PAVEMENT DESIGN REPORT FOR KITGUM DISTRICT

1.0 Introduction
This report presents a design of a flexible pavement for Kitgum Awucu Lanyadyang
district road from chainage 0+000 to 1+000, in Kitgum District. The design makes use
of the design charts developed by C. S. Gourley, T Toole, G. Morosiuk and J L Hine TRL
Ltd, United Kingdom for Low Volume Sealed roads.
The purpose of the design was to determine the thickness of the pavement layers that
would be able to provide sufficient strength to withstand the anticipated traffic loads for
a given design period. The pavement layers consist of subgrade, subbase, road base
and the road surface. The thickness of these layers depends on the anticipated traffic
loads expressed as Million Equivalent Standard Axles (MESA), the subgrade class and
the properties of the materials to be used for its construction.
1.2 Background
The Ministry of Works and Transport, Government of Uganda, through Mt. Elgon Labour
Based Training Centre (MELTC) in Mbale, has conducted training of district engineering
staff from 23 districts from northern Uganda and contractors staff from 25 labour
based construction firms in the new technology of sealing low volume roads using low
cost sealing options. But before the contractor and district staff are certified, they must
execute a trial contract. Upon completion of the trial contract, assessments are carried
and form the basis for certification.
During the preparation and implementation of the trial contracts, the district
engineering staffs are required to select the road, design the road, prepare contract
documents, procure the contractor and supervise the execution of works. The
contractors on the other hand are supposed to execute the works. MELTC plays an
oversight role to ensure that at every stage, the correct procedures are followed.
To effectively monitor the designs of the roads in the districts, it was thought prudent
that MELTC prepares separate designs of the same the road sections using the same
data for comparison purposes. Four trainers from MELTC were assigned the
responsibility of preparing these designs. The trainers divided the 23 districts among
themselves with three of the trainers taking 6 districts each and one trainer taking 5
districts.
The author of this report was in charge of six districts which included Alebtong district,
Otuke district, Agago district, Pader district, Kitgum district and Lamwo district. This
report therefore presents a design of the road in kitgum district.
1.3 Design procedure
The design procedure involved collection of data such as current traffic levels, subgrade
CBR, and properties of the available gravel materials. The current traffic volume was
determined by carrying out a four day traffic count. The data from the traffic count was
then used to determine the design MESA as explained in section 1.4 of this report.
Subgrade CBR was established by carrying out insitu tests using a Dynamic Cone
penetrometer (DCP) equipment. Also subgrade samples were collected and delivered to
soil material laboratory for testing. The results from the subgrade tests are presented in
section 1.5 of this report.
After determining the design MESA and the subgrade strength (subgrade class), the
pavement layers were then determined using the design charts developed for low
volume roads by TRL Ltd. The new pavement layers are presented in section 1.7 of this
report.
1.4 Traffic Count
A 4 day 12 hour classified traffic count was carried out and the results were as follow:
Vehicle
type
Daily number of vehicles 4 day
Total
Traffic
Average
Daily Traffic
(ADT)
Assuming 1.4
conversion factor,
24 hr ADT is
Day
1
Day
2
Day
3
Day
4
Day
5
Day
6
Day
7

Bicycles 1050 991 1043 999 4083 1020.75 1429
Motorcycles 190 207 189 176 762 190.5 266.7
Cars 2 4 2 8 2 2.8
Pick ups 8 8 11 6 33 8.25 11.55
Agric
Tractors
2 2 0.5 0.7
Large vans 9 7 13 6 35 8.75 12.25
Min Buses 1 1 0.25 0.35
Large Buses
2- Axle
Trucks
(medium)
18 14 10 16 58 14.5 20.3
3- Axle
Trucks
(Heavy)
1 1 2 0.5 0.7
1.4.1 Equivalent Standard Axles (ESA)
For pavement design only commercial vehicle were used. The daily equivalent standard
axles were calculated as shown in the table below.
Vehicle type Average 24 hour
daily traffic
Vehicle equivalent
standard axle (ESA)
Daily standard
equivalent axle
Mini buses 0.35 0.04 0.014
Large buses 2.0
Medium trucks
(2 axles < 11.5KN)
20.3 0.5 10.15
Heavy trucks
(3 axles)
0.7 3.6 2.52
Heavy trucks
( 4 or more axles)
7.75
Articulated trucks 5
Total ESA/day 12.684

1.4.2 Estimation of Million Equivalent Standard Axles (MESA)
Cumulative Equivalent Standard Axles (CESA)
=

(
(

\
|
|
.
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
(

+
y
y x
R R
R
A
100
1
100
1
100 365


Where A = Total ESA/day
R = Traffic growth rate
X = design life in years
Y = number of years before start of design life.
Taking design life of 15 years and a growth rate of 3.2% (Gross domestic growth rate
2012), the design CESA was calculated as below.
CESA =

(
(

\
|
|
.
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
(

+
0
0 15
100
2 . 3
1
100
2 . 3
1
2 . 3
100 365 684 . 12


=87380 CESA
= 0.087 Million Equivalent Standard Axles (MESA)
1.5 Subgrade strength
Two subgrade samples tested in the laboratory showed CBR values of 6% and 10% at
98% MDD. The DCP tests carried out over a length of 1km, showed the following
results after analysis; minimum CBR value, 7%, 10
th
percentile CBR values, 9% and an
average CBR value, 25%.
Design CBR value of 9% for the subgrade was adopted giving subgrade class S4.
Material test results and DCP test results have been attached at the back of this report.
1.6 Sub base strength
While analyzing the DCP results, two layers were identified. The upper layer which was
stronger than the lower layer was considered as the subbase. The CBR of the subbase
from the analysis was as follow: 10
th
percentile value, 21%, average value, 34%.
1.7 New Pavement thickness
In determining the new pavement thickness, it assumed that the Weinert number N <
4, (for wet areas), hence the design chart for N< 4 was used. With MESA of 0.087 and
subgrade class S4, the new pavement layers were determined as shown in the figure
below.






The existing sub-base has average CBR of 34% which is higher than the required
minimum of 30%, and has average thickness of 265mm which is higher than the
required minimum of 120mm. Therefore, the existing subbase was found to be
adequate.
1.8 Road Base
Road base of thickness, 150mm, and minimum CBR of 55% is required for the new
pavement. Gravel from the available sources after testing, showed CBR values of 26%
and 30% which was less than the required 55%.
120mm subbase layer, CBR min 30%
150mm Base layer, CBR min 55%
Subgrade class S4
For this material is to be used, there is need to improve on its properties by chemical
stabilisation.
2. 0 Surfacing Design
Four seal options were selected for surfacing and these included:
- Single Surface dressing;
- Otta seal;
- Penetration Macadam; and
- Sand seal.
The above seals were selected on the basis of availability of materials. Apart from the
single surface dressing where aggregates are to be got in Lira, the aggregates for the
other seals options are readily available from the local sources where hand crushing is
being done.
2.1 Single surface dressing
This is a layer consisting of a single layer of chippings bonded together by bitumen. The
size of the chippings is 10 14 mm. The chippings should have flakiness index of less
than 36% and aggregate crushing of less than 40%.
The binder to be used for this surface is cold bitumen emulsion K1-60 at application
rate of R = ) ( | ) ( | | | ALD F F * * 0011 . 0 0375 . 0 * 023 . 0 625 . 0
60
90
+ + +
Where F = overall weighting factor
ALD = Average least dimension
R = Rate of binder application in kg/m
2


The chipping rate in Kg/litre = 1.364 x ALD.




The weighting factor is determined from the table below
Description Factor (F)
Traffic Vehicles/lane/day
Very light (0 100)
Light (100 250)
Medium (250 500)

+6
+2
0
Existing Surface
Untreated or primed
Very lean bituminous
Lean bituminous
Average bituminous
Very rich bituminous

+6
+4
0
-1
-3
Climatic Conditions
Wet and Cold
Tropical (wet and hot)
Temperate
Semi- arid (hot and dry)
Arid (very hot and very dry)

+2
+1
0
-1
-2
Types of Chippings
Round/dusty
Cubical
Flaky
Pre-coated

+2
0
-2
-2

The weighted factor is the sum of the above factors from each category.
2.2 Penetration Macadam
This type of surface is to be constructed using crushed aggregate of size 20 40mm for
the first layer and 5 13mm for the second layer. The aggregates to use should have
ACV value of < 36%.
The bitumen binder will be cold bitumen emulsions K1-60. Binder application rate is
determined in a similar way as for single surface dressing above. The binder is to be
applied in three applications with the first and last layer not exceeding 1.0lts/m
2
.




2.3 Otta Seal
This seal is constructed using graded aggregates bonded with a soft binder. The
aggregates grading should fall in any one of the grading envelopes shown in the table
below.
Grading Envelope for Otta seal aggregate
AASHTO
Sieve
(mm)
Overall
requirement
Preferred Open
Grading
AADT< 100
Preferred Open
Grading
100<AADT
1,000
% passing % passing % passing
25
19
16
13.2
9.5
6.7
4.7
2.0
1.18
0.425
0.075
100
100
80 100
52 100
36 98
20 80
10 70
0 48
0 38
0 25
0 10
100
100
80 100
52 82
36 58
20 40
10 30
0 8
0 5
0 2
0 1
100
100
84 100
68 94
44 73
29 54
19 42
3 18
1 14
0 6
0 2

Given that the total daily traffic is more than 100 vehicles per day, the aggregates
should have minimum 10% FACT value of 110kN.
The binder for this seal is MC 3000, and is to be applied hot at spray rate of 1.6 1.7
litres per square metre.
2.4 Sand seal
This seal is to be constructed using sand and cold bitumen emulsion K1-60. The
construction involves the application of a thin film of bitumen emulsion followed by a
layer of sand.
Sand to use should have the following properties: maximum size, 6mm, percentage
passing 0.3mm P
0.3
, <15%, percentage passing 0.15mm, P
0.15
, <2%. Application rate
for sand should be 7 10 litres per square metre while for that of bitumen emulsion
should be between 1.2 1.4 litres per square meter.