TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING-II

AASHTO 1993
Flexible Pavement Design Equation
 AASHTO DESIGN
METHOD
• The basic objective of this test was to
determine significant relationship
between the no. of repetition of
specified axle loads (of different
magnitude and arrangement) and the
performance of different thickness of
pavement layers.
 AASHTO DESIGN METHOD
CONSIDERATIONS
• Pavement Performance
• Traffic
• Roadbed Soil
• Materials of Construction
• Environment
• Drainage
• Reliability
• Life-Cycle Costs
• Shoulder Design
 STEPS FOR DESIGNING
• The AASHO design method states that:

• “The function of any road is to carry the

vehicular traffic safely and smoothly from one
place to another”.

• Following are the different steps

followed in AASHTO design method
while designing the pavement.

• Measuring Standard Axle Load

• Predicting Serviceability
• Performance
• Present Serviceability Rating (PSR)
• Present Serviceability Index
• Terminal Serviceability
• Regional Factor
• Structural Number
• Soil Support
• Reliability
• Over all Standard Deviation
• Resilient Modulus
Standard Axle Load (ESAL’s)
• “An axle carrying a load of 18Kips and causing
a damaging effect of unity is known as
Standard Axle Load”.
Serviceability
• “Ability of a pavement to serve the traffic for
which it is designed”.
Performance
• “Ability of a pavement to serve the traffic for a
period of time”. Performance is interpreted as
trend of serviceability with time.
Present Serviceability Rating
• To define PSR, the AASHO
constituted a panel of drivers
belonging to different private
and commercial vehicles.
They were asked to Very Good
Good
• Rate the serviceability of Fair
different section on a scale of
0-5. Poor
Very Poor
• Say whether the sections were
acceptable or not.
Present Serviceability Index (ISI)
• The prediction of PSR from these physical
measurements is known as PSI and defined as
“Ability of a pavement to serve the traffic for
which it is designed”. Normally the value is
taken as 4.

• PSI value depends on the following factors;

• Measurement of longitudinal surface irregularities
• Degree of cracking
• Depth of rutting in the wheel paths
Terminal Serviceability Index (ISI)
• “The lowest serviceability that will be tolerated
on the road at the end of the traffic analysis
period before resurfacing or reconstruction is
warned”.
• Its usual value is 2 for roads of lesser traffic
volume and 2.5 for major highways.
Basic design equation for Terminal Serviceability is
Pt= Gt-{log (Wt)-log (p)}
• =0.4+{0.081(L1+L2)3.23}/{(1+SN)5.19+L23.23}
• log (p)= 5.93 + 9.36log(SN+1)-4.79log (L1+L2)+
4.33log(L2)
• Gt=a logarithmic function of the ratio of the loss in
serviceability at time t to the potential loss taken to a point
where pt=1.50
• p=a function of design and load variables that denotes the
expected number of axle load applications to a pt=1.5
• = a function of design and load variables that influence
the shape of the p Vs W serviceability curve.
• Wt=axle load applications at the end of the time t
• L1=load on one single axle or on one tendon axle set, in
kg
• SN= Structural Number of pavement
• Regional factor
It is a factor which helps the use of the
basic equations in a climatic condition
other than the ones prevailing during
the road test. Its values are:
• Road bed material frozen to a depth of 5 in
or more (winter)
• Road bed material dry (Summer and fall)
• Road bed material wet (spring thaw)
• Structural Number
An index number that represents the overall
pavement system structural requirements
needed to sustain the design traffic loading for
the design period. Analytically, the SN is given
by:
SN=a1D1M1+a2D2M2+a3D3M3
Where
• D1,D2,D3 = thickness in inches respectively of
surfacing, base and sub-base.
• a1,a2,a3 = coefficients of relative strength.
 a1 = 0.2 for road bricks
0.44 for plant mix
0.45 for the sand asphalt
a2 = 0.07 for sandy gravel
0.14 for crushed stone
a3 = 0.11 for sandy gravel
0.50 to 0.10 for sandy soil
M1, M2,M3 = drainage coefficients
M1 = 1 shows good drainage conditions
Soil Support
• Its value depends on the CBR value of the
layer.
Reliability
It is defined as “probability that serviceability will be
maintained at adequate levels from a user point of view,
through out the design life of the facility”
• Overall Standard Deviation
It takes in to account the designer’s ability to estimate the
variation in 18K Equivalent Standard Axle Load.
• Resilient Modulus
It is defined as
Mr = Repeated Axial Stress / Total Recoverable Axial
Strain
Mr=CBR x 1500
 AASHTO DESIGN
EQUATION
This equation is widely used and has the following
form:
Log10(W18)=Zr x So+ 9.36 x log10(SN + 1)-
0.20+(log10((ΔPSI)/(4.2-1.5))
/(0.4+(1094/(SN+1)5.19)+2.32x log10(MR)-8.07

where:

W18=predicted number of 80 KN (18,000 lb.) ESAL’s

ZR=standard normal deviate

So=combined standard error of the traffic prediction and

performance prediction
SN=Structural Number (an index that is
indicative of the total pavement thickness
required)

SN=a1D1M1 + a2D2m2 + a3D3m3+...

ai =ith layer coefficient
di =ith layer thickness (inches)
mi =ith layer drainage coefficient
Δ PSI =difference between the initial design
serviceability index, po, and the design
terminal serviceability index, pt
MR =sub-grade resilient modulus (in psi)
Nomo-graph
1993 AASHTO Structural Design

Step-by-Step
 Step 1: Traffic Calculation

Total ESALs
• Buses + Trucks
• 2.13 million + 1.33 million = 3.46 million
 Step 2: Get MR Value

• CBR tests along Kailua Road show:

– CBR ≈ 8

• MR conversion
AASHTO Conversion

M R  1500CBR   15008  12,000 psi

NCHRP 1-37A Conversion

M R  2555CBR   25558  9,669 psi

0.64 0.64
 Step 3: Choose Reliability

Arterial Road
• AASHTO Recommendations
Recommended Reliability
Functional Classification
Urban Rural WSDOT
Interstate/freeways 85 – 99.9 85 – 99.9 95
Principal arterials 80 – 99 75 – 95 85
Collectors 80 – 95 75 – 95 75
Local 50 – 80 50 – 80 75

Choose 85%
Step 3: Choose Reliability

Reliability ZR Choose S0 = 0.50

99.9 -3.090
99 -2.327
95 -1.645
90 -1.282
85 -1.037
80 -0.841
75 -0.674
70 -0.524
50 0
 Step 4: Choose ΔPSI

Somewhat arbitrary
• Typical p0 = 4.5
• Typical pt = 1.5 to 3.0
• Typical ΔPSI = 3.0 down to 1.5
 Step 5: Calculate Design

Decide on basic structure

Resilient Modulus (psi)
Layer a Typical Chosen
HMA 0.44 500,000 at 70°F 500,000
ACB 0.44 500,000 at 70°F 500,000
UTB 0.13 20,000 to 30,000 25,000
Aggregate 0.13 20,000 to 30,000 25,000
Step 5: Calculate Design
 Step 5: Calculate Design

Preliminary Results
• Total Required SN = 3.995
• HMA/ACB
• Required SN = 2.74
• Required depth = 6.5 inches
• UTB and aggregate
• Required SN = 1.13
• Required depth = 9 inches
 Step 5: Calculate Design

Apply HDOT rules and common sense

• HMA/ACB
• Required depth = 6.5 inches
• 2.5 inches Mix IV (½ inch Superpave)
• 4 inches ACB (¾ inch Superpave)
• UTB and aggregate
• Required depth = 9 inches
• Minimum depths = 6 inches each
– 6 inches UTB
– 6 inches aggregate subbase
 Comparison

Layer California AASHTO

HMA Surface 2.5 inches 2.5 inches
ACB 7.0 inches 4.0 inches
UTB 6.0 inches 6.0 inches
Aggregate subbase 6.0 inches 6.0 inches