss:
are same and also 3 times of 1000 hr value to be taken
at is also same. However if one is interested to get The creep coefficients given in IRC: 112 takes in to
relaxation value beyond 1000 hr, the formula given in account the RH, member thickness and age of loading.
the annexure can be used and estimated, keeping the To find out the creep coefficients, preparation of table as
value as 3 times of 1000 hr value. Both codes will lead to indicated in the article is a must. Detailed procedure is
the same result as far as Relaxation loss is concerned. required, to prepare the table as indicated in this article.
Further use of this table and arrive at creep loss requires
b) Shrinkage Loss: skill. In order to familiarize the Engineers the worked
out example gives, the procedure to arrive at the creep
IRC: 112 is more scientific. It relates to member
losses. If creep factors are arrived using annexure A2
thickness relative humidity and grade of concrete. At
there will be reduction in creep coefficients.
higher RH the shrinkage loss will be less and lower RH
shrinkage loss will be high. More over the code covers The strain given in IRC: 18, does not take into account
two types of shrinkages viz Autogenous shrinkage and the RH, the notational thickness. As proved earlier Creep
Drying shrinkage. strain given by IRC: 18 will generally be lower and
with 20% enhancement of time dependent losses will
Whereas IRC: 18 gives only one value for all RH.
cover 80% RH both for 150 mm and 600 mm notional
Moreover as per IRC: 18 strain at initial stage is higher
thickness of members which are practical ranges of
and residual strain islower as shown in the worked
notional thickness, whereas for 50% RH, the creep loss
out example. The strain as per IRC: 112 is opposite.
gets under estimated when IRC: 18 is used for the same
However the total strain appears to be same for 50%
range of thickness.
RH, when 20% higher losses are considered. This will
be explained in detail. Let us assume the curing is d) Total Loss:
stopped after 3 days. The shrinkage strain left is 4.3 x
10-4 as per IRC: 18, when multiplied by 1.20 the ultimate In the worked out example it can be seen after enhancing
shrinkage will be 4.3 x 10-4 x 1.2 = 5.16 x 10-4. the time dependent losses by 20%, the time dependent
losses worked out by IRC: 18 match with the loses
Prestressed concrete uses generally M50 grade. As per worked out by IRC: 112. Though it cannot be concluded
IRC: 112, Autogenous shrinkage strain is 75 x 10-6. by taking one example, further examples may reveal
Drying shrinkage strain for M50 grade concrete and for the closeness of results. IRC: 18 cover estimates the
50% RH is 420 X 10-6 and for 80% RH is 240 x 10-6. shrinkage loss and under stimates the creep loss which
Thus the total shrinkage strain for 50% RH is 4.95 X leads to sort of balancing act with the result both the
10-4 and for 80% RH is 3.15 x 10-4 . Thus it can be codes give same value for 50% RH. For 80% RH; IRC:
seen that as per IRC: 18 (when enhanced by 20%) and 112 should give lesser losses when compared with IRC:
as per IRC: 112 shrinkage strain from both codes will 18 as shrinkage strain and creep strain bothare lower for
match for 50% RH. For 80% RH, IRC: 18 would over 600 mm notional thickness and more or less same for
estimate the shrinkage strains. As the problem has been 150 mm thickness.

8 Recommendation References
Designers can follow the above out lined procedure and 1. Code of Practice for Concrete Bridges –
are advised to use the equations in given Annexure A2 IRC: 112: 2011.
for arriving at the creep coefficients for getting greater 2. Design Criteria for Prestressed Concrete Road
accuracy and saving, instead of using the table in order Bridges – IRC: 18 : 2000.
to reduce the time dependent creep loss. Appears both
codes may lead to same result. However IRC: 112 takes 3. Fib Modal Code: 2010.
into account lot of parameters for prescribing the strain
4. CEB-FIP Model code : 1990
coefficients.
The views expressed in the paper are personal views of the Authors. For any query, the author may be contacted at: E-mail: tvish123@hotmail.com

Paper No. 619
AN INNOVATIVE AND OUT OF BOX APPROACH FOR MITIGATION

OF PERMANENT TROUBLE SPOT IN THE FORM OF A CUT &
COVER STRUCTURE ACROSS AN ACTIVE LANDSLIDE AT
SONAPUR IN NORTH-EAST INDIA ON NH-44 AT SONAPUR
IN THE STATE OF MEGHALAYA : A CASE STUDY
S.S. Porwal VSM* and A.K. Dey**
SYNOPSIS
Landslide at Sonapur (latitude 2506’30” N and longitude 92021’ 51”) in the state of Meghalaya in North-East part of India became active in 1988 after
Cachar earthquake in 1987. Since then the landslide was a regular phenomenon during monsoon period and the road communication of the southern part
to the mainland used to be cut off completely affecting Miazoram, Tripura, part of Assam and Manipur affecting 16 Million population. The only way to
tackle the problem was to remove the debris by deploying bulldozers. An innovative approach in the form of a cut and cover tunnel through the slide prone
area was tried for the first time in India to find a permanent solution of the problem. This paper deals with the design methodology and problems associated
with the construction of the tunnel and it performance for last five years.
1 INTRODUCTION in 1988 after 1987 Cachar earthquake. Since then the

road gets blocked every year during monsoon period
The state of Meghalaya is situated in the north due to heavy flow of muck. The flow is so rapid that it
eastern region of India. This region is difficult for pushes everything on its way down to a hilly stream,
road construction and maintenance in comparison to namely the river Lubha. In 1999 one express bus with
other part of the country because of its geographical 35 passengers was slide down by this flowing muck at
location, dense forest, numerous hills, heavy rains night and three people died and several injured. Several
etc. Communication in this region is also very poor. measures like, geo-textile treatment, Inter link chain
The National Highway 44 passes through this state wall, ground anchorage to the slope, flattening of the
connecting the state of Mizoram, Tripura and part slope with proper benching etc. were under taken in
Assam and Manipur. The Sonapur landslide becomes this part to control the slide but nothing proved fruitful.
unstable during every monsoon from the month of An alternative route of 12 km new road through the
June and Sept. Moreover, an active seismic fault other side of hill was also suggested but could not be
namely Dauki fault lies on the southern part of the materialized because of high cost and there was also
Meghalaya state due to which the entire state falls likely hood of unstable area.
under seismic zone V, the highest seismicity zone in
India. Frequent earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 and To overcome the problem many alternatives of
above are very common in this state. For an example tunneling were also considered which were of very
12 numbers of earthquakes of magnitude 4.9 to 6.3 high cost and finally one Cut & Cover type tunnel was
occurred from September to December, 2009. Sonapur proposed by the researcher first time this concept across
(latitude 2506’30” N and longitude 92021’ 51”) is one an active landslide and after five year’s successful field
of the most slide prone areas along this highway. The performance study found to be the most appropriate
area was dormant for a long time and became active in that area because of the easy, economic and rapid
* Chief Engineer, Border Roads Organisation, Part – time Research scholar, NIT, Silchar, E-mail: ssporwal@yahoo.com
** Professor, NIT, Silchar

An Innovative and out of Box Approach for Mitigation of Permanent Trouble Spot in the Form
of A Cut & Cover Structure Across An Active Landslide at Sonapur in North-East India
on NH-44 at Sonapur in the State of Meghalaya : A Case Study 163
construction technique and now widely accepted by encountered during execution of tunnel and present
Engineering fraternity as practical and implementable performance of tunnel based on data recorded through
solution on. The Cut & Cover Structure was constructed various instruments.
on war footing in nine months record period despite
of a number of constraints and limited working period 2 RAINFALL PATTERN AND DATA
and same performed very well during the last five COLLECTION
monsoons. There was not a single day road blockade
since operation of the tunnel 29 September 2008 at The rainfall gauge installed at Sonapur establishment
that location. The paper deals with different Geological of BRO and rainfalls data have compiled from 2002 to
aspects of the area, design methodology, problem 2008 are tabulated in Table 1.
Table 1 Rainfall Data at Sonapur Landslide from 2002 -2008
Rain Fall in mm for Sonapur in Meghalaya

S. No. Month
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
1 Jan 52.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 32.00
2 Feb 0.00 12.00 1.00 79.00 67.00 81.00 7.00
3 Mar 210.00 245.00 32.00 675.00 0.00 97.00 234.00

4 Apr 654.00 436.00 2101.00 288.00 218.00 600.00 80.00
5 May 855.00 479.00 1046.00 674.00 742.00 471.00 666.00
6 Jun 917.00 979.00 649.00 467.00 1063.00 790.00 382.00
7 Jul 1178.00 402.00 1015.00 745.00 355.00 517.00 476.00
8 Aug 466.00 413.00 871.00 470.00 169.00 291.00 1009.00
9 Sep 342.00 558.00 529.00 281.00 316.00 473.00 395.00
10 Oct 129.00 263.00 149.00 148.00 0.00 270.00 172.00
11 Nov 210.00 0.00 1.00 0.00 0.00 127.00 0.00
12 Dec 37.00 58.00 10.00 0.00 0.00 23.00 0.00
Total 5050.00 3847.00 6404.00 3827.00 2930.00 3740.00 3453.00
Highest Rainfall
July June May July June June Aug
Month
Rainfall
3758.00 2831.00 4110.00 2637.00 2645.00 2542.00 2928.00
May to Sept
Average Monthly
rainfall 752.00 566.00 822.00 527.00 529.00 508.00 586.00
May to Sept
Average monthly rain
421.00 321.00 534.00 319.00 244.00 312.00 288.00
fall in mm per year

164 Porwal & Dey on
The road closure data at this location studied for last

18 years and it has been observed that the landslide
become active generally between mid July and remain
active till end Sept every year once the cumulative
rainfall in the range of 3000 mm by end of July which
is around 70% of annual rainfall and act as triggering
time for this slide the same was verified with Geo 5
software the change in factor of safety with increase in
saturation shown the similar trend.
3 GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION
The crustal materials of Meghalaya mainly consist

of Pre-Gondwana landmass outcrop which slopes
down into basinal depressions in many part of the
region. The rock consists mainly of granite gneiss,
hornblende-biotitic gneiss and biotic-cordierite gneiss
of early Proterozoic age. The metamorphic rocks
are overlain uncomfortably in a number of places
by younger Proterozoic sediments called Shillong
series. The muck matrix consists of roughly 60%
silty clayey sand and 40% boulder of size medium to
very large. The muck matrix in water is very soft and
behaves like a thick fluid without any shear strength. Fig.1 Geological Map of Sonapur landslide
One person was buried alive in this matrix. The soil
in dry condition is quite stable and possesses both 4 CAUSES OF LANDSLIDE
cohesion and angle of internal friction. Fig. 1 shows
The main causes of Sonapur land slide are weak
the geological map of the Sonapur landslide area.
geological formation, slope instability, discontinuous
The area consist of Archean-Proterozoic cratonic pattern of joints, fractures and faults, steep slope
elements overlain by cretaceous of recent platform of the hill and very heavy rainfall. The first time
sediments and lies between the E-W trending this slide got activated in 1988 monsoon after 1987
Himalayas and N-S trending Arakan-yoma tertiary Cachar earthquake. The sliding zone was increased
mobile belts developed as consequence of collision in size because of prolonged and heavy rainfall in the
between Indian and Eurasian plates towards north subsequent years. The rain water along the faults in
and subduction of Indian plate below Burmese plate, rocks aggravated the situation by inducing rock slides
coupled with sliding of overlying soil. Intermittent shale
in the east respectively. As a result of these earth
layers were the other sources of instability, since the
movements the plateau has come to be sandwiched
shale is very hard in dry condition but flows like a fluid
between important regional structural elements. Of
in submerged condition. Therefore the rainfall intensity
these, the most important structural element which and a particular quantum of cumulative rainfall which
controls the southern boundary of the plateau is the leads to a total saturating of unstable hill slopes are the
Dauki fault. most relevant factors for inducing landslide problem at

Sonapur. A detailed study/analysis reveals that rainfall active landslide and has no precedence in Indian part
in excess of 700 mm in a particular month triggers of Himalaya, particularly in an area of heavy rainfall
the landslide. The cumulative annual rainfall at the and high seismic risk. However, the first author and
landslide varies between 3500 to 6000 mm. researcher of this paper took a bold step to propose
the implementation of the concept to MORTH. The
5 MANAGEMENT OF THE LANDSILDE MORTH has also sanctioned DPR considering an
experimental structure, as special case with calculated
For the last 20 years, for BRO the only method to
risk .An outline of the concept of Cut & Cover structure
tackle the problem was to deploy plant /equipment
was framed out and the proposed dimensions are
i.e. Bulldozer/ Excavator during every monsoon, to
shown in Table 2. A typical cross section of the finished
keep the road communication through. Considerable
structure is also shown in Fig. 3. It was also proposed
resources used to be deployed at the site to keep national
to provide an earth cushion 3.0 to 5.0 m at the crown of
Highway’s. It is estimated that around Rs 3.00 Crores
the tunnel to absorb the impact of sliding boulders.
($ 0.50 million) was the direct and indirect national
loss for the road blockage per day closure of National Table 2 Dimension of the Proposed
Highway at this location in addition to immeasurable Cut & Cover Structure
human sufferings which cannot be quantified in
Length 123 m
monetary terms. In one occasion, the road was blocked
Width 8m
for nearly sixty days because of a huge landslide and
landslide remained active. The slide was very difficult Height 9m
one Fig. 2 shows the ferocity of the landslide and Thickness of all members 0.80 m
quantum of efforts to open the road.
Fig. 3 Typical cross section of the proposed cut & covers

structure and finished structure
Fig. 2 Photographs of Sonapur landslide during 7 DESIGN METHODOLOGY

monsoon and clearance work
6 INNOVATIVE AND OUT OF BOX The structure of a cut and cover tunnel consists of four
APPROACH TO SOLVE TO THE elements for a satisfactory design (Koveri and Tisa,
PERPETUAL TROUBLE SPOT 1998)
PROBLEM
1. The original ground
The solution to the problem should meet two criteria 2. The tunnel arch
– (1) to overcome the problem and (2) to maintain 3. The lateral backfill and
the traffic flow. The option for an alternate route or a
4. The backfill above the tunnel roof.
tunnel through the hills was rejected because of high
cost and other technical problems. Construction of a The geotechnical investigation of the site was conducted
cut and cover tunnel concept appeared to be the most to ascertain the properties of soil. The geotechnical study
promising one. However, the concept of the cut and is immensely important as, it evaluates the fundamental
cover structure has never been used earlier against an inputs for the all relevant data/in formations needed to

166 Porwal & Dey on
design the structure. Based upon in-situ and laboratory

tests, it was observed that the finer portion of the top
soil has the following properties:
c = 20 kPa , f = 280 , g = 17 kN/m3

% of sand = 10, % of silt = 40 and % of clay = 50;
The tunnel was designed against a lateral load due to
backfill given by Eq. 1
ph = g h cot2a - 2c cota ...1 Fig. 4 Deformation pattern of the cut & cover structure section
Where, g, unit weight of soil, h, height of the soil It can be seen that the structure is not a standard one,
column and a = 450 + f/2. because of site requirements. During the design work
it was also kept in mind that the working period in the
The height h was increased step wise with an increment said site is only six to seven months, because of long
monsoon period in Meghalaya state. For construction
of 1.0 m and the earth pressure was calculated for each
of the arch roof a proper gantry was designed on rail
height. The structure as a whole was checked against sections. With the above studies, deliberation and site
sliding. However, to be on the safer side, three number specific requirements the final section is shown in
of shear keys were provided below the tunnel bed Fig. 5 and the salient features and dimensions were
and two numbers below the counterforts. 80 cm thick given in Table 2. It was decided to keep 3 to 5 m earth
counterforts at 5.0 m c/c were constructed along the cushion above the crown of the tunnel for absorbing
the impact of falling boulders.
length of the tunnel to increase the resistance of the
structure against flexure.
An overburden due to the backfill above the roof

was considered in the design of the structure. The
dead loads for static analysis consisted of weight
of structure, earth cushion weight, live load with
impact, additional loads on account of hydrostatic
pressure, falling boulders from slide and earthquakes.
Calculation of stresses on the structure is performed Fig. 5 Typical cross section of the proposed cut
by means of special finite element modelling and cover tunnel
allowing for full loading considerations at the full

8 CONSTRUCTION PHASE AND
operation stages with worst combination of loads. PROBLEMS FACED
The deformation pattern of the structure as obtained
from the finite element analysis and the same is shown The Administrative approval from Government
in Figure 4. Calculation of stresses on the structure received in Dec 2007 for a sum of Rs 11.80 Crores ($
2.5 million that time) for construction of this tunnel
is performed by means of special finite element
and allied structures including a small bridge. The
modelling allowing for full loading considerations at work was commenced in the first week of January
the full operation stages with worst combination of 2008 by creating space by cutting the hill side. A traffic
loads. diversion was first created in the downstream side of the

proposed site to pass the existing traffic. During lying in the vertical portion of the tunnel wall to drain out
of the foundation it was observed that the foundation the water trapped in the earth fill in the upstream side
soil consisted of fully saturated very soft muck. The of the tunnel. The photographs of Sonapur cut & cover
thickness of this muck was found to be around 1.0m construction, inauguration and completed structure
with initial visual inspection, however during ground with vegetation is shown at Fig. 6.
improvement process it was observed that more than
2.5 Mtrs was found loose and removal up to 3 Mtrs was
desirable. Since the foundation could not be laid over
this very soft muck, two alternatives were considered
(1) to replace the muck with good soil (2) to construct
piles. The first alternative was found to be cheap and
workable and was adopted. The entire muck strata of
20 m to 25 mwide and 3 m depth were thereby removed
and the excavation was filled with granular river bed
materials. Compaction of the fill-up materials was
Fig. 6 Photograph of the Cut & Cover structure
carried out in layers with a vibratory road roller. After
the compaction, the bearing capacity was checked with Once the gantry was erected the casting of segment
a plate load test and found to be more than 200 kN/ started in April second week with both the gantries.
m2. A layer of 25 – 30 cm size boulder soling was laid From May to August 2008 the roof segments were
over the finished surface over which 200 mm thick completed and in the month of September 2008 both the
lean concrete was laid. This treatment was found to portals were also completed. Meanwhile the monsoon
be quite effective in other areas of road construction. also began in month of May 2008, and the completed
The five number shear keys were then constructed structure became vulnerable to the active land slide. An
and the same were connected laterally. With a spacing open space about 15 m wide was created between the
of diaphragm at 10 m centre to centre to improve the structure and the hill so that the falling boulders do not
structural rigidity of the base further, thickness of the directly hit the tunnel structure. The idea worked very
base slab was 80 cm and haunches were provided below well and the whole of muck and debris evolved during
the 80 cm thick vertical wall. Additional longitudinal the monsoon period got deposited in the space.
reinforcements were provided at junctions between the
base slab and wall and between the wall and the top 9 PRESENT PERFORMANCE
arch for constructing the arch, one gantry of 5.0 m long
was fabricated at the site. When one gantry was found Being an experimental structure and there was no such
to be effective, one more gantry was fabricated so that type of structure ever constructed in Indian part of
the construction activity was started from the two ends. Himalaya and no past precedence of this type structure
This expedited the construction activity and the entire available so it was decided that the proper study on
arch was completed by one working season i.e. within the post construction performance and behavior of a
three months. In order to discharge water from the of cut & cover structure, and its monitoring will be
spring channel a multi cell box cell culvert of 6 m X 6 m carried out and accordingly the settlement recording
with 3 No of cells constructed. The size of 6 m was was carried out at site and overall performance a total
adopted as at times, the muck flow also come along ground settlement was recorded 33 mm at Sonapur
with water and in order clear debris sufficient size of cut & cover structure. The Fig. 7 shows the variation
cell is most suitable. In order to have a proper riding in settlement with respect to length, the comparisons
quality either side of tunnel the rigid pavement of 100 m of length observed and obtained analytically and its
on were provided near the entry and exit ends of the relationship with various lengths and the same is
tunnel. Sufficient number of weep holes were provided generally in agreement.

168 Porwal & Dey on
11 COMPARISON BETWEEN ANALYTICAL

AND SOFTWARE ANALYSIS
In order to find out the likely behaviour of this type

structure with various length and a minimum practcally
feasble lentgh to be put against an active landslide as
huge forces likely to come an analysis with ABAQUS
software , which is a highly sophisticated, general
Fig. 7 Settlement and variation with length and comparisons with purpose finite element program, designed primarily
various methods and actual observations to model the behaviour of solids and structures under
10 MODEL TESTING OF SONAPUR CUT & externally applied loading.
COVER STRUCTURE
The tunneling analysis using the elasticity solution
16 Channels Data acquisition system (DAQ 16) used modelled the uplift of soil from within the tunnel.
for conducting model testing on 1:100 size in length, It did not account for the component of settlement
width and height with prototype and recording data associated with settlement caused by the contraction of
.Four sensors one for load channel, two for pressure the tunnel.
channel and one for strain gauge sensor were installed
and one dial gauge (2000 divison) which can record On the other hand, Sagaseta’s method modelled the
up to 20 mm settlement were used for model testing. deformation of soil due to the ground loss in excavation.
The outcome model test was in line with ground The effect of stress relief caused by the soil is not
data collected and analytical data and actual ground accounted for.
observations.
So both these methods give reasonable values but they
On Model test and software analysis with Geo 5 was may not be exact.
also carried out of Soanpur structure and the effect due
The deformation obtained using ABAQUS are
to toe loading introduced has been analysed and it has
comparable with these analytical methods.
been observed that the factor of safety has increased by
30%. The settlement, the forces due to impact effect Table 3 Settlement Obtained for Various Lengths
and measured from sensors and gauges. Considering with Abaqus Software
the scale effects the model test result outcome generally
matched the observation from ground measurement and
results obtained from analytical methods from Abquas
and Geo 5 software’s. Fig. 8 shows the photographs
of model test carried out at NIT Silchar and software
analysis with Geo 5 software.
From the analysis of the tunnel by varying its length

we have seen that the value of maximum deformation
reduces with increase in tunnel length as shown in table
3 and relationship is shown in equation 1.The settlement
is higher for short length and after detailed analysis and
other practical consideration that a minimum length of
Fig. 8 Photographs of model testing and 50 Mtr is essential for this type of structure against an
Geo 5 software analysis active landslide.

However for all practical purposes a Simplified 12 THE OUTCOME OF FIELD STUDY AND
relationship with actual data and correlated data is ANALYSIS
given as under as observed by actual field observation
by researcher is given as equation 1. The outcome of analysis with Abquas can be summarised
as under:
y = 38 + 35.79/x (Equation as per field observation
and correlated data) ...1 - The deformation of 100 Mtrs length calculated as
(R 2 = 0.96) to be 38.66 mm.
- The stability of cut & cover structures increases
An analysis with Abaqus software analysis has been
with the increase to length the effective sizes from
carried for Sonapur structure and the requirement of
30 Mtrs to 125 mtrs without construction joint as
thickness of roof structure worked and same plotted
on XL features and stress distributions pattern also all the portions are covered with soil and diurnal
studied. The outcome of study shows that a minimum temperature variation is minimum so temperature
2 Mtr cushion is essential as earth cushion to protect stresses are insignificant .
the structure from impact. The Fig. 9 sows the stress - The basic requirement for cut & cover structure
distributions pattern, relationship of thickness of roof that there should be no sinking in the base and
in centimeters and height of fall of boulders in Mtr.
foundation and slope should be on which it rest
should be stable.
- The proper drainage of slope and in and around cut
& cover structure needs to be executed during the
construction.
- The both the software methods give reasonably
comparable settlement and generally near to actual
measurement observed on the ground and outcome
model study and validate overall performance.
- The appropriate earth cushion will be 3 to 5 Mtr
over semicircular and all around in order to provide
Fig. 9 Analysis due to impact load from Abaqus Software and adequate protection from impact of boulder fall.
comparisons with other structural shapes
The overall drainage of slope and drainage around 13 BARDAN CUT & COVER STRUCTURE
structure is essential for overall stability and the required
drainage measures including sub-surface drainage and With same concept and design of Sonapur cut & cover
bore-well, weep holes etc have been provided. The Fig. 10 structure the sanction for 80 Mtr long cut & cover
shows the photographs of various measures taken at structure was accorded by MORTH On NH-31A in State
Sonapur and same were effective as proper flow of of Sikkim and completed in 2010 and it is functioning
water was observed during monsoon. satisfactory for last three years and solved the landslide
at this trouble spot on important NH-31A and site
was selected by author and technically guided. The
performance after construction was satisfactory and
similar lines of Sonapur cut &cover structure. A total
settlement of 36 mm was observed at this site which is
as per study validating outcome with Sonapur structure.
The Fig. 11 shows the photographs of Bardang landslide
Fig. 10 various drainage measures adopted at Sonapur and inauguration after completion. The Bardang cut &

Porwal & Dey on
170 on NH-44 at Sonapur in the State of Meghalaya : A Case Study
cover structure has performed satisfactorily for last validated . There was not a single day blocked of road
three monsoons and no road closure has experienced after construction of Sonapur cut & cover structure and
at that location. provided the complete relief to 16 million population
of Mizoram, Tripura and part of Assam and Manipur
at very reasonable cost of Rs 11.8 Crs ($2.5 millions)
which is just direct cost equivalent two weeks of closure
of road at this place.As this type of concept was first time
used in Indian part of Himalaya and there were lot of
apprehensions among engineering fraternity about its
suitability but with satisfactory functioning for last five
Fig. 11 Photographs of Bardan Cut & Cover monsoons the concept has been widely accepted now
Structures on NH-31-A in Sikkim
,by hill road engineers and likely to be applied many
other similar problem location with stable slope/base
14 FURTHER APPLICATIONS
.One similar type cut cover structure on site on the same
concept and design has also been constructed at Bardan
The encouraging results of performance of both the
landslide on NH-31A in Sikkim and is functioning
structures constructed on this concept can be further
satisfactory for last three monsoon. The Border Roads
extended to some of areas of underground structure with
organization has accepted this concept as viable solution
site specific modification and functional requirement. for number of permanent trouble spots, where no sinking
At present the urban pedestrian crossing with flat roof and base is stable. With two typical /problematic landslide
and the curved roof on similar of Sonapur can be tried problem solved and the cut and cover structure concept is
out with steel structure and side driving with cutting a success story. A few more structures can be constructed
edge techniques in-situ horizontal driving without in other trouble spots and tentative guide lines can be
disturbing the ground above it. This concept can also framed which can be improved in due course of time
be tried out for underground protective structure and with monitoring in future. There is need to adopt the site
underground storage of sensitive structure in the form specific and problem specific approach with innovative
of pilot structure and performance can be watched. and out of Box approach is need of the hour to overcome
number of trouble spots in hill are. The Uttarakhand
15 CONCLUSION disaster is warning on hill road management and more
work on landslide and site specific approach is the need
The North-eastern part of Indian Himalaya is fragile of hour.
and prone to landslides in every monsoon .The important
roads and highways are affected badly due to a number REFERENCES
of actively landslide and huge suffering for the all the
road users. An innovative and out of box approach of 1 Kovari, K. & Tisa, A. 1998. Computational model
construction of a cut & cover structure has solved a 20 and charts for cut and cover tunnels. International
Association for bridge and structural engineering
years permanent trouble spot and functioned satisfactorily
Colloquium Tunnel Structures. June 4–6 Stockholm,
for last five monsoon. Calculation of stresses on the Sweden.
structure is performed by means of special finite element
modelling allowing for full loading considerations 2. Rao, K.S. 2008. Interim Report on site specific
at the full operation stages with worst combination of studies of Sonapur landslide Jaintia hill District,
Meghalaya (T.S. NO.83 C/8).
loads. The satisfactory ground performance of two
prototype structure , model testing and analytical output 3. Porwal, S.S. & Dey, A.K. 2010. Tunnelling through
are generally in agreement and concept of cut & cover a highly slide prone area at Meghalaya, India.
structure for boulder/debris slide with stable base is Geotechnical Challenges in Megacities, Vol. 3,
Moscow, 7-10 June :1099-1105.
The views expressed in the paper are personal views of the Authors. For any query, the author may be contacted at: E-mail: ssporwal@yahoo.com

DISCUSSION
ON
PAPERS PUBLISHED IN
VOLUME 74 PARTS 1, 73-4, 2 & 3

Discussion on Paper No.602*
“Case Study on New Initiatives Taken on Caisson Foundations
and Cutting Edge Construction at Bogibeel Bridge ”
By
Anupam Das
Shri S.R. Tambe (Chairman’s Opening Remarks) Shri K.C. Sharma
Namaskar, it gives me a great pleasure to be here and I 1. The extra cost as a percentage of contract value
thank the organizers for inviting me to Chair the Session. in early completion at different stages. The reply
I am very privileged to have Shri C.V. Kand, as the Co- by Er. A. Das was that it is not provided for. In
Chairman. We have today two papers for discussion. the bridge construction contract documents,
Actually, one paper has dropped out at the last minute efforts on innovations and early completion
and in its place, we will have the pleasure of listening should be monetarily compensated to the
to Shri Kand presenting his paper on ‘Problems of construction agency with 50% of it going to
Bridge Bearings of Sloping Strands. The first paper to be the Engineers achieving it. The compensations
discussed will be by Shri Anupam Das on “Case Study should be full reimbursement of the extra costs
on New Initiatives Taken on Caisson Foundations and involved. These costs could be submitted by
Cutting Edge Construction at Bogibeel Bridge”. I suggest the construction agency and verified by the EE
that following time table for Presentation. Each paper will incharge. The actual costs saved through early
be presented by each of the authors. Thereafter, we will completion may be many more times of the extra
have about half an hour for floor intervention and then the costs. The bridge construction contracts should
authors will reply to the questions and thereafter I would be designed to encourage such efforts. IRC as a
request the Co-Chairman to make his remarks and then body should initiate such documents.
I will conclude the discussion. So now I make request 2. Does the contract provide for any financial
Shri Anupam Das for making his presentation. incentive for early completion: The reply by
The Author made Power Point presentation of the Paper Er. A. Das was that it is not provided for.
No.602. It should be provided for with the same spirit
Paper No. 602 with which compensations are levied against the
construction agencies. The audits and the CVC
Shri H.S. Das are scaring the employer from including such
provisions.
Good Presentation but construction of Bogibeel &
Saraighat bridge are taking too long period. 3. Has any equation been developed to calculate
such financial incentives. The reply by
Shri S. Das Gupta
Er. A. Das was that it has not been developed.
You were bridging the Brahmaputra at Bogibeel and
I suggest two options:
now you are also bridging Brahmaputra at Saraighat.
Which location of Brahmaputra you found as toughest i) Actual extra cost as verified by the EE
to bridge from foundation point of view? incharge. or
The Paper was as a whole outstanding one. ii) 50% of the costs saved on early completion
* Published at pages 289 to 314 of IRC Journal Vol.74 Part 3

Discussion on Paper No.602 173
to the bridge user. 3. The peak working season is practically, reduced

to 4 months only i.e, from 15th Nov. to 15th
Lesser of the two could be paid.
March.
4. IRC should recommend such incentives and 4. Increase in scope of work, due to addition, in
their evaluation. Er Das did not comment. construction of 5 new well foundations.
IRC as a body of professional Engineers, should B) Saraigaht/New Brahmaputra Bridge at
appropriately recommend it to the MORT&H. Guwahati:
Such institutions in other countries have done it.
Construction is taking a long period
Shri S.P. Datta predominantly due to Change in Designs.
1. Foundation stone 2002. In response to Shri S. Das Gupta’s comments, it
2. Was it not possible to use pilos? is mentioned that Bridging Brahmaputra, both at
Bogibeel & Saraighat has its unique constraints
3. Larger dia wells used. Did the river shift? from foundation point of view. The constraints were
4. Was it EIL design? addressed & overcome, by adopting construction
5. Was change approved by Rlys? methodology depending upon the particular Site
conditions & logistics.
Shri G.C. Tallur
In reply to Shri K.C. Sharma’s comments, the author
Many innovative methodology and successful changes has stated that the suggestion provided above may be
carried out at site do not get reflected in Standard deliberated & considered.
Operating Procedure (SOP) for future benefit.
In reply to Shri S.P. Datta’s comments, it is mentioned
Would Shri Das recommend prefabrication of caisson as under:
in Sections (as done by him here) & then assembling
then at site, as the future ‘SOP’ in case of all caissons to 1. The former Prime Minister of India
expedite work? Shri H.D. Devegowda laid the foundation stone
of the Bogibeel Bridge on January 22, 1997 at
Shri P.K. Guha Biswas Kulajan (Assam). After 5 years of laying the
Scour Problem. foundation, on April 22 2002, the then Prime
Minister of India Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee
Replies by the Author (Paper No.602) inaugurated the Construction works. However,
In reply to Shri H.S. Das’s comments, it is mentioned on April 04th 2008 the work of the main bridge
as under: substructure has been started.
A) Bogibeel: 2. The criteria for selecting deep foundations

depends upon the nature of river. Brahmaputra
Construction is taking a long period is a braided river, coupled with high bed scour
predominantly due to: tendency.
1. Seasonal Change in the course of River i) Well foundations provide a solid and massive
Brahmaputra and Water depth at different foundation for heavy loads as against a
locations, coupled with drastic changes in island group of piles which are slender and weak
configurations resulted in change in construction individually and are liable to get damaged
methodology and materials/plant & machineries when hit by floating trees or boulders rolling
movement/ logistics to desired locations. on the river bed.
2. Early onset of monsoon, prolonged monsoon and
unprecedented flash floods resulted in constant ii) It may be difficult to drive Piles through soil
disruption in works. having boulders, Logs of wood which are
very often found buried even at great depths.

174 Discussion on Paper No.602
It is possible to sink a well after overcoming innovative methodology adopted at site pertaining to
these obstructions. prefabrication of caisson in sections & assembling
at site may be considered in SOP for the benefit of
iii) Wells provides a large section modulus
engineers & to expedite the work, especially where time
with the minimum cross-sectional area.
is a constraint.
They can resist large horizontal forces and
can also take vertical loads even when the In response to Shri P.K. Guha Biswas’s comments, it
unsupported length is large. The section is mentioned that the Brahmaputra is a braided river,
modulus of individual piles in a group is having a multi-channel river system coupled with high
small and cannot carry large horizontal bed scour tendency, which makes all the most difficult
force or vertical loads when the unsupported for constructions besides having inconsiderable suitable
length is considerable as in case of bridge construction period.
piers and abutments in scourable riverbeds
Shri C.V. Kand (Co-Chairman’s Concluding Remarks)
like river Brahmaputra.
For last so many years, discussion and dispute is
Finally most of the Indian rivers are
going on in the IRC committees about the scour in
alluvial type and well foundations are the
bouldering strata. I have come across at least a dozens
better choice because of their large section
regions in Madhya Pradesh which have founded on well
modulus and they were time tested also.
foundation and laid on bouldering strata. We have used
Well foundations were adopted for Railway
a simple common technique and not bothered about
bridges constructed across perennial rivers
what all the process and reasons about the scour in
like Ganga, Godavari and Brahmaputra etc. boulder strata because during last 50 years they have
and their performance is quite well. not come to any conclusion. They went daily issues and
3. Yes, Double D Well foundation of size issues. Now recently, the decision taken is this, if scour
16.2 m x 10.5 m with steining thickness 3 meters is on boulder strata, take the depth of the foundation
were used, with depth of 58 m (For wells P2 to 4 m maximum 5 m and then provide garment block
P39) & 46 m (For abutment wells A1 & A2) & around the well foundation or an open foundation and
68.75 m for Wells P1 & P40). Brahmaputra is because of the garment block the scour will be limited.
one of the largest sand-bar braided river. The How is the garment block behave on Narmada River. In
nature and behaviors of Brahmaputra is quite Narmada River, the velocity is 5 ½ m/sec and boulder
different than that, of other Indian river due to strata is there in one of the well foundation where we
its Flow concentration, shifting of main course, have provided 1.2 m by 1.2 m concrete block around
innumerable sand-bars, deflected flow pattern the well foundation. I am observing it since 1980, it
coupled with high bed scour tendency. is safe standing perpetual well. So this is the solution
which can stand I now after merely 30 years, amazed
4. No, the design was done by RITES LIMITED to see the emerging solution in shape of provision of
& proof checked by RDSO, excluding Caisson garment block for the bouldering strata. Dr. Dhiman
design. The Caisson designed were done by paper was to be renowned here. He has done a lot of
M/S. Gammon India Limited. work in Himalayan region or on boulder strata, so such
solutions can be allowed.
5. Wherever the Changes were done pertaining
to execution only i.e in design & drawing Shri S.R. Tambe (Chairman’s Concluding remarks)
and in construction of 5 new additional well
Thanks. We now coming to the end of this session. We
foundations, it was approved by Railways.
have had an interesting discussion on two papers and I
In response to Shri G.C. Tallur’s Comments, the hope that papers well prove as reference papers in future
author has stated that the suggestion provided by to engineers, ending similar problems in sphere. Thank
Shri Tallur may be deliberated & considered. This you.

“Study of Composite Effect of Concrete Base in Rigid
Pavement for Village Roads in Alluvial Region”
By
R.K. Srivastava, K.K. Shukla and S.K. Duggal
&
Paper No. 590**
“Pavement Deterioration Modeling for
Low Volume Roads”
By
Vandana Tare, H.S. Goliya, Atul Bhatore & Kundan Meshram
Shri G.C. Tallur (Chairman’s Opening Remarks) which is brought in by the PMGSY through the NRRDA
and the State Rural Road Development Agency, both
In this Technical Session two Papers are scheduled for in designs of quality control, in implementation, in
discussion. It is indeed a matter of immense pleasure monitoring, have really opened a new chapter on how
to be with all of you to discuss and deliberate on the
to manage projects so that they produce lasting results
two very promising and interesting papers. I am very
and most of you are aware of them. But let’s not think
immensely pleased that we have Engineer-in-Chief of
that there are National Highways, State Highways,
Uttar Pradesh who is a Doctorate. The gap between
MDR that and there is all to road sector. That is only
academics and field is to be really bridged. I am also
the tip of iceberg. The real challenge of this country
immensely happy to have the two co-authors, Professor
roads is in the rural roads. There are 33,000 km of
Shukla and Duggal on the dais who are from Motilal
State Highways at the Major District Roads in a state
Nehru Institute of Technology, Allahabad which
& 3000 km of National Highways and one and half
all of us know is a national renowned institute of
technology. I also have the pleasure of having Professor lakh km of rural roads. I congratulate the authors who
Ms Vandana Tare and her co-author, Shri H.S. Goliya have shown interest in the rural roads. First I would
and two PhD students S/Shri Bhatore & Meshram. So like to invite Shri Srivastava to present his paper on
we have on hand two very promising and interesting the Study of Composite Effect of Concrete Base in
paper and I have gone through them very carefully. The Rigid pavement for Village Roads in Alluvial Region
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), which and IRC:SP:62 on was one which produced. We have
we should be immensely proud of, is one of the flagship indeed a technical treat on these two papers. In SP:62
projects of our entire country. The largest ever such where you have a lean concrete base and you have M
road project undertaken by anyone in the world, which 30 concrete wearing course and between the two there
once begin will not conclude until all our villages are is 130 micron separation layer of polythene sheet.
connected with all weather roads. The methodology What is the result if this separation layer is removed?
** Published at pages 67 to 81 of IRC Journal Vol.73 Part 4

176 Discussion on Paper No. 587 & 590
Dr. Srivastava has investigated the composite effect expansive soils is $1 billion dollars each year.
of lean concrete with wearing course by removing the
separation layer and adopting M 20 in wearing course COLLAPSIBLE SOILS: A Collapsible soil suddenly
(PQC) in place of M 30 as specified by IRC. May I now decreases in volume when it becomes saturated.
request Dr. Srivastava to present his Paper. Collapsible soils are generally Aeolian (wind deposited)
soils which have low water content and high void ratio
The Authors made Power Point presentation of the in natural state. Such soils usually have a honey-comb
Paper Nos.587 & 590. structure in which porous structure is maintained by
a water soluble interparticle bond. When the water
Paper No. 587 content of the soil is increased, the inter particle bond is
broken and the soil mass decreases in volume causing
Shri N.G. Reddy its collapse. Structures on a collapsible soils have large
settlements causing damages.
“Rigid Pavements are badly damaged as compared
to Flexible pavement by forming longitudinal cracks SUBMISSIONS:
1st one or two years after construction in submersible
condition whereas only undulations are formed in Due to the Submergence/during the cyclones, CC
Flexible Pavements.” Pavements which are constructed on the expansive soils
sub grades are getting damaged due to the following
It was observed when Rigid pavement under submerged reasons:
condition more than 24 hours, longitudinal cracks are
formed almost in the middle of the Rigid pavements after 1. The sub-grade soils are expansive nature.
1 to 2 years. When the Flexible pavement constructed 2. During the submerged condition/at the time of
on the same type of sub grade, only undulations are cyclones, Swell pressure develops in the sub-
observed and damages at these undulation parts only. grade expansive soils. If this Swell pressure is
more than the combined surcharge weight of Sub
Reason: It may be due to free swell of soil pressure. In base and CC Pavement, Uplift takes place. The
general when expansive soils contacted with moisture, swell pressure varies from 0 -2000kN/sqm(for
it will swell and create the swell pressure. The swell Bentonite) under the surcharge of 6.9kN/Sqm.
pressure increases with the increase of moisture content. The surcharge weight of Granular sub base is
At critical moisture content high swell pressure damages 3.0kN/sqm and CC Pavement is 4.80kN/sqm
the road. Actual magnitude of swell pressure developed resulting total surcharge weight is 7.80kN/sqm
depends upon the dry density, initial water content, over the sub grade. Due to confined edges of both
surcharge loading and several other environmental Sub base and CC Pavement with the shoulder
factors namely soils, the net uplift due to Swell pressure will
be more in the middle of the pavement when
a) The type and amount of clay in the soil and compared at the edges. The rate of wetting and
nature of the clay mineral drying of the expansive sub grade soils always
b) The initial water content and dry density starts at edges to middle of the pavement. This
leads the difference in the swell pressure more
c) The nature of pore fluid in the middle than the edges. Due to the high
d) The stress history of the soil including the swell pressure at the centre of the pavement and
continuous process of drying and wetting early drying of the expansive sub grade soils at
cycles. the edge of the road, longitudinal cracks will be
formed almost in the middle of the road.
SWELLING OR EXPANSIVE SOILS: Swelling
refers to the localized volume change in expansive 3. When the expansive soil dries, due to the
soils as they absorb moisture from road bed soils. It shrinkage in the sub grade, the pavement tries to
is estimated that the damages to pavements caused by settle down. Among both CC Pavement and Sub

Discussion on Paper No. 587 & 590 177
base, the sub-base over the sub grade will settle drying of soils due to submergence under floods
first leaving gaps in between CC Pavement and but also in monsoons and cyclones.
Sub base. At this stage, during the traffic flow,
transverse cracks/crocodile cracks occurs. Also, Recommended: in the areas of expansive soils.
after the formation of longitudinal cracks, the
length to breadth ration of CC pavement panel Either for Rigid pavement or Flexible pavement over
will be double and influence the design of CC the sub grade having expansive nature of soils, it is
Pavement. The failure in the CC Pavement is essential to rise the embankment by about 0.30 m to
due rigid and also weak in tension. 0.50 m with non expansive soils to avoid the influence
of swelling and shrinkage of expansive soils on
4. Construction of flexible pavements by rising the Pavement components.
existing expansive sub grade 0.30m to 0.50m
thick with non swelling soils as embankment is 1. In village portions, If permits site, rising
most reliable and economical when compared of existing road embankment about 0.30 to
to the CC Pavements. It has been observed 0.50 m with non swelling soils along with
the flexible pavement under submergence Granular Sub base and CC Pavement.
during floods/during cyclones, only minor
2. In village portions, If site not permits for rising,
part of the road is damaged due to formation
removal of existing expansive sub grade soils to
of undulations. Up to some range of swell
a depth of about 0.30 m to 0.50 m duly following
pressure, the undulations are being carried by
Granular sub base and CC Pavement.
the flexible pavement without damaging the
road, this is due to flexible nature of flexible 3. For connectivity roads and in the areas of
pavement. submergence (depending on the frequency of
submergence and period of submergence) and
The study and analysis of Expansive soils should be rising of existing road by 0.30 to 0.50 m with
different for Roads and buildings: non swelling soils/crusher dust.
A) In buildings, the foundations are designing Shri G. Sreedhar

with RCC (footings, Raft foundations, pile
foundations), whereas in design of roads, Plain The Paper seems to indicate the savings that may be
CC Pavements (most of the cases) proposing possible due to reduction in materials. As the study is
on expansive soils. based on traffic and soil conditions of alluvial region,
similar if not more economy may be possible for other
B) Due to swelling and shrinkage of expansive
soils like laterite. Can there be a theoretical a empirical
soils, the plain CC Pavement will not bear the
solution be possible.
tensile stresses, results failure of CC Pavement.
Otherwise RCC pavement is too costly.
Er Ravi Shankar Singhal
C) After failure of CC Pavement, it is not repairable
and causes in convenient to the traffic due 1. Can this system be applied in case of existing
to distortions of broken parts. This is due to flexible pavement which is damaged? What will
influence of swelling and shrinkage properties be the method for fixing the value of modulus
up to 0.50m to 1.0m height from the top level of sub-grade reaction ‘K’ ?
of expansive soils. 2. How you have decided that heavy vehicles will
D) The swelling and shrinkage happens in not pass over the pavement at the peak hours of
expansive soils not only due to wetting and temperature variation?

Shri A.K. Mishra Sub base under Rigid pavement should be constructed
as mess structure with brick wall with provision of
The paper is excellent as it deals with village roads, wip holes along drain. Latter mess structure should be
which are now-a-days becoming of much importance filled with jhama metal and local sand or fine material
and cost effective due to their length & no. By combining and compacted with water. Latter Rigid Pavement may
the both layers of Rigid pavement i.e. PQC with DLC be constructed using proper grade of Concrete mix of
without separation layer is a good idea. proper thickness as required.
Shr A.C. Srivastav Dr. Rakesh Kumar
Issue of Concrete Grade. The strength of LC generally varies between 5-7 MPa,
why LC of 10 MPa has been used? The compaction
Shri Govind Prasad Jaiswal of LC yields a smooth surface, what was done to
ensure bonding between 2 layers i.e. .LC. and PQC ?
In village roads, where likely to be flooded, usually If these two layer works as one, then whether whole
construction of rigid pavement is preferred. However, no depth was considered for sawing of joints?
proper drainage is provided. Side open drains/covered
drains shall be given top priority first, before deciding/ Mohd. Noor Alam
selecting type of pavement. Roads passing through
villages have lesser width of crust, where compaction At the time of discussion on the said paper in the IRC
process is also difficult. Construction Equipments like 74th Annual session I my self pointed out the
following:
concrete Mixtures, Paver, Road Rollers are not used
sometimes, for lesser width of crust and encroachment "When LC and PQC will be combined, In LC cracks
by public. There is poor Quality control checks in rigid will be developed and due cracks in LC reflecting
pavement, which requires higher conctrelegrade e.g cracks may be occur in PQC then what precaution will
M30. New innovative technology shall be encouraged be taken to avoid reflecting cracks in PQC."
like grids by geosynthetic materials to reduce crust
thickness. Use of locally available materials e.g. Jhama My point is "When Base concrete ( Lean Concrete )
(Brick) metals may be a good choice, in area, where and Pavement concrete (PQC) laid simultaneously that
scarcity of stone aggregates is making construction is composite section the over all thickness will increase.
very slow. Animals (Oxen, Cows etc) are also traffic, From researches it has been established that Zig-Zag
on village roads, the effects on the road surface shall be cracks will be developed any where in 10m stretches
taken into consideration. of pavement concrete to over come such problem
and providing safe passage for cracks developing,
Construction of Rigid Pavement for village Roods in contraction joints of 3~5 mm thick and of 1/4 to 1/3
Alluvial Region is very challenging Because in Region of PQC Slab thickness are prepared at an interval of
where Black cotton soil is found sub base under Rigid 2.0~4.0 m. For preparation of contraction joints in
pavement is bulky and proper compaction of that sub composite section special machine will be required to
base is not possible by any mechanical means that is saw cut the joints up to required thickness. LC and PQC
why there is always chances of formation of cavity are different material of different thermal coefficient
due to un usual compaction and settlement of sub base and in both cement are used as cementations materials.
under Rigid Pavement causing development of cracks Cracks will be develop in both. It is not necessary that
in Rigid pavement and consequently failure of the cracks will develop at same place in LC and in PQC.
Rigid pavement before rexpected live of the pavement. At the Cracks point of LC reflecting cracks in PQC
That is why I like to prefer to provide some suggestion will naturally develop to over come such problem what
precaution will be required".
as follows.

Shri Ajay Diwakar Shri R.S. Sharma
Cement concrete Road in PMGSY scheme for Rural Where diversion is not available during construction of
Roads are mostly constructed in village area (habitation) Rigid Pavement, what measures should be taken?
or area prone to submerger.) M.P. is predominantly
black cotton soil & clayey soil area. C.C. road are Shri P.D. Jamadar
constructed after layer of (15 cm) (7.5) GSB & G2 (7.5)
Presentation was good, but the details of analysis were
with 20 cm of M-30 pavement as per design.
missed.
1. I wish to know from the learned author could
Paper No. 590
long term consolidation of B.C. soil results in
crack is C.C. pavement. Shri K.C. Sharma
2. Is shrinkage in summer and swelling in rainy
season and its alternative effect is main cause 1. Cost to the road user in terms of time taken to
of CC failure due to reduction in strength of travel a unit of 0-5 km, 5-10 km etc. should be
subgrade due to alternate wetting and drying investigated and analysed.
causing shrinkage and swelling. Such an analysis will help in the economic
3. What is the remedy? analysis of short haul (village) roads for
goods, healthcare, and education. NRRDA has
Shri Swapan Majumder adequate data on village roads and can do it.
With primary objective of connectivity having
It is true a high grade of concrete. Is not easily achieve been achieved, such analysis may help in
in remote area. A separation layer of 125 micro th. prioritising further development.
Polythene sheet between the L.C. and PQC with 2. The inadequacy of crust vis-à-vis the increasing
produce a composite effect and using M 20 concrete Axle loads be correlated to PCU.
reduce the cost. This cost can further reduce the cost
by using L.C. replaced by rolled concrete. Proportion With the availability last point connectivity,
heavier axle loads, than those stipulated in the
of concrete further reduce the proportion to (10:5:1). I
designs, are plying on the village roads. The
think temp. shrinkage very nominal reforcement may be
village commodity haulage economy is based
allowed as the tension at top surface at day time and at
on heavier axle loads and the roads need to
bottom surface at night occur. As such due to deflection
be strengthened to bear with them. Similarly,
at day and night rigid concrete detoriate. Shouldering
the growth of automobiles, the villagers have
on both edge will also increase the stability of road.
matching or better vehicle densities than
Shri B.G. Baghavendra Prasad their urban counter parts and the VR need to
be developed on that account also. Perhaps
1. Physical characteristics of polythene sheet used the minimum requirement is an intermediate
for the study? lane with hard shoulders and crust as good as
MDRs.
2. Can geo-composite material can be used? 3. The need for extra width of CW as the No. of
two –wheelers and tractors increase.
3. Basic function of polythene sheet used in As above.
study?
4. NRRDA again has ample records on NQM
4. Is fatigue studies been conducted on the reports, which could be used for betterment of
concrete specimen to arrive @ fatigue lines? these village roads.

Shri Manzoor Hussain have been personally observed by me, in the capacity
of being chief engineer(now retired),later as National
- Study of hill roads need to be carried out. Quality level monitor deputed by NRRDA for checking
- Most of roads fails due to slips but consideration and reporting on PMGSY roads in various states of
of slip is not taken into account for maintenance India, over more than two years. During my travels
purpose. ,in connection with checking of roads, I reported and
brought the important points to the notice of NRRDA
Shri Kripal Singh The reasons are:
- Repair modalities of Pavement per annum, 1. Essentially the PMGSY roads were envisaged
specially during monsoon seasons. to have only one mode to take off and not to
- Frequency of patch repair and it material may join at the other end. But in most of the cases
be clarify. the roads have been connecting on both ends.
the link road, invariably, serves as a short cut
- Edge drop for single lane road is very hazardous,
how it will be prevented. between two major roads at two ends. This
invites very heavy traffic of load careers, which
Shri Swapan Majumder use the link road to avoid toll booths and traffic
checking and police personal .the use of the link
In alluvial soil condition shouldering and drainage on road, by the very heavy loaded vehicles ,leads
both side increase the etc. life of pavement. to failure of pavement in a very short time.
Shri G.S. Burli 2. The link roads, because of above reason, are
being used, by very heavily loaded vehicles,
1. Pavement deterioration on PMGSY roads carrying mining materials, quarry materials and
(Rural Roads) are substantially covered. consequent failure of pavement
2. Importance on maintenance 8 shoulders could 3. In rural areas, specially in cane growing areas,
have been covered in depth as well as on sugar factories and mills are located, in the
pavement. interior areas, and the transportation of cane in
heavily overloaded tractors and trucks ,causes
Shri P.D. Jamdar
complete deterioration of pavements which
Presentation with too many details index/figures. have not been designed for such loads.
quality control issue was missing. The material quality Again in these areas, the areas are selected on
index should have been considered as part of different road edges, where the cane is transported from
equations descripted in the paper. fields, and stacked and from these fields, the
transportation of cane is carried out by trucks
Shri J.L. Zutshi
which again are overloaded. I have seen complete
The authors have published a wonderful article on failure of roads within two, three years.
pavement deterioration of low volume roads and done 4. The transportation of paddy, and other produce
considerable lab-our in collecting and researching on is done by tractors which do not have tyres and
different roads and arrived on conclusions published in are mounted on spikes the heavy concentration
the paper. of load on these spikes, dig a trough in the black
topped surface.
However, I would like to bring out the major reasons
for deterioration of rural roads constructed under 5. The construction of stone masonry walling, on
PMGSY and financed by NRRDA. These reasons road edges, is not being done properly actually

the walling has rubble filling at the back and cm3, the problem of subgrade in submerge areas can
only a nice front. This is primarily because of be meet out by providing R.C.C. pavement in place of
poor supervision in very far off areas where P.C.C. as discussed above.
such roads are constructed.
For detail refer to paper entitled “Reinforced Cement
6. Wherever these roads pass through areas with Concrete Pavement for Village Roads in Alluvial
high water table, the embankment depth is not Region: A sustainable Option” published in the
adequate. It has been observed that the DPRs' Highway Research Journal Volume 5 No. 2.
are outsourced to private parties, who do not
have experienced staff and personal. This is The comments are very useful, important, and
not true for all cases, where the DPRs' are not exhaustive and improve the knowledge of pavement
prepared by competent consultants, the results failure.
are excellent.
Keeping in mind increasing cost and life of bituminous
Unless the projects are prepared after keeping all pavement, recurring expenditure in maintenance, poor
above considerations in view, most of the roads shall setup for maintenance for village road in case of flexible
deteriorate in a very small time frame. pavement R.C.C. pavement is more suitable option. We
should also think to avoid provision of P.C.C. pavement
Replies by the Author (Paper No. 587) in such areas where swelling conditions occur.
In reply to Shri N.G. Reddy’s comments, it is stated In response to Shri G. Sreedhar’s comments, the
as under: author agree with his views. The study conducted
that the removing of separation layer between PQC
Surface of flexible pavement often fully damaged in & DLC reduces, the thickness of the pavement even
submerged areas. Beside undulations while the surface upto modulus of sub grade reaction 2.0 kg/cm3. For the
of rigid pavement remains intact. region where expensive soils like laterite are existing.
R.C.C. pavement with reinforcement at top & bottom
The study is conducted in alluvial region where the
can be provided in place of P.C.C. pavement to meet
most of the part of this type of the region is formed by
out the stresses develop due to swelling pressures.
the silty or sandy soil. Theoretical and empirical solution is also possible in
such cases.
However, the places where expansive soil exist the
R.C.C. pavement having reinforcement at the top In reply to Er. Ravi Shankar Singhal’s comments, it is
and bottom of the slab can be a sustainable option in mentioned as under:
place of plain cement concrete because possibility of
development of tensile stress cannot be eliminated at 1. Yes this system can be applied in case of
the top of the surface in such cases. existing damaged flexible pavement. Most of
the village road are having WBM base painted
In collapsible soil mostly made up of sand with low by bituminous surface dressing or premix carpet
water content in such type of the area the confinement which almost remove with the span of time.
technique may be adopted. Only granular part of the pavement remains
there and that can be used as a base for the rigid
Crack due the shrinkage and reasons given in the
pavement.
comment can be controlled by providing R.C.C.
pavement as explained above. In such cases the modulus of sub grade reaction
can be fixed with the help of the correlation
The study already proved that the strength of subgrade between Bankelman Beam Deflection and K
is poor even upto Modulus of subgrade reaction - 2Kg/ Value developed by Sherman and Hannon in

1970. Bankelman deflection can be observed in joints of PQC independent. We are in the opinion of
the field. independent joint of PQC as cracks of PQC and DLC
2. The heavy vehicles are not pass over the is not easy to match. The adverse effect of the crack on
pavement as the peak hours of temperatures LC can be met out by other option such as providing
variation with the help of hourly traffic censes. extra thickness of PQC or by providing RCC pavement
It is observed peak hours of the temperature reinforcement at top and bottom.
variation are between 01.00 PM to 03.00 PM
and the heavy vehicles like trucks with the full In response to the comments of Mohd. Noor Alam’s it
of aggregate, and agriculture produce passes is mentioned that the LC and PQC have different grade
either in night or in the morning. of the concrete. The strength of PQC is higher than LC
and chances of reflecting cracks are minimum. If the
In reply to Shri A.K. Mishra’s comments, the author cracks of LC reflect on the PQC then it is certainly case
thanks for his valuable comments. of failure.
In reply to the comments made by Shri A.C. Srivastav, To check the reflecting crack on PQC the RCC pavement
it is mentioned that IRC:SP-62-2004 prescribe the with reinforcement at top and bottom may be providing
minimum grade for PQC M-30 which is a controlled
in case of plane concrete.
concrete and required modernized tool and plants
and skill. The village roads in Alluvial regions are It is not advisable to lay LC and PQC simultaneously
mostly of length 0.5 to 2 kilometres for such small because it is not required to get such condition for
and petty works as mentioned above system is hardly
composite effect. For contraction joint the friction
maintainable. Work can be only executed with the help
between two layers has an important role and spacing
of the local contractors. Minimum grade of M-20 is
of contraction joint may be decided accordingly. It is
proposed in place of M-30 concrete as can be executed
by with the help of the small and general T&P. not necessary to have full depth of contraction joint
in composite section. The strength of PQC can be
One may also raise a question about abrasion. A study increase to check reflection cracks or RCC pavement
has been conducted for the cases of slabs of the minor with reinforcement at top and bottom can be replaced
bridges and culverts which were constructed in early in place of PCC.
sixties to eighties with the M-15 and M-20 concrete are
found still satisfactory. LC and PQC has different physical properties but
thermal coefficient is not categorised grade wise as per
In response to Shri Govind Prasad Jaiswal’s IS:456 code.
comments. The author replied that the suggestions give
by Shri Jaiswal are valuable and can be used for further To avoid reflecting cracks in PQC either increase the
study. No comment has given on the effect of removing strength of PQC or provide RCC pavement.
separation layer between DLC and PQC.
In response to the comments by Shri Ajay Diwakar,
In reply to Dr. Rakesh Kumar’s comments, it is stated the author has stated that it is true in black cotton soil
that the strength of LC may vary and the equivalent PCC pavement may face problem in dry seasons due
thickness of the composite pavement may be calculated
to shrinkage and swelling in rainy season. Swelling
accordingly. In study M-10 Concrete has been used as
pressure and shrinkage create tension at the top of the
LC which has characteristic strength 10 N/mm2. The
surface and ultimately cracks develop to meet out such
roughening of the LC surface can be done at the time
problems RCC pavement with reinforcement at top
of construction.
and bottom is a sustainable option. For detail refer to
There are two ideas regarding the sawing of joints one paper entitled “Reinforced Cement Concrete Pavement
to match the joint PQC & LC and other one to make for Village Roads in Alluvial Region: A sustainable

Option” published in the Highway Research Journal at interior, edges based on Westargaard’s theory have
Volume 5 No. 2. been discussed. The formula for equivalence thickness
is also given.
1. Long term consolidation of B.C. soil may be
one of the cause cracks in the C.C. pavement. Replies by the Author (Paper No. 590)
2. Shrinkage in summer and swelling in rainy In reply to S/Shri K.C. Sharma and Shri Manzoor
reason may developed tension on the surface Hussain comments, the author mentioned that if
of pavement ultimately cause the cracks.The NRRDA provides the data related with axle loads and
strength of the subgrade represented by ‘K’ PCU for different village roads in India using NQM
value has little effect after 8Kg/cm3 which reports the suggested analysis can be done.
can be improved by proper stabilization and
providing drainage layer. In reply to Shri Kripal Singh’s comments, the authors
3. The remedy of such type of problem is has stated that for repair modalities of pavement per
only to provide RCC pavement providing annum & frequency of patch repair its materials may
Reinforcement at top and bottom for detail be studied in detailed by author in the next phase.
refer paper For detail refer to paper entitled
In reply to S/Shri Swapan Majumder and Shri G.S.
“Reinforced Cement Concrete Pavement for
Burli comments the author thanks for his valuable
Village Roads in Alluvial Region: A sustainable
comments.
Option” published in the Highway Research
Journal Volume 5 No. 2. Replying to the comments of Shri P.D. Jamdar, the
authors clarified that material quality Index is not
In reply to the comments of Shri Swapan Majumder,
considered in this paper, the separate equation can be
the author fully agreed with the comments and advise
developed for this.
go through paper entitled “Reinforced Cement Concrete
Pavement for Village Roads in Alluvial Region: A In reply to Shri J.L. Zutshi’s comments, the authors
sustainable Option” published in the Highway Research thank for the valuable comments. This study can be
Journal Volume 5 No. 2 which endorse the view. extended for link roads for heavy loaded vehicles
for mining materials, quarry materials & agriculture
In reply to Shri B.G. Baghavendra Prasad’s
products for the areas with high water table.
comments, it is mentioned as under:
Shri S. Sathish, (Co-Chairman’s Concluding Remarks)
1. Comments 1, 2 and 3 refer for further study.
2. For the village roads factor fatigue is very little Thank you very much Chairman. First of all I am
as mentioned in the code. very excited about Paper No. 590 both for Vandana
Tare and for audience. The State of Tamil Nadu have
In reply to Shri R.S. Sharma’s comments, the author already spearheaded decision making based support
stated that as per technical reasons the traffic cannot system for identifying priorities for maintenance.
be allowed over pavement before curing is completed. Financial crunches are there for allocation and need
However in the village roads before construction only based decisions to be made while prioritizing. There
cycle, motor cycle, bullock cart, tractors are passing has been wide coverage of data. The rigidness of any
through may be provided alternative routes. model depends on the wide variability of data or vide
variability in the selection criteria. The annual rainfall
In reply to Shri P.D. Jamadar’s comments, it is varies very widely, land use has also been considered
mentioned that in the paper formula for calculation which is also a soil support in case of the condition of
of stress due to wheel load and temperature variation road has been taken into account. While there is no

much move in the CVPD it is very much gradual or Shri G.C. Tallur (Chairman’s Concluding Remarks)
minimal ground water depth variation has also been
not very wide. The combined equation has considered I must thank the esteemed authors who presented
those pains taking prepared papers and I also thank my
all the aspects in determining the PCI quality index.
Co-Chairman who has made his learned comments
The state of Tamil Nadu has two advanced equipment
because his post in which he is now in Highway
first is data collection equipment with the assistance of
Research Station has his own hallowed history in the
World Bank and we have been collecting continuous Madras HRI. It is very recognized institute a part of the
data on pavement condition. Laser based system government department. I have only one comment to
which is mobile vehicle board system throughout warp up. Those who have been both the engineers and
the state and continuously collecting information also in decision making part, in the post of Secretaries
and this information is being transferred to a main or Principal Secretaries as we all know that when plan
server and that data is being pooled into software works are to be taken up or externally assisted major
which is dedicated for maintaining repair using works are to be taken up costing in thousands of crores
HDM techniques, using HDM2 that has been used strategic option studies are done and voluminous studies
for development of regression index based on which are done before we decide to deploy money on a project.
priority list is been rolled out and for various budget There is no adhocism in that. In adhocism we won’t get
assistance, soft loan assistance, from anywhere in the
constraints, free all budget is available based on need,
world. But once the projects are over and the agencies
there is one strategic model, again there is a crunch in
are receded to background whenever to maintain them
the finance then there is one model. There is a severity as I said with non-plan funds we yet to have to go a
index further one model is developed. So we have long way in insisting that we will maintain road based
such rugged model also been developed. Apart from on PCI prioritization and I would very earnestly like
Laboratory, Highway Research Station laboratory is to suggest that the days are not far away when the
also taking similar study where we have collected department or government will be subjected to the
nearly 90 stretches of varying wide conditions. questions by the people how the non-plan maintenance
My only comment is like that there has been good funds utilized because prioritizing based on the PCI for
historical data collection may be instead of marling maintenance is not the technical necessity at least to
we will move over to International Roughness Index optimization of funds and transparency. In adhocism
because marling is very primitive equipment may be there everything is opaque. Once the budget is passed
in the end of the February the non-plan funds are
because the stretches are quite say 500 m or 200 m
something that the departments have at their disposal,
may they have chosen marling. One more comment
to remove this opaquecity and bring in transparency
is that they have selected Subgrade moisture content
and optimized the funds and spend where necessary
as one of the conditions may be CBR which is more and not to spend where not necessary. PCI based
dominant and there is no mention about the renewal, prioritization for road maintenance is the only solution.
periodic renewal or maintenance that has been taken This could be a wonderful subject, where decision in
up. Nearly we have some four or five years data stead of continously maintaining routine management
collection is there as there has been any maintenance which could be just make over the shift. So I thank both
that have been accounted for. A very exhaustive the authors for presenting the excellent papers. Thank
Paper. you.

“Consistency Evaluation of Horizontal Curves on
Rural Highways”
By
A.U. Ravi Shankar, M.V.L.R. Anjaneyulu & N.J. Sowmya
&
Paper No. 598**
“Dynamic Vehicle Equivalent Factors for
Characterisation of Mixed Traffic for Multilane
Metropolitan Arterials in India”
By
Gaurang Joshi & Dinesh Vagadia
Shri C.C. Bhattacharya, (Chairman’s Opening Remarks) need has been felt to review the scope of IRC: 106.
The study has been carried out in seven metro cities
We have two very interesting Papers in this Session. to assess Dynamic Vehicle Evaluation Factors (DVEF)
First Paper No. 592 “Consistency Evaluation of i.e. Dynamic Car Unit (DCU) & Dynamic Two Wheeler
Horizontal Curves on Rural Highways” - Design Unit (DTU) on 3-lane arterial roads in different traffic
consistency in evaluation of operating speed in highway volume ratios as well as traffic movements scenario
design philosophy specially for horizontal element with type of interaction between various categories of
design has far-reaching effect on road safety which is traffic. The study captures real time results due to driver
the grave concern of the day. The research study has behavior and vehicle dimension with possible deviation
attempted to develop speed prediction model on safe due to presence of intersections and non-uniformity in
operating speed. The study conducted in intermediate traffic flow. The study suggests methodology to define
lanes on 55 road sections of NH and SH at 178 nos. DCU and DTU which can be very helpful to traffic and
of horizontal curves has established the existence of transportation planners. The IRC may take the outcome
a relationship between design consistency and safety of study in revision of IRC: 106 in course of time. Now,
level. The research findings can be extended to 2-lane I request Dr. N.J. Sowmya to give his presentation.
and more. Second Paper No. 598 “Dynamic Vehicle
The Authors made Power Point presentation of the
Equivalent Factors for Characterisation of Mixed
Paper Nos.592 & 598.
Traffic for Multilane Metropolitan Arterials in India”.
At present, traffic volume is estimated in terms of Paper No. 592
Standard Passenger Unit (PCU) as per IRC:106-1990
for urban roads with two sets of PCU values for 5/10 % Dr. S. Velmurugan
and more composition of various category of vehicles.
With the recent trends in traffic movement and present The paper is indeed a good research outcome evolved
generation vehicles of different dimensions coupled for typical rural highways. Like Intermediate/two Lane
with steady increase in volume of two wheelers, a Roads. I have the following view points on the paper.

186 Discussion on Paper No.592 & 598
Considering the R2 value evolved is too low coupled with observed volume by using reference values of DCU or
insignificant observed t-values, why the authors have DTU (as the case may be) given in Table 5 into equivalent
not attempted sophisticated techniques like Artificial DCUs or DTUs. Then, select DCU or DTU values for
Neural network (ANN) and Genetic Algorithm while different vehicle types according to corresponding
evolving speed Prediction Models? flow rates from Table 6. By applying these DCU/DTU
values, one gets final value of mixed traffic flow in
Paper No. 598 terms of equivalent DCUs or DTUs as the case may
be. The present study is limited to methodology for
Dr. S. Velmurugan
conversion of mixed traffic into equivalent car units or
I regard this is one of the excellent papers presented in two wheeler units for divided multilane carriageways
the Annual Session of IRC with the PAN-India research of arterial roads in Indian cities. Separate studies are
coverage on the capacity estimation of Urban Roads necessary for estimation of capacity for such roads.
worthy of consideration for IRC research. I Feel the However, the methodology suggested in the present
study outcome would of immense use in the ongoing paper can be used to convert mixed traffic volume in
efforts of CSIR-CRRI towards the Development of terms of DCUs or DTUs.
Indian Highway Capacity Manual (Indo-HCM). Shri S.K. Mehta (Co-Chairman’s Concluding Remarks)
I have the following observations/clarification sought The efforts made by the authors of paper number 592
on the research outcome. For a practice Engineer, how and 598 are laudable. They have made in-depth study of
he has to go about in applying the DCV/DTU values the geometrics of rural highways and multilane traffic
evolved in this study (based on traffic composition) and in metropolitan cities. Co-related with the above, there
while evolving roadway capacity? is need of the hour is to formulate a system in every
State to keep watch on increase to in vehicular traffic
Replies by the Author (Paper No. 592)
on State highways, District highways and Metropolitan
In response to Dr. S. Velmurugan’s comments, it roads. It is not difficult to identify the locations of jams
is informed that in this study all the possibilities of and increase in volume of traffic.
statistical analysis (Linear and non-linear) were tried In metropolitan cities and towns the drainage problems
using SPSS software to predict speed prediction models. are hazardous.
Hence, authors have not attempted sophisticated
techniques like Artificial Neural network (ANN) and Executive engineer of respective PWD, Development
Genetic Algorithm while evolving speed Prediction Authorities and Municipal Corporation should adopt the
Models. model of Shridharan to have a pivotal role for quality
and speedy improvement of road infrastructure within
The presented speed prediction models are very near their jurisdiction which start with fast administrative
to the R2 values of speed prediction models given by approval and approval of tenders thereof.
the developed countries. This study is mainly to know
the affect of geometric variables on speed. The speed Further, parking spaces need to be built fast in the cities
is also affected by driver’s behavior and his experience and towns throughout the country. Thank you
etc., which are not considered during the study. Shri C.C. Bhattacharya, (Chairman’s Concluding Remarks)
We had excellent presentations by the Authors. The type
In reply to Dr. S. Velmurugan’s comments, it is of response the presentations evoked is really good. I
mentioned that practicing engineer can convert the thank all the Authors and participants for cooperation
mixed traffic volume by first converting the desired/ and support. Thank you very much.

“Evaluation of Design of Geocell Reinforced Unpaved Roads”
By
Jyothi P. Menon & G.L. Sivakumar Babu
&
Paper No. 603**
“Landslide Hazard Database and Inventory – Focus on A
Suitable Methodology for India”
By
Shanal Pradhan, Kishore Kumar and S. Gangopadhyay
Shri S.S. Porwal (Chairman Opening Remarks) Paper No. 604

We have two Papers for discussion in this Session. Paper Shri Siddhartha Sankar Sarmah
No. 603 Landslides hazard data base and inventory is
an important aspects for landslides managements in What is the cost of application of Geocell technology?
hill road, as these provide valuable information for Shri Kripal Singh
local population as well as, Govt. Functionaries to
deal the situation and these data base will be handy 1. Behavior of Geocell in alluvial/black Cotton
for overall planning and mitigation measures. The soil.
Kedarnath disaster of 16th June 2013 is wake up call for
2. Cost effectiveness of Geo cell in the flexible
hill road engineers and hill road management cannot
pavement.
be taken lightly. A lot need be done climate change,
GLOF and landslide issues. The GLOF could be one 3. Behavior of Geo cell is submerging portion of
of the possibilities of Kedarnath tragedy as two Glacial pavement.
lake situated above temple and one might got busted in
evening and one next morning, when huge discharge Shri R.K. Jaigopal
observed for short duration with huge boulder and lot 1. Easy design formula’s for a geocell on roads
of silt and Paper No. 604 The Geocell is promising new
not available right now - How to design?
technology being used widely throughout the world and
the evaluation of design and relevant information will 2. Is geocell only for reduction of GSB? Can it be
be very useful for unpaved road. In Geocell the local used in Rigid Pavements with (i) Low strength
soil and locally available materials are filled up and the concrete like M10 or with High strength concrete
confinement give the strength to materials filled in. Time like M40.
has come to go big for new materials and technology in
highway sector. This paper provides useful information Shri K.S.K. Reddy
to all highway engineers. I request all the Authors to 1. How it behaves for capillary rise that too in heavy
come on the dais and make their presentations. rainfall area. Have you tried anywhere?
The Authors made Power Point presentation of the 2. How about drainage.
Paper Nos. 604 & 603.

Replies by the Author (Paper No. 604) pavements that are likely to have submergence
problem.
In reply to Shri Siddarth Sankar Sarmah’s comments,
it is mentioned that the Geocells are available in In response to the comments of Shri Jaigopal it is
different heights and a typical 125mm high geocell mentioned as under:
costs vary from Rs.300-400 per sqm excluding the cost 1. The confining effect of geocells on the aggregates
of infill material such as GSB. can be evaluated in terms of composite modulus
of geocell and aggregate and the method has
In response to the comments of Shri Kripal Singh it been presented in the previous IRC paper by
is mentioned as under: the authors. These formulas can be used to
derive equivalent E value and use it in design
1. Geocell improves the performance of the roads as per IRC 37- 2012.
depending on the location at which it is laid. At the
2. Geocells can be used for reduction of GSB
subgrade level, it increases the bearing capacity in pavement layer and to increase the bearing
of the subgrade considerably. Hence in the case capacity at subgrade level. Studies on the use
of alluvial subgrade it is effective for subgrade of geocell in concrete pavements are in initial
improvement. Even in the case of black cotton stages.
soils, the use of geocells is likely to be effective In response to the comments of Prof. K.S.K. Reddy it
as the swelling and shrinkage of the black cotton is mentioned as under:
soil can be withstood by the geocell mattress due
1. Geocells are likely to be effective in areas
to flexibility in bending and bending resistance. of heavy rainfall. Perforations in the geocell
However field and laboratory studies are required enable drainage at the same time retaining
in this direction and it is hoped that MoRTH confining effect for the infill material under
sponsors research in this direction. saturated conditions. Capillary rise is more in
the case of clays compared to gravels and sands
2. Cost effectiveness of the geocell in flexible and when cohesionless materials are used as
pavement primarily depends on the CBR of infill materials, capillary rise is less.
the subgrade soil, axle loading and definitely 2. It is better to have good drainage material as
it is expected that the performance of geocell infill material as the perforations in the geocell
reinforced section is better that of conventional enable drainage.
section at comparable cost, and it is likely to be Shri S.S. Porwal, (Chairman’s Concluding Remarks)
cheaper based on life cycle costs.
Both the presentations were interesting as it generated
3. Geocell provide erosion resistance to the lot of interest in audience. Paper No 603 is well presented
submerged portion of the highway and the relevant aspects and similarly the Paper No 604
also provided the useful information for Highway
confine and retain the material under saturated
Engineers. Thanks to audience and both presenter for
condition. Hence they are also better suited to excellent presentation.

“Distresses in Cement Concrete Pavements – A Case Study”
By
A.K. Mishra, Renu Mathur, Rakesh Kumar, J.B. Sengupta and Dinesh Ganvir
&
Paper No. 601**
“Rehabilitation and Upgradation of An Existing Airfield
Runway Pavement for Operation of Next Generation Aircrafts”
By
Rahul Oberoi & A. Veeraragavan
Shri R.K. Jain, (Chairman’s Opening Remarks) causes of failures and suggesting remedial measures to
make it serviceable up to targeted life span. I feel that
We have two papers, 600 and 601. The authors will now the causes of failures has not been investigated properly,
present the papers. The topics are very timely. The paper which is very necessary so that precaution may done in
No. 600 is on “Distress in Cement Concrete Pavements similar future projects. In introduction you have rightly
– A Case Study”. There is urgent need of case studies written the objective and scope of the works, but any
for repairs carried out and the Second Paper No. 601 work cannot function properly, provided these are
is in respect of “Rehabilitation and Upgradation of properly designed, constructed and maintained as per
An Existing Airfield Runway Pavement for Operation specification.” This means that without proper design,
of Next Generation Air Crafts”. The paper is very proper quality control of execution of all the structure
absorbing and very much interesting. There is urgent item e.g. sub grade, DLC, PQC etc. Modern designers
need for design of run-ways/taxiways compatible design very safe structures so that it may not fail due
to higher loads of the modern day planes using our to design lapses. Authors should have investigated
defence air-fields. Now I call upon Dr. Rakesh Kumar thoroughly that was it constructed with requisite quality
Co-author of Paper No. 600 and after that Lt. Colonel of various items of works, for which authors are totally
Oberoi will make the presentation. silent hence this investigation may be incomplete in
this respect. Everybody know how the quality control
The Authors made Power Point presentation of the is being done in many projects by the contractor as
Paper Nos.600 & 601. well as consultant quality control staff when nobody
feels personal or in group responsibility. The target of
Paper No. 600
contractors are to fetch more and more profit. All the
Shri Ved Prakash Gupta quality of works may be ok in records, based on bulky
test reports prepared by contractors and consultants.
I have gone through above paper authored by you. This Probable distress causes due to execution deficiencies
paper has been written with intention to explore various in quality has not been explored at all although it is

must. All the specifications have large range of factor sub grade similar to the types of many cracks
of safety for reasonable lapses in quality control, as happened in this case of premature failure
loading, weather changes effect and all sort of stresses also.
and strains etc. Any structure cannot perform well for
(11) Is GSB of proper quality.
lapses in gross deficiency in quality of works, while
cement works are very sensitive to quality lapses and (12) Any other required test to ensure quality of
nothing can be improved or modified at a later stage. work of executed items of the project.
In my opinion the following causes for PQC, DLC In this respect a small paper “Repair and Rehabilitation
etc works failures should have been investigated by of Damaged Cement Concrete Pavement” written by
your institution independently ignoring test reports of me published in IRC Indian Highways in the month of
contractors and consultants. February 2009 may also be viewed for exploring the
causes of distress and remedial measures which may
(1) Was the cement, sand, grit of requisite quality be found more appropriate and much economical than
and ratio with respect to design of PQC and suggested remedial measures in your paper and may it
DLC. be kept in mind in future case studies.
(2) Was water quality, water cement ratio, ratio
Now my comment and suggestion for remedial
of cement sand grit, mixing and placing and
measures are as below.
compaction was as per design.
(3) Was cement works done with all precautions, For Para 3:- I think that the causes of distress as written
do’s and don’ts required for PQC, DLC and in your paper are ok and such longitudinal, transverse
RMC works. cracks and corners breaking are due to poor quality and
improper compaction of GSB and DLC.
(4) Was appropriate chemical in quantity and
quality used as retarder of initial setting time In this case let us assume PQC and DLC behaves in
etc. composite form as lying on a soil bed just like a rigid,
(5) Was curing of PQC and DLC done properly as brittle glass plate is lying on a table top. If glass plate
per requirement. surface has a close contact with surface of the table
top then any pointed load or repetitive load or moving
(6) Was DLC of requisite thickness, quality and
load as that of vehicles on PQC and DLC shall go on
strength along with ratio of the mix.
moving like vehicle moving without any appreciable
(7) Was joint cutting done in time at required depression i.e. without any breakage failure because all
locations? loads shall get transferred to the table top and glass shall
(8) Was dowel bars placed properly with requisite not be subjected to appreciable strain or deflection as to
sleeves for free movement of one end and was cause tension and its breakage since glass can not bear
it functioning well during your investigation. any tension it self. If there is a little gap between glass
plate and table top or table top is soft to be depressed
(9) If sleeves are not proper then joints shall not
more than permissible limit of glass plate then whole
function being jammed or fixed and cracks are
of the load has to be born by glass plate itself and after
bound to happen away from both ends of the
a tolerable limit of strain it shall break in pieces with
dowel bars.
all sort of full depth transverse, longitudinal and other
(10) If DLC does not has required strength then it cracks as happened in this case described in your paper.
may not propagate distribution of load on sub The same theory applies to the DLC, PQC pavements
grade and may cause unequal settlement in also.

Discussion on Paper No.600 & 601 191
Void formed between PQC and underlying layers has to be 10 mm wide. The probable causes of distress
to be filled up by a reasonable strong mass by grouting shown in last 2 sub-para of main Para No.4 are not
as explained in my above mentioned paper, to function convincing and not acceptable. Most important aspect
properly for the future designed life with much for examination is whether (a) the design of pavement
economy. The repair and remedial measures suggested was defective and/or (b) the quality and workmanship
in your paper may last only for few years and cracks, were not upto the mark. In a rigid pavement, the aspect
damages may reappear again since actual causes has of strength of concrete is not that causative factor as
not been tackled although quality of PQC seems good compared to the supporting structure both underneath
as detailed in Table 2.
as well as on the side of shoulders.
In addition to my last comment, I stress that any civil
Paper No. 601
structure with proper design cannot fail before its
designed life until there is gross defect in the quality Shri Vikas Thakar
of works. Therefore in every premature civil structure
failure enquiry, it should be mandatory that first of 1. As Hotmix material is Viscoelastic in nature
all, detailed enquiry should be made to assess the and response is dependent on stress level, is any
deficiency in quality of various items of works at the special test method used to determine modulus
time of execution and their effect on performance of of HMA.
structure. If this failure and huge financial loss is due to
poor quality of works, then all the execution agencies 2. What temperature modulus is determined
should be punished severely so that such recurrence and which test/equipment used to determine
may not happen in future due to fear in there mind. modulus of layers?
Some other necessary measure should also be taken to
Shri S.M. Ramchandani
ensure good requisite quality of works. At present no
body feel any responsibility. 1. Any impact load considerations in the airfield
design of Runway?
Shri N.G. Vakharia
2. What imputs are given in the software used for
Authors have not given the basic data as to the design overlay design for rehabilitation?
of the CC pavement, according to which the same was Replies by the Author (Paper No. 600)
constructed. Design parameters such as (a) design traffic
(b) design life (c) wheel load (d) grade of concrete etc While replying to Shri Ved Prakash Gupta and
are important data-base. Similarly (a) the thickness of Shri Vakharia’s comments, the Authors generals
pavement (b) crust thickness and its composition below comments on pavement failures are as under. Four
pavement (c) design and spacing of construction joint major reasons for the pavement failure can broadly be
(d) design and spacing of expansion joint (e) details categorized as given below:
of levelling course etc are missing in the Paper. The
suitability of suggested remedial measures in the Paper Improper Design
can be looked into and can be commented upon, only
after the above basic parameters are furnished to the Improper Construction Practices
interested members of IRC. Use of Inferior/Sub-standard Materials
It is a disgrace to the engineering community and NHAI Lack of Post-construction Maintenance

that the pavement should show such large-scale distress The Rigid pavement on Allahabad By-pass from
to the extent as shown in para 4 of the paper. Paper gives km100 to 158 (Fatehpur –Kokhraj section) of NH-2
an impression that maximum width of the crack is 2.5 was constructed in 2004 and CRRI investigated the
mm but actually, the crack shown in Fig. 11 appears pavement in year 2008.

The major objectives of the work were post-failure of design parameters are not needed in this paper as
assessment of the causes and quantum of damaged the failure has occurred in a certain portion of road at
concrete slabs. Selection of panels to be rehabilitated different locations and related to construction aspect.
or replaced and to suggest the remedial measures to If the design parameters had been responsible then
prevent further deterioration of the cracked panels. the position and nature of cracks might have entirely
different than what was observed in this study.
In response to Shri Ved Prakash Gupta’s comments:
The width of the crack in photo 11 is 5 to 8mm with
Comments - 1 to 6 are exclusively pertain to construction spalling of 10-20 mm which has been mentioned in the
phase of the road. At investigation phase only records paper. The figure 11 is enlarged intentionally to show
speak about them. the crack clearly.
Comment - 7. In section 4, of the paper it is clearly The paper clearly mentions that the failure is due to
mentioned, “the cores taken from the adjacent tied late saw cutting of joint which is related to construction
shoulders showed that joint cuts had not induced under aspect of the rigid pavement. It is accepted that the
the saw cut in-spite of adequate saw cut depth indicating strength of the concrete is not only causative factor as
delayed sawing operation for the joints.” compared to the supporting structure both underneath
as well as on the side of the shoulders. Moreover, it
Comment - 8. The major distress was continuous
is the nature of the failure which indicates whether
longitudinal cracks extending to several slabs in a certain
portion of the road which is not due to misalignment of supporting or concrete or construction practices or
dowel bar and its sleeve. maintenance or combinations are responsible factors.
Comment - 9. Already replied in 8. Replies by the Author (Paper No. 601)
Comment - 10. The thickness of the DLC and the In response to the clarifications sought by Shri Thakar,
strength of the DLC were checked and were found the authors wish to inform that the three candidate tests
O.K. It is to be noted that global practice for base namely dynamic modulus, flow time and flow number
course where lean concrete of strength significantly were identified by NCHRP 513, 2003 project to critical
lesser than DLC is used without causing problems as evaluate the mixtures designed using Superpave method
you have envisaged in this comment. for their performance. These three parameters were
found to correlate with field rutting and fatigue cracking.
Comment -11. Quality of GSB was checked and was The effect of time and temperature on the behaviour of
it was O.K. the viscoelastic materials can be described by fitting
master curve using time-temperature superposition
Comment - 12. The query pertaining to other tests principle. The hypothesis behind the time-temperature
related to the quality of work …... As mentioned earlier, principle is that the mechanical response of visco-
the study was not intended to ensure quality of work elastic materials at high temperature and high strain
executed items rather it was post-failure investigation
rate is similar to that of low temperature and low strain.
for specific purposes.
Temperature dependency of visco-elastic materials
Authors do not agree at all with the remedial measures can be accounted by the amount of shifting required at
suggested by Shri V.P. Gupta for para 3, for this study. each temperature as per NCHRP 614, 2008. The tests
were conducted at different temperatures and hence
Reply to Shri N.G.Vakharia’s, it is to be noted that the modulus at any temperature can be obtained. The
the study pertain to a National Highway. The failure Simple Performance Tester (SPT) has been used to
is not related to the design parameters. The inclusion determine the modulus values.

In response to the clarifications sought by paper for various distresses and should be executed at
Shri Ramchandani, it is informed that impact loads the earliest to strengthen the distressed pavement and
have not been considered in the design. The inputs to prevent further deterioration. The Paper No.601
required for the overlay design are, the properties of “Rehabilitation and Upgradation of An Existing Airfield
subgrade soil and pavement component layer materials, Runway Pavement for Operation of Next Generation
predicted air traffic and equivalent annual number of Aircrafts”- the main cause of distress i.e. surface and
repetitions of the aircraft, percentage of annual growth sub surface drainage have been very well highlighted
of traffic for different types of aircrafts and the design by the authors. The concept of life cycle cost analysis
life. has been appropriately and aptly used by the Authors. It
is only occasional that we get such real life case studies
Shri K. Sitaramanjaneyulu (Co-Chairman’s
Concluding Remarks) which are very educative. The present paper is one
such very good case study for future guidance. Thank
We had two excellent Papers, very good presentations you very much.
and very lively intervention. The Paper No.600
“Distresses in Cement Concrete Pavements – A Case Shri R.K. Jain (Chairman’s Concluding Remarks)
Study”. The author mentioned that the causes for the
cracks are the late sawing of the longitudinal joint, The author made power-point presentation. The papers
drying shrinkage loss of support. Hardening and were very well received by the audience. There was
loss of joint sealant and intrusion of incompressible lively floor intervention. I thank the author for nice
materials in the joints are adding to the problem of presentations and the audience for lively discussion
cracks. Remedial measures have been suggested in the and patient hearing.

‘Full Scale Field Performance Study on SBS Modified and
Conventional Bitumen in Bituminous Concrete Surface
Subjected to Heavy Traffic”
By
P.K. Jain
&
Paper No. 591**
“Study on Rutting Characteristics of Bituminous Binders
and Mixes”
By
I. Srinivasa Reddy & M. Amaranatha Reddy
Shri S.K. Puri (Chairman’s Opening Remarks) his presentation
Good morning delegates. Sorry that we have started The Authors made Power Point presentation of the
the session late but no problem, the organizers have Paper Nos.588, & 591.
informed that we have enough time and the session
could be suitably extended if required. Introduction of Paper No. 588
the authors have already been done. We all know that in
Shri R.B. Singh
the last 10-15 years the way road development has been
taken up in our country, User’s expectations have now
1. Mainly two types of polymers-SBS & EVA
increased manifold in terms of quality and durability.
are being used as bitumen modifying agents
Also in the recent past there is heavy growth of new
in India. The new guidelines IRC:SP:53-2010
generation heavy vehicles on Indian roads. Although
for use of modified bitumen binders in flexible
we started using modifiers long back, but somehow
proper research in regard to introduction of these highway pavements layers-DBM & BC have
modifiers was very slow. The research is continuing but been published as an attempt to address the
still, the confidence level has not been built up. Lot of strength, water induced damages, over-loading
issues have been raised by the profession on this issue. and durability of pavement with respect to
I think efforts by the authors to do more research in this designed & estimated service life.
field and present their findings through these papers is Now the modified binders are evaluated for
an effort so that we have more and more confidence
properties and used by a single criteria of
level and would like to use these modifiers which are
available now in market so that we can have more pavement temp-low, med. & high and CRMB or
durable roads. I would request my Co-Chair Dr Sunil PMB-modified by SBS or EVA are not relevant
Bose to make his concluding remarks after presentation as new guidelines deals with performance and
of the Papers. I would now invite Dr. Jain first to make not on material characteristics.

I would like to know the suitability of SBS and This correlation has importance for field labs of
EVA modified bitumen binders based on study NHAI projects, where the direct shear rheometer is
of nos. of samples for rutt resistance properties not available (prohibitive cost~30 lacs of imported
evaluated by the new test introduced for Shear eqpt) & absolute viscosity (glass capillary vacuum
Modulus G* & Phase Angle-Sin delta. viscometer) test on bitumen binders is being done as
routine QA-QC test. Also the rheometer test facility is
Also, I would like to take this opportunity to available only in six labs (IIT Kharagpur, IITM, IIP,
point out, that the Shear Modulus G* test has CRRI, Delhi & ANULAB-Agra (NABL Accredited) in
been introduced almost three year before, but it the country even after 4 years of incorporation of the
has not been in practice by the highway projects test in IRC:SP58-2010.
so far. The facility developed by NABL labs,
CRRI, IIP & IIT, Karagpur are seldom used for Shri B.T. Jawalendra Kumar
G* & Sin delta of modified bitumen binder 7 still
the old-obsolete IRC:SP:53-2002 is being used. G* sher module is a complex modules which is
the total resistance and the binder to deformation
2. Same is the case for anti-stripping/retained when repeatedly sheared. It consist of two
coating/water induced damages to bituminous components i) Elastic – recoverable ii) Non-
mixes, when evaluated as per IS 6241 and recoverable. Both temperature & frequency
AASHTO T283-07. We would like to know- and loading significantly varies the value G*
which would be better suited SBS or EVA and for asphalt binder.
modified binder.
What should be value and G* phase angle for
Paper No. 591 rutting resistance?
Shri Ashutosh Mishra Shri Mayur Vora
1. Have you taken over dimensional and Are any results available regarding Rutting
overweight vehicle consideration in your Comparative studies by use of VG-30/40 &
study? PMB for SMA in comparison with DBM. SMA
in comparison with BC by using the above
2. Have you included different type of aggregate
Binders VG 30/40 & PMB.
in your study.
Shri R.B. Singh
In Reply to Shri R.B. Singh’s comments, it is mentioned
The correlation between rutting/rutt resistance of as under:
modified bitumen binders and recently introduced
high temp. super-pave-performance tests for the 1. IRC:SP:53-2002 is more scientific then
modified bitumen binders as per the guidelines IRC:SP:53-2010. There is immediate need to
IRC:SP:53-2010 for use of modified binders for flexible revise IRC:SP:53-2010. IRC:SP:53-2002 was
highway pavements layers-DBM & BC. drafted on the basis of extensive studies (field
and laboratory). Modified bitumen meeting
Whether the absolute viscosity of modified bitumen IRC:SP:53-2010 are not likely to perform as
binder determined at a 60 degree centigrade has useful code is drafted without performance data.
correlation with Shear Modulus-G*, determined at 76
degree centigrade or resilient modulus test on sinusoidal 2. Properties of aggregate matter much in this
loading UTM. case. There is a need of the study using MIST

which correlates with actual field conditions. VG-40 and PMB are not included in the objectives of
This system is available at CRRI Studies are in the present study.
progress at CRRI using MIST conditioning.
Dr. Sunil Bose (Co-Chairman’s Concluding Remarks)
We had an interesting paper which was presented
In Reply to Shri Ashutosh Mishra’s comments, it is by Dr. Jain. A number of trials have been carried out
mentioned as under: using different types of Polymers by CRRI under my
guidance but these have not been reported in the paper.
1. The above parameter is not included in the One such polymer is a Ethylene Ter Polymer and
study this has been extensively used successfully used on a
2. Only one type of aggregate is used in the present number of projects.
study.
The main problem which forced us to change the
In reply to Shri R.B. Singh’s comments, it is old IRC: SP: 53 to its present version was that some
mentioned that Correlation between absolute viscosity manufacturers started using crumb rubber and by adding
of any bitumen binder 60 degree centigrade and Shear a very small percentage of polymer were able to meet
Modulus-G* at 76 degree can be developed. But the Specifications for PMB 40, 70 and 120 leading to
sample size (no. of binders) should be adequate to inferior products being sold in the market. This forced
include variation in the binders, especially modified the committee to adopt a uniform temperature based
binders, as these are being produced by no. of agencies Specifications with addition of Shear Rheometer value
in the country. However it is not possible to develop requirement to prevent adulteration of the product and
correlation between absolute viscosity binder 60 degree to meet the Specifications to ensure quality.
and resilient modulus test on sinusoidal loading UTM
I would like to put on record that for Indian Conditions
as aggregate parameters also plays a significant role in
because of high pavement temperatures the plastomer
the resilient modulus values.
modified bitumen is better than elastomer type
In reply to Shri B.T. Jawalendra Kumar’s comments, bitumen. This has been proved by our field trials.
it is stated that as per Superpave specifications, G*/ sin Another misconception is that high values of elastic
δ value for unaged binders should have a minimum of recovery mean better quality of modified binder, it is
1 kPa and aged binders it should be 2.2 kPa. only a marketing gimmick in reality elastic recovery is
a measure of the quantity of polymer that has attached
In reply to Shri Mayur Vora’s comments, it is itself into the binder, but in no way does it indicate its
mentioned that SMA mixes prepared using VG 30, performance. Thank you.

“ANALYTICAL DESIGN OF SHORT PANELLED CONCRETE PAVAMETS”
By
Arun Chand, M.V. & B.B. Pandey
&
Paper No. 595**
“Performance Evaluation of Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA)
Using Low Cost Fibers”
By
K.B. Raghuram & Venkaiah Chowdary
Shri V.L. Patankar (Chairman Opening Remarks) Paper No. 605
In this Technical Session two Paper are scheduled for Shri N.G. Vakharia
discussion. The first Paper is on “Analytical Design of
Short Panelled Concrete Pavamets” by Arun Chand, The paper deals with the aspects of concrete panel of
M.V. & B.B. Pandey and the Second Paper is on short-size of 0.5 m x 0.5 m of 100 mm thickness and
“Performance Evaluation of Stone Matrix Asphalt 1 m x 1 m of 150 mm thickness. The paper is suggesting
(SMA) Using Low Cost Fibers” by K.B. Raghuram & essentially that such panels can be used advantageously
Venkaiah Chowdary. for low and slow traffic on village roads and toll plaza.
Now, this is rather preposterous. 0.5 m x 0.5 m is the size
Both the papers are very interesting and deals with of tiles now-a-days used for flooring in a house! Even
the futuristic aspects of road construction. Analytical little larger size of 0.6 m x 0.6 m of tiles is in vogue as a
Design of Short Panelled Concrete Pavamets brings flooring in buildings.
out the sustainable and economical pavements
construction suitable for village roads, bus and truck Short-sized panel means introduction of “artificial”
parking areas and toll plaza SMA is known for better cracks in the form of construction joints, thereby
resistance to rutting but it is associated with a common preventing ill-shaped linear cracks giving shabby look.
draw back of asphalt draindown. This paper throws This is something like misguiding the non-technical
light on the use of various low cost stablisers and high travelling public. If this is the motive, then the precast
viscocity binders as draindown retarders. However, paver blocks which are in vogue and which has already
further research is called for on these subjects, may gained popularity and is being used aggressively in areas
be case studies and pilot test stretches in order to instil like parking places, campus development, junctions
more confidence to end users. Now I request Dr. B.B. of highways etc in a big way is a solution. Precast
Pandey to present his Paper. concrete paver block mean lots of construction joints.
The Authors made Power Point presentation of the Paper Paver block has other advantages also and is economical
Nos.605 & 595. because it does not need stiff support and can be easily

replaced. Conclusions drawn at the end of the paper are 50 km low volume roads completed. (These are
also of obvious nature, which does not need any field- done on existing BT in fair conditions)
experimentation or research work thereon. Such a paper 2. But short panelled slabs on DLC has not been
can be said to be written for the sake of writing. tried. What happens in case of transverse cracks
Shri Samiran Sen in DLC layer? Will they propagate in short
panel slab?
Since the technique is primarily non-mechanized, it is
applicable to lower order roads. What is its future in Shri Prakash D. Mamdapure
long stretches of highways?
1. Is short Panelled concrete used on any heavy
Shri R.K. Jain traffic corridor in India? If yes what are the
results?
1. How much is the likely cost saving vs 2. If slab is cut upto half the depth what will be
conventional PQC with dowel bars for the same the effect?
life of 30 years.
2. After 8-10 years the aggregate interlock will be Paper No. 595
very less due to polishing because of up-down
Shri Sapan Mishra
movement of two adjacent slabs. Ultimately
the aggregate interlock will be minimum. Do To address drain down problem, can't we lower down
you propose retrofitting of dowel bars (1`6 the mixing temperature; in addition to stabilizers".
mm or so) in transverse direction. If so at what Actually this suggestion is based on experimental strip
percentage of Load Transfer Efficiency. of porous asphalt pavement for rain water harvesting
3. Any inconvenience in (a) ride quality (b) in constructed by Jaipur Development Authority. An
noise level. article is already published in Indian Highways March
14 issue, "Design Construction and Performance of
Shri S.M. Ramchandani Porous Asphalt Pavement for Rain Water Harvesting.
For porous asphalt wearing course the mixing
1. What is the likely life in tems of MSA for such temperature was taken as 120 degree centigrade
overtopping? for PMB 40. Schulenburg binder drainage test was
2. What strain/stress under the white topping after conducted on trial mix. Results obtained were well
a lapse of a year or two of laying? below the acceptable maximum limits.
Shri Kripal Singh Shri B.B. Ikhe
In small panels, edges would be much more in numbers Can we use plastic bottles as waste fiber material? If
on rigid pavement than larger panelled pavement, how yes what will be result.
could breakage of edge, would prevented.
Shri Samiran Sen
Small panels would have more friction due to more
The treatment to produce SMA involves increasing
joints, hence small panels will behave as speed breakers bituminous binder content and then adding stabilisers
to vehicles. What measures would be taken to avoid to reduce drain down. Does the process justify SMA as
more friction on surface. an economical solution to rutting?
Shri Vikas Thakar Replies by the Author (Paper No. 605)
1. Experience with short paneled slabs (l m x l m While replying to the comments of Shri N.G. Vakharia,
& 125 mm thick) is very good in Pune – above the author has said that Shri Vakharia has missed the

point that the panels are formed by saw cutting to 1/4th 3. The riding quality is found to be similar to a rigid
to 1/3rd the depth of the cast in situ slab and the zig zag pavements already constructed in Karnataka,
cracks that may form in thin weakened slabs may extend Pune and West Bengal and the noise level also
to full depth of the slab ensuring interlocking and load is similar.
transfer at joints. Shorter is the panel size better is the
load transfer for a given panel size. Shorter is the panel In reply to the comments of Shri S.M. Ramchandani’s
comments, it is mentioned as under:
size, lower are flexural stresses due to wheel load. The
pavement slab is cast in the field itself and it is cheaper 1. Such pavements are to be designed on the basis
than pre-cast blocks. Precast blocks have poor riding of axle loads rather than MSA as per the design
quality. Punching into the lower layer due to lack load method for rigid pavement.
transfer at joints is not uncommon The main purpose of
the paper was to determine the stresses due wheel loads 2. If the sub base is not erodible, the flexural
for different thickness of slabs and different panel sizes stresses will not increase after a year or two of
so that an engineer have different options for pavement traffic repetitions.
design. Such solutions are not available. Joint cutting In reply to Shri Kripal Singh’s comments, it is
in a thin slab can be done even with a stone cutter. mentioned that the joints are saw cut of width about
This was implemented in West Bengal in two projects 3-5 mm and there is little chance of breakage of joint
related to a city street and a village road. Concrete road edges by traffic. The riding is much smoother than
with short panels can be constructed at same cost as the conventional pavements in which the joint width
flexible pavement with the added advantage of little is about 10 mm. One can travel on such pavements in
maintenance. Panelled concrete pavement has also Bangalore, Pune, Burdwan and Kontai in West Bengal
been used with success on heavily travelled four lane to satisfy himself/herself.
divided highways and many city streets.
In response to Shri Vikas Thakar’s comments, it is
In reply to the comments of Shri Samiran Sen, mentioned that the High strength DLC is not required
the author clarified that it can be manual as well as below panelled concrete or even conventional concrete
mechanised. Major highways also can be constructed pavements as per the experience in USA. If the low
with panel size of 1.0 m to 2.0 m. Cost of joint cutting is strength DLC(UCS= 5 MPa) is cracked, the cracks may
much less than the savings that is obtained by reduction not propagate to upper layer. If DLC is of high strength
in thickness of slab. Please see the reply to comments (7 day UCS=10 MPa), bond breaking layer will not
1. allow the cracks to develop in panelled concrete.
In reply to the comments of Shri R.K. Jain’s comments, In reply to Shri Prakash D. Mamdapure’s comments,
it is mentioned as under: it is mentioned as under:
1. It was constructed over (i) Outer ring road of
1. Cost savings may be about 30%. It may be much
Bangalore(Four lane divided highway with
less if interest and cost of the rehabilitation is
heavy traffic (ii) A 15 m wide heavily trafficked
considered. Total initial cost is comparable to
city street road in Madiwala in Bangalore
that of a flexible pavement.
(ii) heavily trafficked city street in Pune. All are
2. Since panel size is small, the expansion and behaving well.
contraction of a panel also will be less.ence
aggregate interlock may remain intact for a 2. Load transfer at the joints will be much less due
longer time. Fibres used in concrete will ensure to lower Interlocking if the slab is cut upto half
load transfer at saw cut joints. Since there is the depth.
limited experience on this type of pavement Replies by the Author (Paper No. 595)
in India under heavy traffic condition, future
performance of the constructed pavements of In response to the comments of Shri Sapan Mishra,
this type will answer the questions. reducing the mixing temperature will reduce the

draindown due to increase in viscosity of the binder. So definitely, we should switch over such types of short
However, the mixing and compaction temperature panelled pavement concrete. But I personally believe
which depends on the type of binder is determined that they need further case studies, trials stritches and
from viscosity – temperature relationship of the binder. we must encourage such things. Economically, the cost
In order to achieve proper workability and coating of increased or decreased by about 30 -35% it sounds
bitumen over aggregates, it may not be an acceptable good. Experiment in Bangalore, I think the results are
option to reduce the mix temperature. It is possible to very good. But a person in the field, I’m personally
reduce the mixing temperature by using commercially involved with the lot of concrete and bituminous
available warm mix asphalt additives. Further, it is pavement, where we have been comparing the cost with
important to note that SMA is specifically designed to performances. So these thesis are very good papers. I
resist rutting for heavily trafficked roads and at higher personally attracted to it. But still myself wanted to
pavement temperatures. be very conscious. Today, societies is watching they
are not concern about what is the research material or
In response to the comments of Shri B.B. Ikhe, the economic material using. It is the performance, the all
main role of fibers in SMA is to reduce the draindown roads or toll roads, it’s a performance based roads. So, I
of the binder. It is important to recall the comment made personally would like to go for some experiment in my
by Prowell et al. (2009) which is also listed the paper. area. Prof. Pandey has already done some experience in
According to Prowell et al. (2009), “fibres serve no real Nasik, in my jurisdiction. We have a good interaction
purpose after the mix is compacted in-place”. Usage of with. So being an economic measures, definitely we
modified binders will also reduce the draindown. Thus, would like to have some stretch about some half a
when plastic bottles/waste plastic are/is blended with kilometer and we will go for some case of studying
bitumen, the draindown is expected to reduce. and this would be a very good alternative to a concrete
pavement. Bituminous is now a day losing rate. Today
In response to the comments of Shri Samiran Sen,
bituminous cost, binder cost a 60,000 8 tons. We do
higher bitumen content is used in SMA from durability
not know, after one month, two months, after election,
point of view and also to fill the voids in gap graded
what would be the cost. My measures where to in
aggregate skeleton. It is important to take into account
bituminous either they are best to in bituminous, they
the expected reduction in maintenance costs with usage
are switching on to concrete as the life cycle, the cost of
of SMA instead of considering the initial cost alone.
the concrete pavement is much economical. So this is a
Shri D.O. Tawde (Co-Chairman’s Concluding remarks) very good article. I have reading this article, I have first
read this article as soon as I got this book, so how I am
Thank you Sir, The first presentation by Prof. B.B. concerning to the economy of the construction.
Pandey and Shri M.V. Arun Chand “Analytical Design
of Short Panelled Concrete Pavements”. Now we are Now second paper is very important by Assistant
passing through PPP mode and DBA mode where the Professor, Dr. Venkaiah Chowdhary, is from NIT to
design is rest with the concessionaire, developers. So Warangal, again area adjoining to Maharashtra, having
whatever the cost effective measures or researches lot of black soil and temperature variations. We do
are coming out, are most welcome, but again we have lot of bleeding problems and when we to convey
have to go very carefully and cautiously because the this bituminous concrete with fine graded material
concessionaires are now very much attractive towards with binder content 5.5 or so lot of bleeding and lot
research available, bituminous material are very costly. of rutting. So definitely this naturally are economical
Today, bituminous cost is increasing day by day. Sir, fiber materials if the rutting and bleeding would be
concrete pavements are being considered as a cost restricted, so this material, SMA would be very popular
effective measure like life cycle analysis and today in a day to come. Now, everybody, every developers,
cement also in some part of India is abundantly available. every engineers in highway sector is searching for a

good material having long life of its side. So both the of our roads. It is rightly mentioned that there is need
papers are very commendable. I really congratulate that we have to have more and more stretches that should
them for being enlightened. At least personally I got be brought about and should be tried on pilot basis. We
lot of knowledge out of them. Thank you Sir, thank cannot expect that the BOT Concessionaire would be
you very much and I thank IRC for giving me a small doing this. We have seen this that new technology would
task of being a Co-Chairperson of this session, so I be created literally came into the actual construction
could concentrate, focus on the presentation of my life. unless these are adopted by the Government. I call
Thank you Sir. upon, I use this platform of the IRC, to call upon various
authorities involved in the construction of roads, to use
Shri V.L. Patankar (Chairman’s Concluding Remarks) these techniques and knowledge that is available on pilot
basis and temperate, geographical and climatic condition.
Thank you, Shri Tawde as rightly mentioned by Thank you very much. I thank Shri B.B. Pandey, for
Shri Tawde, the two papers really aimed at, addressing try presenting such a nice paper and the discussion over
to see that how to be achieved, the desire requirement of here and thanks to the audience for being patient and
enhancing the long ability of our roads and also address bring up so good comments and suggestions. Thank you
the perennial problems, major problem of maintenance very much.

“Detailing Provisions of IRC:112-2011 Compared with Previous
Codes i.e. IRC:21 & IRC:18”
By
Alok Bhowmick
Shri Mahesh Kumar (Chairman’s Opening Remarks) 2. Earlier paper detailing was an essential part of
the drawings. Which become absent later. This
Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen. Well Friends, may need to be given attention.
today we have the most interesting topic on which the
3. I feel that for existing bridges or components
presentation will be made. Shri Alok Bhowmick is with
of bridges, if required to be retained, condition
us to make a presentation about detailing provisions of
needs to be looked into. One structure or
IRC: 112-2011. In fact as soon as we had IRC: 112,
component of structure should not be discarded
immediately IRC: 21 and IRC: 18, they were over
only for the reason that the existing structures
and we followed up IRC: 112. The major difference
did not cater for the present codal requirement.
between them was the design principles, IRC: 112 is
It happened in some places.
on Limiting State Design and the old codes for multi
stress designs. This paper, in fact, deals only with one Shri H.N. Chatterjee
chapter, chapter 15 - Detailing Component, which
Shri Bhowmick will illustrated here – and have come Please let me know whether there is provision
out with a nice paper here with lots of comment which of couplers in place of lapping in case of space
will be an educative for all of us. So not taking much of constraints of bundled bars placement to enable
the time, I’ll make a request to author of Paper No.606 proper penetration of concrete.
to come on the dais and go ahead with the detailed
provisions of IRC: 112 compared with previous Codes Replies by the Author (Paper No.606)
i.e. IRC: 21 and IRC: 18.
In response to Shri S.P. Dutta’s comments, it is
mentioned as under:
The Author made Power Point presentation of the Paper
No.606. 1. The reasons for fast deterioration of bridges built
in recent times (as compared to old bridges) are
Paper No. 606
many. Some of these are deterioration in the level
Shri S.P. Dutta of workmanship in the field due to increased
work and lack of manpower, availability of
1. It has been observed that many of the old various new types of cements and cementitious
concrete bridges have not shown any signs of products with different physical and chemical
distress even doing in aggressive environment properties requiring better understanding of
but many structures built later are distressed the material (which was not provided in the
within a short span of time. Will the new previous codes). The new limit state code
provisions would address to this requirement. addresses all these issues.

Discussion on Paper No.606 203
2. There are 3 chapters in the new limit state code get steel of 32 mm and above in a standard length and
exclusively for the detailing. Therefore lot of other wastage in laps is enormous and now we have
attention is given to detailing as compared to started using the labs lengths, welded labs and lot of
the previous code. things and how these can be economized. So, I agreed
3. This issue pertains to assessment of existing with Alok that with this code revision that there will be
structure, which is outside the purview of this some more economy, because economy is necessary,
limit state code IRC:112. This code deals with as bridges are going costilier and costilier again. Thank
only new structures. However, I entirely agree you very much for such a good discussions.
with the view expressed by Shri Dutta regarding
the need to retain existing structures as much Shri Mahesh Kumar (Chairman’s Concluding Remarks)
as possible and the appropriate IRC code/
Well friends most of you are the members of the
guideline to address this issue is IRC:SP:37.
various technical committees, you see the interesting
In reply to Shri H.N. Chatterjee’s comments, the data is IRC:18 was published in 1965, IRC:21 was
author’s response is as under: first published in 1966, this means after 35 years that
document was revised in 2000, means no absolutely
Yes, Clause 15.2.5 of IRC:112 deals with mechanical change of technology, no absolutely change of code,
couplers. no absolutely change of specifications in 35 years. But
our friends did good work in 2000 and now things are
Shri J.S. Jadhav, (Co-Chairman’s Concluding Remarks) changing so fast that we have another code in another
Good morning everybody, it’s a very lighter mood as 10 to 11 years so what I mean to say is basically as and
it started in the beginning as Alok said correctly, but when we have finalized any code in H-4 Committee,
lot of heat at the end that is a good discussion and I am being a convenor of that I always tell to my friends and
very happy to have such a technical discussions held colleagues, please allow the publication of this code,
in IRC. Shri Alok is having a very wide experience in there will be few deficiencies that can be come up, can
designing, as well as holding lot of committees. The be clear in another 2 years but don’t stop the publication
presentation was very good, he has used different of codes. So this code is a basically a very good attempt
colours, fonts and explained what is the difference IRC:112. I must appreciate and comment the document
between the earlier code and IRC:112. But, particularly, prepared, document published and a substitution of
he had mentioned about the anchorage, welding, I mean multiple number of documents. Let me be very frank,
that this is one of the very important thing, using lab we can not study system, we study one at a time so
lengths in the widths. So what we are facing, I mean, substitution of five/six document in one document is
as a construction expert, I am telling you, we used to very useful. Thank you very much.

206

208
NEW IRC PUBLICATIONS RELEASED DURING 2013 & 2014

1. IRC:37-2012 “Tentative Guidelines for Design of Flexible Pavement (Second Revision) (Price Rs.600/-
+ Rs.40/- for postage & packing charges)
2. IRC:107-2013 “Specifications for Bitumen Mastic Wearing Courses (First Revision) (Price Rs.200/- +
Rs.30/- for postage & packing charges)
3. IRC:113-2013 “Guidelines for the Design and Construction of Geosynthetic Reinforced Embankment
on Soft Subsoils” (Price Rs.700/- + Rs.30/- for postage & packing charges)
4. IRC:114-2013 “Guidelines for use of Silica Fume in Rigid Pavements” (Price Rs.200/- + Rs.30 for
postage & packing charges
5. IRC:SP:46-2013 “Guidelines for Design and Construction of Fibre Reinforced Concrete Pavements”
(Price Rs.300/- + Rs.30/- postage & packing charges)
6. IRC:SP:50-2013 “ Guidelines on Urban Drainage” (Price Rs.1000/- + Rs.40/- for postage & packing
charges)
7. IRC:SP:87-2013 “Manual of Specifications & Standards for Six Laning of Highways through Public
Private Partnership (First Revision) (Price Rs.1000/- + Rs.40/- for postage & packing charges)
8. IRC:SP:97-2013 “Guidelines on Compaction Equipment for Road Works” (Price Rs.700/- + Rs.30/- for
postage & packing charges)
9. IRC:SP:98-2013 “Guidelines for the use of Waste Plastic in Hot Bituminous Mixes (Dry Process) in
Wearing Courses” (Price Rs.300/- + Rs.30/- postage & packing charges)
10. IRC:SP:99-2013 “Manual of Specifications and Standards for Expressways” (Price Rs.1200/- + Rs.40/-
for postage & packing charges)
11. MORT&H Specifications for Road and Bridge Works, 2013 (Fifth Revision) (Prices Rs.3000/- + Rs.70/-
for postage & packing charges)
12. IRC:6-2014 “Standard Specifications and Code of Practice for Road Bridges, Section-II Loads and
Stresses” (Revised Edition) (Price Rs. 700/- + Rs.40/- for postage & package charges)
13. IRC:78-2014 – “Standard Specifications and Code of Practice for Road Bridges, Section VII- Foundations
and Substructures (Revised Edition (Price Rs.700/- + Rs.40/- for postage and packing charges)
14. IRC:115-2014 – “Guidelines for Structural Evaluation and Strengthening of Flexible Road Pavements
Using Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) Technique” (Price Rs.300/- + Rs.30/- for postage & packing
charges)
15. IRC:SP:55-2014 – “Guidelines on Traffic Management in Work Zones” (First Revision) (Price Rs.900/-
+ Rs.40/- for postage & packing charges)
16. IRC:SP:62-2014 – “Guidelines for Design and Construction of Cement Concrete Pavements for Low
Volume Roads” (First Revision) Price Rs.600/- + Rs.30/- for postage & packing charges)
17. IRC:SP:100-2014 “Use of Cold Mix Technology in Construction and Maintenance of Roads Using
Bitumen Emulsion” (Price Rs.900/- + Rs.40/- for postage & packing charges)
18. HRB SR No.23-2014 – State-of-the-Art Report: Design and Construction of Rockfall Mitigation Systems
(Price Rs.900/- + Rs.40/- for postage & packing charges)
19. MORD Specifications for Rural Roads (First Revision) (Price Rs.2100/- + Rs.70/- for postage & packing
charges)
All above Publication can be purchased by making online payment on IRC website http://www.irc.org.in.
Copies can also be had from the office of the Indian Roads Congress on payment in advance through Demand
Draft drawn in favour of the Secretary General, Indian Roads Congress payable at par a New Delhi. For
enquiries please call 011 2338 6274.

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JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN ROADS CONGRESS

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

The Indian Roads Congress as a body does not hold

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF SAND MIXED

1 INTRODUCTION to improve the compactibility of the sand, to develop

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

In order to study the influence of natural fibers on the

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

Table 1 Summary of Physical Properties of Sands

4 TEST PROGRAMME Table 4 Details of different sand-jute fiber

Table 3 Different parameters considered in the

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

0.5% 1.605 15.6 1.583 15.9 1.624 14.9 5 respectively.

The results of standard Proctor tests on sands mixed

(A) Effect of inclusion of Jute fibers with sand on

Variations of Maximum dry density of three different

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

Fig. 6 Effect of Fiber Content on OMC for Fine sand

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

Table 6 Summary of Results of Unsoaked CBR

Fine sand Silver sand Medium sand

0.0% 8.4 7.1 7.2 6.4 9.1 8.2

Jute 0.5% 10.5 9.7 11.1 9.7 9.9 8.8

Jute 0.5% 9.6 8.7 9.0 7.9 9.7 8.6

(I) Effect of Fiber Content on soaked CBR for

For visual comparison of the variation of soaked CBR

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

Fig. 15 Effect of Fiber content on soaked CBR for Fine sand

Fig. 18 Effect of Fiber Length on soaked CBR for Fine sand

Fig. 16 Effect of Fiber content on soaked CBR for Silver sand

Fig.19 Effect of Fiber Length on soaked CBR for Silver sand

Fig. 17 Effect of Fiber content on soaked CBR for Medium sand

sand, Silver sand and Medium sand due to addition of

From these figures, it can be observed that the soaked

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

The CBR vs length of Jute fiber curve for different

(III) Effect of fiber content on the improvement

To highlight the improvement in soaked CBR values due

(IV)Effect of Submergence duration on CBR value

To investigate the permanency of the strength of the

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

Jute degrades through aerobic process and jute has been

In this investigation attempt has been made to visualize

When jute fiber is placed within the environment

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

Where, P= Jute spoil content, OMC=Optimum Moisture Types

length -3428. -2857. 571. -571. 1428 -2571. -1714.

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

Maximum Dry-Density. Table 10 Value of α2 , β2 and c2 for Fine sand, Silver

For Fine sand mixes with 2% Jute spoil α2

MDD=0.0137 L2–0.0667L+1.6111, (R2=0.9865) ...22 β2

Silver sand: c2 1.613 1.588 1.625

For Silver sand mixes with 0.5% Jute spoil

Where, L= Jute spoil length in cm, MDD = Maximum

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

OMC = -0.1909 L2 + 0.7155L + 14.59, (R2 = 0.9717)...39 Fine sand:

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

Fibre length CBR = -14000 P2 + 402P + 6.28, 9 CONCLUSIONS

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, April-June 2014

PLANNING AND CONTROLLING OF A NATIONAL HIGHWAY

(A) Effect of inclusion of Jute fibers with sand on

(I) Effect of Fiber Content on soaked CBR for

(III) Effect of fiber content on the improvement

(IV)Effect of Submergence duration on CBR value

4 CASE STUDY vii) Protective works for roads/bridges

iv) hough the BOQ was not made keeping in view

ii) ny basic error in feeding the data to the

a) ll buildings works shall be designed to meet