Bo Teza Tu Cristian

"Gh.
Asachi" Technical University of Iasi
Civil Engineering Department
PROJECT, CONSTRUCTION AND QUALITY CONTROL IN HIGHWAY INFRASTRUCTURES A study of earthworks on IP4, IC24 and IC25 roads
Ing. Botezatu Costel-Cristian
July 2006
"Gh. Asachi" Technical University of Iasi
Civil Engineering Department
Master Student:
Ing. Botezatu Costel-Cristian
Coordinator:
Paulo Antnio Alves Pereira, Ph.D. - Full Professor Radu Andrei, Ph.D. - Full Professor
Tutors: Hugo Manuel Ribeiro Dias da Silva, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor Joel Ricardo Martins Oliveira, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor
This master project was developed during a Leonardo da Vinci program in Portugal at Universidade do Minho during a five months period
July 2006
INDEX 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 2. Main stages of road infrastructure concessions .......................................................... 2.1. Concession model (e.g. PORTUSCALE organisation) ....................................... 2.2. Design phases ...................................................................................................... 2.3. Construction phases ............................................................................................. 3. Project of Highways .................................................................................................. 3.1. Design of Highways .......................................................................................... 3.2. Safety plan ......................................................................................................... 3.3. Environmental documents ................................................................................. 3.4. Affected Services ............................................................................................... 3.5. Expropriations .................................................................................................... 3.6. Pavement loads .................................................................................................. 3.6.1. Traffic ........................................................................................................ 3.6.2. Weather conditions (temperature, water precipitation) ............................. 3.7. Pavement materials ............................................................................................ 3.7.1. Earthwork materials ................................................................................... 3.7.2. Aggregates ................................................................................................. 3.7.3. Bituminous binders .................................................................................... 3.7.4. Hydraulic binders ...................................................................................... 3.7.5. Stabilized soils ........................................................................................... 3.7.6. Bituminous mixtures .................................................................................. 3.7.7. Mixtures design ......................................................................................... 3.8. Pavement design ................................................................................................ 3.8.1. Pavement design methods ......................................................................... 3.8.2. Subgrade .................................................................................................... 3.8.3. Temperature and weather .......................................................................... 3.8.4. Drainage ..................................................................................................... 4 4 6 9
16 16 18 21 23 25 28 28 29 32 32 35 37 49 42 44 46 49 49 51 53 54
4. Pavement construction technology ........................................................................... 57 4.1. Earthworks ......................................................................................................... 57
4.2. Drainage works .................................................................................................. 4.3. Flexible Pavement layers ................................................................................... 4.3.1. Sub-Base ................................................................................................... 4.3.2. Base .......................................................................................................... 4.3.3. Binder and Surface course ........................................................................ 4.4. Interface preparation .......................................................................................... 4.5. Asphalt plant ...................................................................................................... 4.6. Engineering Structures ....................................................................................... 4.6.1. Retaining walls .......................................................................................... 4.6.2. Junctions .................................................................................................... 4.6.3. Viaducts ..................................................................................................... 4.6.4. Bridges ....................................................................................................... 5. Quality Control & Quality Assurance ....................................................................... 5.1. Definitions ......................................................................................................... 5.2. Quality documentation ....................................................................................... 5.3. Quality Control Plan minimum requirements .................................................... 5.4. Study for the final characteristics of the pavement ........................................... 5.4.1. Roughness .................................................................................................. 5.4.2. Skid resistance ........................................................................................... 5.4.3. Deflection .................................................................................................. 5.5. Final documentation submittals .........................................................................
60 63 63 64 66 69 71 76 76 80 81 82 85 85 87 87 89 90 91 94 95
6. Case Study Earthworks .......................................................................................... 97 6.1. Project ................................................................................................................ 97 6.2. Materials .......................................................................................................... 102 6.3. Construction technology .................................................................................. 106 6.4. Quality Control & Quality Assurance ............................................................. 115 7. Conclusions ............................................................................................................. 123 Bibliographic references ............................................................................................... 125
II
Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure
Botezatu Costel-Cristian
Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION This project refers to a portion of the new highway build in the Porto area. This road is part of the Concession Scut do Grande Porto that congregates a group of freeways and groups road associates in the area of Grande Porto, integrated in the National Road Plan, with the identification reference in the location inserted in Figure 1.1: IP4: N de Sendim IP4: N de Sendim / guas Santas VRI: N do Aeroporto (IC24) / IP4 IC24: Freixieiro / Aeroporto IC24: Aeroporto / N da Maia (IP1) IC24: N da Maia (IP1) / Alfena IC24: Alfena / N da Ermida (IC25) IC25: N da Ermida (IC24) / Paos de Ferreira IC25: Paos de Ferreira / N da EN 106 IC25: N da EN 106 / N do IP9 EN 207: N do IP9 / Felgueiras (EN 101)
Figure 1.1 Highway preview
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Some of the roads that constitute the Concession are already in service and they will be object of increase of the number of lanes, these being: IC25 Paos de Ferreira/N da EN106, with the approximate extension of 6.3 km; IP4 N da Sendim, with the approximate extension of 1 km; IC24 Freixieiro/Airport, with the approximate extension of 4 km; IC24 Airport/N da Maia (IP1), with the approximate extension of 3 km; IC24 N da Maia (IP1)/Alfena, with the approximate extension of 2 km. The remaining ones, to build from ground, integrate the following sub-sectors: IP4 Sendim/guas Santas, with the approximate extension of 8.7 km; VRI Knot of the Airport (IC24)/IP4, with the approximate extension of 3.5 km; IC24 - Alfena/N da Ermida (IC25), with the approximate extension of 9 km; IC25 - N da Ermida (IC24)/Paos de Ferreira, with the approximate extension of 10.1 km; IC25 - N da EN106/N da IP9, with the approximate extension of 9 km; EN 207 - Knot of IP9/Felgueiras (EN 101). Of the group of freeways to conceive and to build, the passage of IP4 among Sendim (N da Sendim) and guas Santas (in the divergence among the freeways A3 and A4) it will work as a ring road for the urban area of Porto, complementing the distribution of traffic today effectuated for VCI, Circumvallation and IC24. In the intermediate area of the sector of IP4, starting from the knot established with EN 13 (designated Via Norte); IP4 can distribute traffic for south, in direction to Porto, and for north in direction to Maia. This sector of IP4 is subdivided in two sub-sectors designated for: IP4 - Sendim/Via Norte and IP4 - Via Norte/guas Santas, the last one being visited thru a 4 month period and the object of the present study project.
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In agreement with the available elements of traffic it was considered already, in the contest phase and in the negotiation phase for attribution of the Concession, the adoption of a profile with four roads in each sense. In the terms of the Contract of Concession it is foreseen in the year of 2006 the entrance in service of IP4 with a profile of 2 x 3 roads (with a separation of 7.60 m) occupying a total platform 36.60 m. In 2015, in agreement with the same contract, be introduced then more two roads in the interior area, making a profile of 2 x 4 roads, being reduced the sifter to 0.60 m of width, however, the total width of the platform stays in 36.60 m. The temporal macro objectives established are next: Project Phase Concluded: December 2004 Expropriation Phase concluded: December 2004 Construction start: November 2003 Construction deadline: September 2006 Negotiation volume of ACE with the Concessionaire was fixed at 545.26 millions of euros (Project, Construction, traffic counting equipment, expenses and coordination) for a total length of the constructed highway of 55.6 km.
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Chapter 2 THE MAIN STAGES OF ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE CONCESSIONS
2.1 Concession model (PORTUSCALE organization) The main entities involved in the concession process will be presented in this first part of the report, as well as their contractual relationships and obligations. In Portugal, the Portuguese State, represented by the EP Estradas de Portugal (Portuguese Road Administration), is the entity which attributes the concessions through its Department of Concessions. The entities, to which the concessions have been given, are called Concessionaires. In Portugal, four of these entities are the following: i) AENOR for the Northern concessions; ii) LUSOSCUT CP for Costa de Prata concessions; iii) LUSOSCUT BLA for Beira Litoral e Alta concessions; iv) LUSOSCUT GP for Grande Porto concessions. These types of concessionaires have, as associated members, several Construction Companies and some Banks, which finance the construction. The contractors (ACE) are the entities responsible for the execution of the Project and Construction of the Highways. The contractors of the Concessionaires previously described are these ones: i) NORACE for the Northern concessions; ii) VIANOR for Costa de Prata concessions; iii) LUSITNIA for Beira Litoral e Alta concessions; iv) PORTUSCALE for Grande Porto concessions (used as an example in this project report). All these four entities have construction companies as associated partners. The construction companies associated with the ACE are called Subcontractors and are responsible for the constructions of the concessions several roads. The ACE Designers are the entities responsible for the conception and elaboration of the project for the highways construction. In this concession model, the road administration (in this case EP) gives a Concession Contract (CC) to the Concessionaire to regulate their relationships (rights and duties), which can be divided into three sub-contracts with the following objectives: i)
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conception, design and construction of the highway; ii) financial support of the construction; iii) maintenance and exploitation of the conceded highways. This concession model is commonly used when the government (in this case, the Portuguese Road Administration) does not want to use directly huge amounts of money to support financially the construction of a new highway. Thus, the State gives the highway in concession for a certain period (in this case, thirty years). During this period, the Concessionaires have the duty of maintaining the highways at a good service level and the benefits of the road exploitation (by receiving money for each car which goes by on the conceded highway, paid directly by the road users Highway toll or by the Portuguese State SCUTS). The Project and Construction Contract (PCC) regulates the relationship between the Concessionaire (e.g. LUSOSCUT GP) and the ACE (e.g. PORTUSCALE) and it has as objective the conception, design and construction of the highway by PORTUSCALE in a fixed and global price system, before a certain deadline of conclusion. This contract represents an integral Back to Back of the concessionaire obligations before the State, concerning the conception, project and execution of the highway. This contract is a part of the Concession Contract. The conception and project contract between PORTUSCALE and Designers has as objective the elaboration of the required projects to start building the highway. The relationships between PORTUSCALE and the companies responsible for the highway conception and design (Coordinators, Verifiers and Designers) are regulated by the project contract. The sub-contractors objective is the execution and conclusion of all the construction works for the several highway sections. The sub-contract agreement controls the relationship between PORTUSCALE and Subcontractors, thus being an entire Back to Back of the PORTUSCALE obligations before the concessionaire and, consequently, before the State, concerning the construction of the different highway sections.
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The sub-contractor has the responsibility of constructing the highway sections in conformity to the project and before the established deadlines, always by following strictly the safety and environmental rules. PORTUSCALE (ACE) duties are: the coordination of the different agents of the constructing process, to assure the reliability of the projects, procedures and inspections. PORTUSCALE activity consists of the design and execution phases, which are included in the PCC (Project and Construction Contract) and are planed out in the construction programme. This is also named Studies and Projects Plan (in Portuguese, Plano de Estudos e Projectos PEP) and it discriminates the duration of the construction and design phases. The concessionaire assures convenient relationships with the road administration (EP) and the financing Banks, being an intermediary and advocate of the ACEs (Portuscale) rights near them. They assume the position of Owner of the Works. The road administration (EP) has the responsibility of carrying out the expropriations and giving approval to all the necessary studies and projects to the concession. The concession phases (design, construction and exploitation) are integrant parts of the CC (Concession Contract) and comprise: the Construction Programme, which encloses the studies and projects, expropriations and execution of the road works; the Programme of Major Maintenance and Enlargements, which also encloses the respective project.
2.2 Design phases Essentially, a project is formed by a specific number of volumes, presented in Table 2.1. Each of them has a descriptive memoir and drawings with specific details for each type of work. A RECAPE (in Portuguese, Relatrio de Conformidade Ambiental do Projecto de Execuo), which is a report about the environmental conformity of the execution project, must be attached to the end.
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Table 2.1 Contents of a project

Volume 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Name of the volume Synthesis Introduction and survey approval Geological and Geotechnical studies General lay-out Junctions Re-establishments, utilities and parallel roads Drainage Pavement Landscape integration Safety equipments Signalling Counting and classification of traffic equipment and closed TV circuit Telecommunications Lighting Fences Affected services Normal concrete works (passageways over and under highways) Special concrete works (viaducts and long bridges) Other projects Expropriations Project with measures to reduce the impact on environment Assistance and maintenance centre Service and station areas Tunnels
The project organization is coordinated by the PORTUSCALE Project Administration, with the main objective of guaranteeing that the studies and projects are executed before the deadline, with the requested quality and as estimated in the budget. The relationship between the main entities involved in the project is presented in Figure 2.1.
Executive commission Project Management Contractors
Project Coordination
Designers
Verifiers
Figure 2.1 Organization of the main entities involved in the project phase
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The beginning of the construction depends on the design phase, concerning three fundamental points: delivery/approval of the expropriations project to begin the expropriations process, of the responsibility of EP, which should be carried out within a period of 6 months; delivery/approval of the complete projects of the affected services reestablishment, to allow the contract with the several entities (responsible for the services) on time and their immediate removal at the beginning of the construction works; delivery/approval of the execution project or, at least, the necessary designs for the first construction works. The expropriation project is carried out by PORTUSCALE (by proposing an amount of money for the expropriated lands), but it is essential that EP (the State) approves the expropriations project and carries out the expropriations (by paying the money to the land owners). After the EP approval of the expropriation project, there is a period of 6 months to complete these expropriations. If an owner does not accept the offer of the State, the land can be taken out, according to a law which declares that if a highway is of national interest, the land needed to construct that highway can be taken out immediately. When an inhabited house is in the land, the expropriation can only be carried out after the habitants leave their house, after mutual agreement between owners/habitants and EP, concerning the value of the land and the house. Sometimes, the decision about the expropriation can be taken in court of law, thus extending the period of expropriation more than 1 year. If the inhabited house is rented, the habitants can be compensated with money or with a new house. The decision about the compensation can also be taken in court of law, which will send an evacuation order after the final verdict. Works usually begin before the expropriation phase ends without the possibility of demolishing the houses or closing some road accesses, thus harming the normal execution of the highway construction. In this case, if the works deadline is exceeded by expropriation causes, PORTUSCALE is compensated by the State, concerning these delays (e.g. by extending the exploitation period).
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The affected services are mainly formed by: gas pipes, water pipes, electricity cables, telecommunications and sanitation. All the projects of the affected services reestablishment are carried out by Portuscale design companies. The telecommunications and electricity works are done by the companies responsible for those services, which are paid afterwards by the LUSOSCUT GP concessionaire. The gas, water and sanitation works are performed by the sub-contractor companies which work for Portuscale. Basically, concerning affected services, PORTUSCALE has the role of mediator, by trying to solve the problems with the several companies, by offering the services as quickly as possible (to avoid delays at the construction work) and by asking the fair prices for the works. The affected services main stages are the following: i) 1st phase (between the conclusion of the preliminary study and the beginning of the geometrical lay-out) Seeking information about the services in entities and companies; ii) 2nd phase (at the beginning of the execution project) Emission of the project of the services cadastre; iii) 3rd phase (until the end of the execution project) Emission of the project of the services relocation. 2.3 Construction phases The organization of the construction processes is coordinated by the Postuscales construction administration, whose main objective is to guarantee the execution of the construction works before the deadline, with the requested quality and as estimated in the budget. The Postuscale activity during the construction phase consists, fundamentally, in the achievement of the following objectives: to guarantee the accomplishment of the contractual deadline through an adequate Planning of the Construction and by following the work evolution; to guarantee a final product with the requested quality through inspections and tests and through adequate solutions to the non-conformity situations; to control and to process the work invoices to the sub-contractors and to the concessionaire; -9-
to guarantee hygiene and safety conditions at the work place; to follow the environmental and archaeological occurrences at the highway work without affecting the normal work evolution; to guarantee the correct management of the insurance policy. Concerning the planning of the Highway construction, the contractor must emit and submit to Portuscale an Initial Work Plan until the 30th day after the reception of the execution project (with the limit of 10 days before the consignation). Once approved, this work plan becomes the base document of the construction. The initial work plan is constituted by: i) descriptive and explanatory memory; ii) work programme with physical and financial chronological diagrams; iii) charts of equipment needs and labour force; iv) project of the work yard and plans of accesses, circulation and signalling; v) organisational diagram; vi) expropriations chronological diagram. The Portuscale has two procedures to follow-up the construction work, namely Actualizations of the Work Programme (performed monthly) and Revisions of the Work Programme (performed every three months). Concerning the Actualizations of the Work Programme, the sub-contractor must schedule the initial work programme monthly and submit it to Portuscale until the 10th day of each month, with the analyses which justify the work delays and the respective measures to recover the lost time. These Actualizations must always show the initial work plan or the last approved revision of the plan, registered as "Baseline", by underlining the essential sequence of procedures. Concerning the Revisions of the Work Programme, it must be revaluated every three months or every time Portuscale considers it is necessary. The sub-contractor must submit the Reviewed Work Programme 30 days after it has been required by Portuscale. Those Revisions must explain the work delays and the respective measures and deadlines to recover the lost time, with the indication of the necessary equipment and the labour force reinforcements to respect the work deadline established in the initial contract. The essential sequence of procedures must be underlined.
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To allow the weekly planning of Portuscale activities and the appropriate monitoring of works, the sub-contractors are requested to submit to ACE a fortnightly work programme, which contains information about the current or new work fronts within the analysed period, the stop points (for Quality Control and Health and Safety Assessment) and all the necessary interventions, regarding the Affected Services. The Work Programme for the next fortnightly period must be submitted fortnightly, by the Sub-contractor to the Portuscale, until the penultimate working day of every week, with the indication of the active work fronts, in order to allow the coordination of the activity of the several work agents. In order to avoid eventual delays in the beginning of works, it is necessary to guarantee the delivery of several documents among the different parts involved in the construction of the Highway concession (Lusoscut GP, Portuscale and Sub-contractors). Portuscale assumes the commitment of delivering the group of documents presented in Table 2.2 to the Sub-contractor at the consignment date (this is independent from previous deliveries of the same documents in other phases of the process). Table 2.2 Documents emitted by Portuscale and submitted to the Sub-Contractor
Documents Approved execution project Models for the emission of the measurement reports, listing the articles and unitary costs settled with the Sub-contractors Sub-contractors quality manual The verification of the supporting polygonal (road line) The verification of the expropriations polygonal (area) Health and Safety Plan CD with the Work Quality Manual, sub-contract agreement and contract of project and construction Application of laboratorial management Highways Time limit Undefined Undefined Undefined Undefined Undefined Undefined Undefined Undefined
The preparation, compilation and approval of the documents, presented in Table 2.2, imply the intervention of other entities and documents, such as those presented in Table 2.3, which the Sub-contractor must deliver to Portuscale. The documents to be delivered by the Concessionaire (Lusoscut GP) to Portuscale, and vice-versa, are presented respectively in Tables 2.4 and 2.5 (some documents do not have an explicit deadline).
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Table 2.3 Documents emitted by the Sub-Contractor and submitted to Portuscale

Documents Surrounding conditions Preliminary work programme Preliminary chart of labour force Preliminary chart of equipment needs Information concerning preliminary communication Crises management Emergency plan Safety management Organisational Diagram Plan of works with special risks Project of the work yard and plans of accesses, circulation and signalling Sub-contractor quality plan Working procedures Definitive working plan Delivery time limit relatively to the beginning of works until 45 days before until 45 days before until 45 days before until 45 days before until 12 days before until 10 days before until 10 days before until 10 days before until 10 days before until 30 days before until 60 days before until 10 days before
Table 2.4 Documents emitted by the Concessionaire and submitted to Portuscale

Documents Document with specifications approved by EP Execution project approved by EP Time limit Undefined Undefined
Table 2.5 Documents emitted by the Portuscale and submitted to the Concessionaire
Documents Sub-contractor quality Manual Inspection and test plans Sub-contractor quality plan Descriptive report Definitive working programme Time limit Undefined Undefined Undefined Undefined 28 days after consignment
There are some fundamental definitions related to inspection, tests and non-conformity solution which must be understood, namely the following: Inspections and Tests Plan or PIE (in Portuguese, Plano de Inspeces e Ensaios) a document which contains a compilation of specifications with verifications, which demonstrate the conformity of an activity with the work quality manual, with the execution project of each highway section and with the working procedures of the sub-contractor; Documental analysis an evaluation of the previous documents necessary to begin an activity, by verifying the conformity of the materials, equipments, constructive methods or the work plan proposed by the sub-contractor;
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Stop point situation of the work, in which the sub-contractor needs a special authorization from Portuscale to begin or continue the activity; Nonconformity (NC) a product which does not conform to the specifications; serious or imminent danger situations; Anomaly a failure which occurs during the work execution. If it is not corrected, it will lead to a NC; Correcting action or AC (in Portuguese, Aco Correctiva) an action which eliminates the causes of nonconformity, anomaly or another unwanted situation in order to avoid its repetition; Derogation (DRG) a written authorization to use or deliver a product which does not conform to the specifications. Concerning inspections and tests, the sub-contractor effectuates them, according to the traditional control methodology and warranting the total accomplishment of the PIE. The Portuscale has the obligation of verifying if they are effectively and correctly accomplished. The PIE defines the inspections and tests to be necessarily performed by the sub-contractor and those to be performed by Portuscale. It regulates the inspection of Portuscale and presents the responsible persons for every inspection action. The PIE must also present how to evaluate (and who evaluates) the qualitative service of the sub-contractor, by showing explicit rules to accomplish the referred inspection. It refers the registers and how to register the tests and inspections. The Portuscale will evaluate the sub-contractors system of quality assurance and will execute its own inspections and tests on a sampling basis (10 to 20%), which is considered to be representative of every activity, in order to validate the subcontractors tests and inspections. In the case of a stop point, the Portuscale intervention will always consist in a previous audit of the sub-contractor (by obtaining from the sub-contractor previous copies of the inspections registers). Moreover, Portuscale can carry out the same verifications to confirm those done by the sub-contractor. Another phase of the construction process is the invoice, in which the Concessionaire (Lusoscut), Portuscale and Sub-contractors interfere. The methodology adopted in the process of obtaining the authorization to emit the monthly works invoice is schematically illustrated in Figure 2.2.
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Start 1 Sub-contractor Elaboration of the monthly report of measurement Sub-contractor Send, before the 22nd day, the monthly report of measurement to Portuscale - Measurement report - Quantities justifications - Declarations of quality
3 Portuscale To verify the quantities constructed on the month 4 Portuscale Elaboration of the monthly report of measurement (Project + Construction) - Measurement report - Declarations of quality
5 Portuscale Send the monthly report of measurement to Lusoscut 6 Lusoscut Approval and emission of the payment certificates of the monthly report of measurement (Project + Construction)
Protocol
7 Portuscale Send the invoice to Lusoscut
Invoice
Protocol
Portuscale Send the approval and payment certificate of the monthly report of measurement of the sub-contractor 9 Sub-contractor Send the invoice to Portuscale
Invoice
End
Figure 2.2 Methodology used in the monthly invoice process Concerning safety and prevention, Portuscale has the aim of establishing the activities which should be adopted in the planning and implementation of prevention and safety at workplace, namely by applying the Health and Safety Plan which allows getting higher levels of health, safety and comfort. This principium is applied to: i) all the project and construction works of the highway sections and roads associated with the concession; ii) all the areas considered to be work yards (lands or places which support the works execution); iii) all the areas near the work yards and workplaces (in order to control the risks of human accidents).
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The agents responsibilities and the Portuscales acting in terms of safety are described in a specific document (Manual Prprio) by DPS (Department of Prevention and Safety).
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Chapter 3 PROJECT OF HIGHWAYS
3.1 Design of Highways Geometric design is primarily concerned with relating the physical elements of the highway to the requirements of the driver and the vehicle. It is mainly concerned with those elements which make up the visible features of the roadway, and it does not include the structural design of the facility. Features which have to be considered in geometric design are, primarily, horizontal and vertical curvature, the cross-section elements, highway grades and the layout of intersections. Proper geometric design will inevitably reduce the number and severity of highway accidents while ensuring high traffic capacity with the minimum of delay to vehicles. While these are the main factors to be considered, care must also be taken that the highway presents an aesthetically satisfying picture to both the driver and the onlooker. The aim should be to design a facility that blends harmoniously with the topography and not one that leaves an ugly scar on landscape. The design for capacity defines the ability of a road to accommodate traffic under given circumstances. Factors which must be taken into account in determining the governing circumstances are the physical features of the road itself and the prevailing traffic conditions. Poor physical features which tend to cause a reduction in capacity are narrow traffic lanes (3.65 m are now accepted as being the minimum), inadequate shoulders (too narrow shoulders alongside a road cause vehicles to travel closer to the centre of the carriageway), side obstructions (poles, bridge abutments, retaining walls or parked cars that are located within about 1.75 m of the edge of the carriageway contribute towards a reduction in the effective width of the outside traffic lane) and imperfect horizontal or vertical curvature (result in inadequate sight distance). Unlike the physical features of the highway, which are literally fixed in position and have definite measurable effects on uninterrupted and interrupted traffic flows, the prevailing traffic conditions are not fixed but vary from hour to hour throughout the day. The flows at any particular time are a function of the speeds of vehicles, of the - 16 -
composition of the traffic streams and the manner in which the vehicles interact with each other, as well as the physical features of the roadway itself. As we can see in Figure 3.1, the traffic varies in composition (trucks, small cars, etc.) and in concentration in different directions. The term concentration used the same as the term density is defined as the number of vehicles occupying a unit length of a traffic lane at a given instant. Concentration is usually expressed in vehicles per kilometer.
Figure 3.1 A3 Highway in Portugal The vertical alignment design refers to the design of the tangents and curves along the profile of the road. The primary aim of this profile design is to ensure that a continuously unfolding ribbon of road is presented to the motorist so that his anticipation of directional change and future action is instantaneous and correct. Rollercoaster types of profile should be avoided as they are dangerous as well as aesthetically unpleasing. In vertical design, gradients should be the most important factor taken in consideration since grades of up to about 7 % have relatively little effect on the speeds of passenger cars but the speeds of commercial vehicles are considerably reduced when long gradients, with grades in excess of about 2 % are included (the speed of traffic is often controlled by the speeds of the slower commercial vehicles). Most highway authorities now accept a gradient of 4 % as being the maximum desirable on major highways; hence this criterion is usually a controlling feature of highway design. Cross-section elements are those features of the highway which form its effective width and which affect vehicle movement. The constituent parts, as we can see in Figure 3.2, of primary interest are the number and width of traffic lanes, the central reservation, shoulders, camber of the carriageway and, where necessary, the side slopes of cuttings or embankments. - 17 -
Figure 3.2 Typical transversal profiles Horizontal curvature design is one of the most important features influencing the efficiency and safety of a highway. Improper design will result in lower speeds and a lowering of highway capacity. The importance of curve design upon safety is reflected by the accident statistics, which shows that the sharper the curve the greater the tendency for accidents to occur. The maximum comfortable speed on a horizontal curve is primarily dependent upon the radius of the curve and the super elevation of the carriageway. In addition, vehicle speeds and safety on high-speed roads are aided by the presence of such features as extra carriageway widths at the curves themselves and the insertion of transition curves between straights and curves, some examples of such curves can be seen in Figure 3.3.
Figure 3.3 Horizontal curves in Portugal highways
3.2 Safety plan In the decree of Ministry of the Social Safety and Work are few points that explain the legislation in this matter, described shortly forward. Safety's conditions in the developed work in temporary construction yards are frequently very deficient and they are in the origin of a preoccupying number of the serious work accidents and fatalities, provoked above all by falls in height, crushes and entrench. Face to the imperious need of
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reducing the professionals risks in the sectors with larger accident rates, the agreement about work conditions, hygiene and safety in the work and combat of the mortalities, have been reviewed and improved the safety specific norms in the work in the sector of the building site and public works, as well as the reinforce of the means and of the fiscal activity in this and in other sectors more affected for the incidence of work accidents and professional diseases. Plan of safety and health constitutes one of the fundamental instruments of the planning and of the organization of the safety in the work in temporary construction yards or movable, to the disposal of the coordination system of safety, what justifies the need to improve the respective regulation. The plan should be elaborated starting from the phase of the project of the work, being later developed and specified before passing to the execution of the work, with the opening of the construction yard. The owner of the work will name safety's coordinator through in work of a written declaration that identifies it before all the intervening in the construction yard. Safety's coordinator in work and the safety and health plan are not obligatory in works of smaller complexity in than the risks are usually more reduced. However if there is a issue to execute those works determined by works that implicate special risks, the entity performer owes records of procedures of safety that indicate the necessary measures of prevention to execute those works. The prevention of the professional risks depends of the knowledge of the technical characteristics of the work, so that can be identified the potential risks and adopt work processes that avoid them or minimize, insofar as possible. The works in construction and mainly in civil engineering domain consist in basely in excavation, earthmoving, construction, enlargement, modification, demolition, repairing, restore, conservation and cleaning of buildings, assembly and disassembly of prefabricated elements, scaffolds, cranes, etc. Safety's plan and health should foresee measures appropriate to prevent the special risks for the safety and the current workers health, these risks being those that implicate: Exposing the workers to entrenchment, of sinking or of fall in height (Figure 3.4), particularly worsened by the nature of the activity or of the used means, or of the half involving of the position, or of the situation of work, or of the construction yard; - 19 -
Figure 3.4 Work on a viaduct Working in the proximity of electrical lines of average and high tension (in Figure 3.5 can be observed power lines which is achievable by machines that are working in their proximity);
Figure 3.5 Electrical lines in construction area Working in roads, rail or road that are in use, or in they proximity (in Figure 3.6 can be observed works near a rail track and a highway that are not being closed during construction faze);
Figure 3.6 Works carried out under circulation
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Exposing the workers to chemical risks or biological hazards of causing professional diseases; Exposing the workers to ionized radiations, when the designation areas are obligatory to be controlled or watched; Dive with equipment or that implicate drowning risk; Work in wells, tunnels, galleries or caisson of compressed air; Use of explosives, or they originate derived risks of explosive atmospheres (in Figure 3.7 we can see works with explosives the textile materials are applied to reduce the risks of flying debris, also reducing dust emission);
Figure 3.7 Works involving explosives Assembly and disassemble of prefabricated elements or other, whose form, dimension or weigh expose the workers to serious risk. Any other work can be included here if the owner of the work, the author of the project or any of the coordinators of safety, consider to be capable of constitute serious risk for the safety and health of the workers.
3.3 Environmental documents Environment Sector elaborates a PGA - Plano de Gesto Ambiental (Plan of Environmental Administration), for each section of highway that begins. This document is the base of the functions of Sector and it is a brief summary of the most important aspects of RECAPE (Report of Environmental Conformity of Project of Execution) that the Builders have to accomplish completely. In the intention of minimizing the environmental impact during the planning phase and execution of the Work, Portuscale - 21 -
gives to the Builder the Plan of Environmental Administration, in our case of the Lot 2 IP4 through NORTE/GUAS SANTAS. This document makes the synthesis of the environmental documents of Execution Project of the lot in cause, making possible the planning of the procedures, of the processes and of the resources to use to develop, to implement and to monitor his implementation efficiently in all of the phases of the work from the consignment to the temporary reception on the part of the Concessionaire. This report, it should be permanently available in the work shipyard. Before begin of the work must be give to the builder documents such as Plan of construction yard, Integrated plan of Administration of Residues (management of coming residues of the shipyards like dumps, mud, asphalts, oils, lubricants, fuels, chemical products and other residual materials of the work), Plan of Environmental Emergency (actions in case of accident with it spills or emission of pollutant substances considering all the possible risk situations), Official report to the Population (inhabitants located inside of a strip of 200m of the limit of the plan should be informed on the occurrence of the construction operations), Reports of Rising water table or Flow of the existent Underground Receptions along the tracing, Plan of Monitoring (Hydro Resources and Waters Quality, Sound Environment, Wells, Spring and Holes), Plan of landscape recuperation of the Areas of construction yard and other Degraded Areas, Machines Park and Temporary Access roads. Also during the construction phase are documents that must be giving to builder like Projects of Execution of Fencing, Projects of Execution of Loans, Reports of Attendance of water table, Rising or Flow of the existent Underground Receptions along the Plan (the Builder should give to PORTUSCALE in the end of each season, the Report of Monitoring of the water table of the existent underground receptions along the continuity plan), Report of Monitoring of the Emissions of the Central of Manufacture of Bituminous Mixtures, Report of Monitoring of the Emissions of the Central of Manufacture of Bituminous Mixtures, Reports of Monitoring (Hydro Resources and Waters Quality, Sound Environment, Wells, springs and Drillings) and Implementation of Landscape Integration Project.
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To minimize the environmental impact the location of construction yards preferentially should coincide with areas already waterproof/paved that are not occupied (former industrial areas without activity, abandoned quarries or other works, etc). In case they have to be built, these should be waterproof properly and be located in areas away from places with lines of water and receptions. After the conclusion of the works, the soils of the no paved areas of the construction yard and of vehicles and machines circulation should be clean and objective of de-compaction of the soil, for form recover more quickly of their natural characteristics. Eventual noxious effects of the discharge in natural waters of residual waters can be avoided through the construction of appropriate systems for the respective drainage and treatment. It should be preceded with an installation that collects and treats the waters that contemplates the industrial and domestic effluents and for the water from machines and vehicles wash should be used a clearing tank. In the case of bituminous mixtures plant, the kettle of the headquarters, the deposits of fuel, the asphalt deposits, deposits of bitumen and emulsions, they should be put on concrete flagstones with a retention wall and for the filer in excess should suffer a specific treatment with the use of humidification that will transform the powder in mud. Before the beginning of the work should be mentioned the place of bituminous asphalt plant (won't be located in the proximity of habitation areas or of isolated houses) and all the deposit and loan places should be presented and identified before execution, to Portuscale, for evaluation.
3.4 Affected services As was mentioned in chapter 2, affected services are formed by gas pipes, water pipes, electricity mains, telecommunications and sanitation. These services can interfere with the highway line and because of that they must be repositioned or relocated. Some of these services cannot be repositioned until the expropriations are finalized (Figure 3.8, Figure 3.9 and Figure 3.10), the working being carried out around those services. Telecommunications and electricity works are being done by the company that holds them and are paid afterwards by the concessionaire.
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Figure 3.8 Power lines that constitute a part of affected services In Figure 3.8 can be observed some power lines that couldnt be repositioned, because dismantling them will affect the houses after those lines. Also in Figure 3.9 can be observed a telephone line which is still in service during construction and serves the houses near by construction site.
Figure 3.9 Telecommunication line obstructing construction The gas, water and sanitation are being effectuated by the constructing companies. In Figure 3.10 left can be seen two red lines that symbolize the gas pipe crossing the area where the highway will be and in Figure 3.10 right can be observed a sanitation conduct which is disaffected (in the central of the image).
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Figure 3.10 Gas pipe (left) and sewage (right) pipe Portuscale its having in affected services a role of mediator, because some companies can ask more money on some works or they want to use expensive materials or they can delay the work progress by dont doing these repositioning at time. Affected services stages begin with geometrical lay-out followed by issuance of cadastral project (its at the beginning of execution project) and at the end with the issuance of services repositioning project.
3.5 Expropriations In this matter will be developed a memory ho seeks to present the topographical characteristics concisely, cadastral, cultural and infra-structural, situations of urban occupation, industrial and commercial, and other relevant situations that condition and they influence the lands affected for the work. The plan can grow on some lands with agricultural occupation in the periphery of urban agglomerates, the urban center, houses that will be expropriated, and workshops. Inside of the territory under jurisdiction of the municipal districts the portions interfere in urban areas are predominantly residential, industrial, green areas, architectonical, equipment areas, etc. In Figure 3.10 can be seen how the line of the highway (the area hatched with red) crosses an area with houses positioned in construction zone. These houses couldnt be expropriated on time so the construction began before their demolition. The roads which are visible in the picture are roads constructed for trucks and vehicles of the construction yard and will be demolished when they will not be necessary.
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Figure 3.10 Highway crossing a populated area (guas Santas) Also for this type of problems must be presented an evaluation bases, intend to justify the unitary values of lands, improvements, indemnity and other compensations to apply in the work. In the determination of the prices to apply are consulted market indicators, as well as the values practiced by the expropriate entity or for another one with identical purpose in several projects in the area were the work will be developed. Presented values must be calculated as "fair indemnity", acceptable on the part of expropriated, for the expropriations to develop with the minimum of conflicts. To reduce costs in some areas can be applied some solutions like gabions and air-placed concrete (Figure 3.11) in zones of cut and fill. These solutions have the advantage of occupying a small area of land on the sides of highway and they are used to stabilize the slopes. Usual retaining walls can be also used but they occupy a bigger area during construction and are more difficult to build.
Figure 3.11 Solutions for reduce of expropriations area Expropriation project begin with topographical delimitation of areas in cause, this project belonging to Portuscale, who makes the calculation for the lands and propose these sums of money to the government because he will be paying these lands, but the
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government approve these money and effectuates the expropriations. A delimited expropriation area can be seen in Figure 3.12, the zones marked with red being those which must be expropriated.
FREG. DE S. MAMEDE INFESTA
FREG. DE GUAS S
Figure 3.12 Areas of expropriation object The government has 6 months at disposal to effectuate these expropriations after he will approve expropriation project. When the owners of the houses object to expropriate dont accept the offer of government, then the land can be taken by reason of a law in which is define that if a work is in national interests, then this land can be taken immediately, but when on the land is an inhabited house, they must wait until the trial is over. However, if the house is rented, the court can send an evacuation decision, phase which can still take 1 year. In some cases the works begin along those houses without demolish them or closing access roads, going forward only few stages (for example earth works, as we seen in Figure 3.10). If the deadline is exceeded by expropriate causes then Portuscale is absolved by these delays.
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3.6 Pavement loads
3.6.1 Traffic The traffic to be considered includes axle loads, the number of load repetitions, tire contact areas, and vehicle speeds. Trucks for example can have single axle with single tires, single axle with dual tires or tandem axles with dual tires and special heavy-duty trucks, tridem axles consisting of a set of three axles, each spaced at a particular distance. In the design of flexible pavements by layered theory, only the wheels on one side, say at the outer wheel path, need to be considered; where as in the design of rigid pavements by plate theory, the wheels on both sides, are usually considered. Loads are the vehicle forces exerted on the pavement (for example by trucks, small cars, etc.). Since one of the primary functions of a pavement is load distribution, pavement design must account for the expected lifetime traffic loads. Loads, the vehicle forces exerted on the pavement, can be characterized by tire loads, axle and tire configurations, load repetition, traffic distribution across the pavement and vehicle speed. Tire loads are the fundamental loads at the actual tire-pavement contact points. While the tire contact pressure and area is of concern, the number of contact points per vehicle and their spacing is critical. As tire loads get closer together their influence areas on the pavement begin to overlap, at which point the design characteristic of concern is no longer the single isolated tire load but rather the combined effect of all the interacting tire loads. In the matter of traffic distribution on any given road, one direction typically carries more loads than the other. Furthermore, within this one direction, each lane carries a different portion of the loading. The outer lanes often carry the most trucks and therefore are usually subjected to the heaviest loading. Regarding Vehicle speed in general, slower speeds and stop conditions allow a particular load to be applied to a given pavement area for a longer period of time resulting in greater damage. If mix design or structural design has been inadequate, this behavior is sometimes evident at bus stops (where heavy buses stop and sit while
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loading/unloading passengers) and intersection approaches (where traffic stops and waits to pass through the intersection). Pavement structural design requires a quantification of all expected loads a pavement will encounter over its design life. This quantification can be usually done in two ways, equivalent single axle loads (ESALs) or load spectra. The first approach converts wheel loads of various magnitudes and repetitions ("mixed traffic") to an equivalent number of "standard" or "equivalent" loads based on the amount of damage they do to the pavement. The commonly used standard load is the 18,000 lb. equivalent single axle load. Using the ESAL method, all loads (including multi-axle loads) are converted to an equivalent number of 18,000 lb. single axle loads, which is then used for design. A "load equivalency factor" represents the equivalent number of ESALs for the given weight-axle combination. As a rule-of-thumb, the load equivalency of a particular load (and also the pavement damage imparted by a particular load) is roughly related to the load by a power of four (for reasonably strong pavement surfaces). For example, a 36,000 lb. single axle load will cause about 16 times the damage as an 18,000 lb. single axle load. Buses tend have high load equivalency factors because although they may be lighter than a loaded 18-wheeler, they only have two or three axles instead of five. The second approach characterizes loads directly by number of axles, configuration and weight. It does not involve conversion to equivalent values. Structural design calculations using load spectra are generally more complex than those using ESALs because loading cannot be reduced to one equivalent number. Both approaches use the same type and quality of data but the load spectra approach has the potential to be more accurate in its load characterization.
3.6.2 Weather conditions (temperature, water precipitation) A pavement must function within its environment. The environment can vary greatly across the country at any one time and it can also vary greatly throughout time at any one place. Environmental variations can have a significant impact on pavement materials and the underlying subgrade, which in turn can drastically affect pavement - 29 -
performance. The key environmental parameters of concern are typically temperature, frost action and moisture. Temperature acts on pavements in two principal ways. First, temperature extremes can affect asphalt binder rheology and second, temperature variations which can cause pavement to expand and contract. Asphalt binder rheology varies with temperature. Therefore, estimated temperature extremes and their effects are a primary consideration when selecting an appropriate asphalt binder. For flexible pavements, older asphalt binder grading systems did not directly account for temperature effects and thus various empirical systems and thumb-rules were developed. Pavements, like all other materials, will expand as they rise in temperature and contract as the fall in temperature. Small amounts of expansion and contraction are typically accommodated without excessive damage, however extreme temperature variations can lead to catastrophic failures. Flexible pavements can suffer transversal cracks as a result of excessive contraction in cold weather as can be observed in Figure 3.13.
Figure 3.13 Cracks from excessive pavement contraction Frost action can be divided into "frost heave" and "thaw weakening". "Frost heave" is an upward movement of the subgrade resulting from the expansion of accumulated soil moisture as it freezes, while "thaw weakening" is a weakened subgrade condition resulting from soil saturation as ice within the soil melts.
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Frost heaving of soil is caused by crystallization of ice within the larger soil voids and usually a subsequent extension of this ice to form continuous ice lenses, layers, veins, or other ice masses. As depicted in Figure 3.14, an ice lens grows and thickens in the direction of heat transfer until the water supply is depleted or until freezing conditions at the freezing interface no longer support further crystallization.
Figure 3.14 Formation of ice lenses in a pavement structure As the ice lens grows, the overlying soil and pavement will heave up potentially resulting in a rough, cracked pavement (see Figure 3.14).
Figure 3.14 Frost Heave Frost heave occurs primarily in soils containing fine particles (often termed frost susceptible soils), while clean sands and gravels (small amounts of fine particles) are
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non-frost susceptible. Thus, the degree of frost susceptibility is mainly a function of the percentage of fine particles within the soil. Thawing can proceed from the top downward, or from the bottom upward, or both. How this occurs depends mainly on the pavement surface temperature. During a sudden spring thaw, melting will proceed almost entirely from the surface downward. This type of thawing leads to extremely poor drainage conditions. The frozen soil beneath the thawed layer can trap the water released by the melting ice lenses so that lateral and surface drainage are the only paths the water can take.
3.7 Pavement materials (identification, behavior, tests)
3.7.1 Earthwork materials "Backfill Foundation" means the ground upon which said backfill shall be executed. The following areas are distinguished on the backfill being its geometry defined on the design: Lower part of backfill (EB) - Is the area where the foundation lays (usually it is considered to be formed by the two first backfill layers). Whenever the clearing works have been previously carried out the layers situated bellow the natural ground level shall also be included. Body - means the backfill part situated between the base and the top of the backfill. Top part of backfill (ET) - Is the area (about 40-85cm) which supports the capping layer and includes the pavement foundation and influences its behavior. Capping layer - It is the last "layer" of the backfill. Its function to grant the pavement foundation good conditions not only in what the service conditions are concerned but also the assembly conditions on site which must allow an easy and adequate compaction of the first pavement layer and thus assuring the appropriate conditions for the site traffic. For construction reasons the capping layer can be formed by one or several layers. The top of the backfill and the capping layer form the pavement foundation. Sides - Is lateral area of the embankment body that includes the slopes and can occasionally work as a stabilizer.
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The materials to be used for the backfill shall be the ones defined on the design and should be imported or from site excavations. The borrow pits chosen by the Contractor should be previously submitted to the Supervision for approval. The materials to for the backfill must be preferably insensitive to water (which determines that the percentage of the material passing the sieve nr. 200 can not exceed 30%) especially when there is the possibility of floods and/or soaking the adjacent land. Also materials to be used must have geologic characteristics which allow them to reach immediately after their assembly the strengths, in particular the mechanical, assuring the relevant requirement. This means that materials must be correctly spread and compacted bearing in mind that is necessary a maximum dimension ho allows the layers to be leveled and that its thickness is compatible with the power of the rollers used. The soils or materials to be used shall be clean of branches, leaves, trunks, roots, herbs, rubbish or organic debris and the maximal dimension of the material elements to be applied shall not be higher than 2/3 of the layer thickness once compacted. At the sides materials compatible with the estimated slopes geometry shall be used so that instability and or erosion risks can be avoid. When by economic and/or environmental reasons it is absolutely necessary to reuse currents soils (fine and sensitive to water) for backfill construction, with high water contents in its natural state, treatment techniques can be used (in situ or in the plant) with lime or hydraulic binders can be used in order to guarantee the traffic conditions and to reach the required conditions for its placement on site. The materials for backfill are (under a grading point of view) soils, rock materials (rock fill) and hardcore materials. Under this specification soils mean the materials that must fulfill the condition in which the material retained by the sieve 19 mm (3/4") ASTM to be less than 30%. Regarding the water content, in its natural state, can be observed: Soils incoerentes: 0.8 Wopm Wnat 1.2 Wopm Soils coerentes: 0.7 Wopn Wnat 1.4 Wopn where: Wopm - optimum water content referring to the Modified Proctor test Wopn - optimum water content referring to the Normal Proctor test
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Whenever this requirement is not verified on the currents soils case treatment techniques with lime or lime combined with cement can be used. Considering its reuse for backfill and also the definition of the assembly conditions the rocky materials can be characterized as to determine their strength characteristics, fragility and changeability. The material to be used in rock backfill should come from the excavation areas and shall be homogeneous, of high quality, without waste, organic matters or any other harmful substances. Under a grading point of view the hard core materials shall be those showing a continuous grading and obeying to the following grading conditions: Material retained by sieve 19 mm (3/4") ASTM - between 30% and 70%; Material passing the sieve 0,075 mm (no 200) ASTM - between 12% and 40%; The maximum dimension of the blocks shall not exceed 2/3 of the thickness of the layer after compaction not to be superior to 0.40 m. These materials which are formed by a mixture of soils and rock and that usually come from blasting shall comply with the required specification for each fraction, rock or soil. Rocky materials (rock fills) are not allowed at the completion of the "earth fills" execution. It is also forbidden the use of the "sandwich" type continuous and alternated use of different materials in order to guarantee a uniform and continuous behavior of the embankment. On the top of backfill to a thickness between 40 to 85 cm soils with higher geotechnical characteristics shall be used. Sandwich embankments are those using different materials whose characteristics and location are defined in the design. Examples that can be given: the fill where the body is formed by materials of the hardcore soils type and the sides by rocky materials or the backfill body built with soils, the sides built with treated soils. Characteristics admitted in design regarding properties content are pure compression, point load test; porosities, volume and expandability must be checked on site. Special concern must also be given to crushing strength, wearing at a moister environment. Technical fill are those to be carried out in difficult access areas where it is impossible to operate normally with current spreading and compaction equipment. Among other - 34 -
technical fills are those near abutments or any other buried structure type as well as those near retaining walls, small or big diameter hydraulic passages, cattle creeps, etc.
3.7.2 Aggregates One definition of an aggregate is that it is a material such as broken stone, slag, gravel, sand or other like which, when held together by a binding agent, forms a substantial part of such materials as concrete, asphalt, coated macadam or like. This definition means that any hard material, whether it is natural or artificial, may be classified as an aggregate. In practice, however, the materials suitable for use as road aggregates may be limited in a particular area. By far the majority of road aggregates are formed from natural rock. Geologists have classified rocks into three main groups, based on their method of origin; these are known as igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Igneous rocks were formed at or below the earth's surface by the cooling of molten material, called magma, which erupted from, or was trapped, beneath the earth's crust. Igneous rocks formed at the earth's surface when the magma came into contact with the atmosphere are called extrusive rocks, while those formed below the earth's surface are intrusive rocks. Extrusive magma cooled rapidly at the earth's surface and as a result the rocks formed are very often glassy or vitreous (without crystals) or partly crystalline and partly vitreous. In contrast with the extrusive rocks, the intrusive rocks are entirely crystalline, having been formed as a result of the magma cooling slowly under the protective cover of the earth's crust. Igneous rocks can also be separated on the basis of their being acidic or basic depending of silica (SiO) content. In preparing bituminous mixtures, acidic aggregates can be difficult to coat with binder in contrast with the hydrophobic or water-hating aggregates formed from a rock such as basalt. Sedimentary rocks were formed when the products of disintegration and/or decomposition of any type of rock were transported and redeposit, and then consolidated or cemented into a new rock type. Sedimentary rocks may be sub-divided by various means, but from the highway engineer's point of view the most convenient one is that based on the predominant rock mineral. This allows three main rock sub - 35 -
classifications, the calcareous, siliceous and argillaceous groups. Calcareous rocks were formed as the result of great thicknesses of the remains of small marine animals being deposited on the ocean floors. It is most suitable as an aggregate for bituminous surfacing. The predominant mineral is calcite, CaCO, and this renders the rocks basic and in general it is most suitable as an aggregate for bituminous surfacing. Some types of calcareous rocks, are however too porous to be used as road aggregates. Siliceous rocks were formed from deposits of sand and silt which became lithified as a result of pressure by overlying strata, or by the deposition of cementing material between the grains. The predominant mineral in these rocks is either quartz or chalcedony, both SiO, and this may tend to make adhesion between these aggregates and bituminous binders relatively difficult. Argillaceous rocks are those who formed when fine-grained particles of soil were first deposited as clays or mud and then consolidated by pressure from overlying deposits. They are rarely used as road aggregates, and never in bituminous surfacing. Also included under the title of sedimentary rocks are the natural gravels and sands. Metamorphic rocks are igneous or sedimentary rocks which, as a result of being subjected to tremendous heat (thermal metamorphism), or heat and great pressure combined (regional metamorphism), were transformed into new types of rock by the re crystallization of their constituents. Metamorphism in any particular instance may have been aided by the presence of permeating solvents which worked through the rock and promoted new mineral growth. Metamorphic rocks which were altered by heat alone are in considerable demand as road aggregates. Aggregates can also be divided in groups like basalt, flint, gabbro, granite, gritstone, hornfels, limestone, porphyry, quartzite and schist group. Each one of these groups has a specific number of members. The aggregates used in construction in general must be clean, hard, not due to changes under the action of weather agents, of uniform quality and free of decomposed materials, of organic matter and other harmful substances. The use of non-traditional granular materials, such as demolition products, crushed concrete, slag of steelworks, - 36 -
not foreseen in the project of the highway, may be approved as long as the proposal for its use is duly justified. The concept of nominal dimension (d/D) means that it is admissible up to 10% of the material retained in the sieve of larger dimensions (D) and up to 10% of the material that passes through the sieve of smaller dimensions (d); however, the addition of the two percentages must be less than 15%. The use of crushed pebbles in bituminous mixture it is conditioned by the use of an additive in the bitumen, in order to ensure the adequate adhesion to the bituminous binder. The checking will be carried out from Marshall Stability tests, before and after immersion of the Marshall Test specimens in water at 60C for 24 h, where the quotient of the stability values of the normal test and of the post-immersion test should be equal to or greater than 75% (variant to the test ASTM D 1075). Besides the Marshall test will have to be carried out the test of passive adhesion, where the mixture of aggregates with filler and bitumen is placed inside a container with water at 100 C and stirred for 2 min and by visual observation shall be made an analysis of the percentage of bitumen displaced from the particles of aggregates. The adhesion shall be considered if there is no ungluing of the bitumen particles. For mortars and concrete in Portugal the aggregates must be in compliance with the specification LNEC E 373, where is mentioned that 50% of the sand must be of siliceous nature.
3.7.3 Bituminous binders The most careful specifications with regard to the design and construction of a bituminous road surfacing are of little value if the properties of the bituminous binder used in the design are not adequately controlled. To aid the engineer in ensuring that the material obtained has the desired qualities, a number of tests have been devised which attempt to measure various binder properties for particular reasons. As is unfortunately the case with so many highway engineering test specifications, there are variations from organization to organization with regard to how exactly these binder tests should be carried out, although there is general agreement as to their significance. Most usually tests on binders are those regarding consistency (penetration, viscosity and softening
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point tests), composition (distillation, water content, loss-on-heating, ash content and solubility tests), specific gravity test and flash and fire point tests. The material supply on site must always be accompanied by a test bulletin, which characterizes the fabrication lot. The supplied material must be in compliance with the given provisions. The characteristics of the bitumen must be in compliance with the specification LNEC E 80 - Laboratorio Nacional de Engenharia Civil (National Laboratory of Civil Engineering). The bitumen in use must be of the type defined on the Road project, normally 35/50 or 50/70 for all bituminous mixtures or 160/220 in the cases when it is destined to the execution of superficial surfacing or semi-penetrations. In the case of bituminous mixtures of high module, the bitumen to be used shall in principle be of the type 10/20 and possibly with additive. The use of bitumen of a type different from those given will be limited to the implementation of possible proposals by the Contractor, dully justified and submitted for the approval of the Supervision. The tests bulletin, which accompanies the supply of the bitumen, must always state the temperatures at which the material presents the viscosity of 170 20 cSt and of 280 30 cSt. Modified bitumen used in the production of bituminous mixtures (draining, roughened, etc.) it is modified with polymers be in compliance with the given provisions. For example the bituminous binder used in draining bituminous mixtures must have modifiers that grant to the mixture a smaller thermal susceptibility, a greater flexibility and to improve other characteristics. These specifications which must be complied for bituminous binder used in draining bituminous mixtures are: a) Penetration, at 25 C, 100g, 5s (0.1 mm) b) Softening temperature, minimum c) Fragility point of Frass, maximum d) Plasticity interval, minimum e) Viscosity, at 135 C, minimum f) Stability in storage difference on the value of temperature of softening, maximum g) Elastic recovery, at 25 C, minimum 5C 25% 55-70 55C -10C 65C 850 cSt
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Fluidized bitumen must have his characteristics in compliance with the specification E 98 of LNEC. The fluidized bitumen to be used in impregnation irrigation of granular base must be of the type defined on the Paving project, normally MC-30 or MC-70. The bituminous emulsions can be used in impregnating coats, in tack coats, semipenetrations, superficial bituminous surfacing, stabilization of base, curing of base treated with cement, gluing and impregnation of geo-textiles, as well as in bituminous mixtures or micro-agglomerates at low temperature. As an example for impregnating coats of granular base, the emulsion to be used must be a cationic type with low viscosity and slow failure or for tack coats the emulsion used must be of the cationic type with sudden failure normally type ECR - 1. Modified bituminous emulsions must be storage in a system which is provided with the necessary means to ensure its stability and the non-sedimentation of the bitumen particles. The distillation residue in this type of emulsions must be obtained by evaporation at 163 C. The characterization tests of these products must be carried out in a laboratory, which is certified or approved by the Supervision. Usually these modified bituminous emulsions are used for tack coats, bituminous micro-agglomerate at low temperature or superficial surfacing and for gluing and impregnation of geotextiles (with the purpose of with the purpose of obtaining an anti-cracking interface). The emulsion used in tack coats for gluing irrigation between a bituminous layer with modified bitumen and another bituminous layer must be a bituminous emulsion modified with the incorporation of adequate polymers, in order to grant a high adhesion power and the bituminous emulsion used in the gluing and impregnation of geo-textiles shall be in principle of the cationic type of sudden failure, modified with the incorporation of adequate polymers.
3.7.4 Hydraulic binders
The most used hydraulic binder is without any doubt the cement. Cement is a material which, if added in a suitable form to a no coherent assemblage of particles, will subsequently harden by physical or chemical means and bind the particles into a coherent mass. This definition, which is very broad in scope, allows such diverse
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materials as bitumen, tar and lime to be grouped together under the umbrella of cement. In road construction these are used mainly in soil stabilization. For this reason will use the term cement to refer only to the Portland and high-alumina cement binders. The four main chemicals present in cement are quicklime (CaO), silica (SiO2), alumina (Al2O3) and ferric oxide (Fe2O3). From a practical point of view, however, the constituents of most importance in a cement are the mineralogical compounds formed during the fusion process in the kiln; it is these which, when hydrated, form the actual binding paste. It is customary in cement chemistry to denote the individual clinker minerals by short symbols such as CaO = C, SiO2 = S, Al2O3 = A and Fe2O3 = F and this enables the above formulas to be abbreviated to C3S, C2S, C3A and C4AF. Little is really known about what happens when water is added to cement, the hydration of the components takes place very quickly. It is suggested after the first day, the effect on strength of the hydrated C3A compound is negligible. In contrast to this, the principal contributor to the strength gain at this time is the C2S compound. The greatest C2S strength gain is observed within 28 days, after which hydration continues but at a much slower rate. Here is a short list of most used types or variations of cement which are mainly used in common construction sites: Ordinary Portland cement is what might be termed the workhorse of the cement trade. It is this cement which is normally supplied by the manufacturer unless another type is specifically called for. Having a medium rate of hardening, it is suitable for most kinds of concrete construction, including road construction. Rapid-hardening Portland cement or, as it is also called, high-early strength cement, was developed for use in circumstances where concrete of high-early strength is required for example when it is desired to allow traffic on a roadway as soon as possible. The principal difference between this and the ordinary cement is that the final cement clinker is much more finely ground. As a result, a much greater surface area is available for reaction with water, and so it is able to harden more rapidly. It is not, however, a quick-setting cement; the times for the initial and final sets of rapidhardening cement are about the same as for ordinary cement. The final strength obtained with both cements is, however, about the same. - 40 -
Portland-blast-furnace cement is a mixture of finely-ground cement clinker and blastfurnace slag to which a little gypsum is added to retard the setting time. Granulated slag by itself is a relatively inert material; it reacts so slowly with water that it certainly cannot be regarded as a cementing agent. In general, slag cement hardens more slowly than ordinary cement, but in the long run there is little difference between the final strengths obtained with both types. The use of slag cement for road construction is most easily justified where economy is of primary importance and high initial strength is not. Sulphate-resisting cement in general, complies with the requirements for ordinary Portland cement. It is known that sulphates present in sea-water, some groundwaters, and in certain clay soils can cause the disintegration of concrete or soil cement pavements made with ordinary Portland cement. The advantage of sulphateresisting cement is that this disintegration process, which is caused by the reaction between the sulphates and one of the compounds present in all Portland cements, is controlled to the extent that concrete or coarse-grained soil cement can be protected against particular sulphate concentrations. High alumina cement is very different, both in composition and properties, from Portland cement. It is manufactured by melting a mixture of limestone or chalk and bauxite in a reverberatory or electric furnace, allowing the molten mass to cool, and then grinding it to a fine powder. The principal feature of high alumina cement is its very rapid hardening property which enables it to attain strength after 24 hours that is very close to its maximum. The setting time and rate of setting is of vital importance in the construction of roads since for good results to be obtained, concrete may have to be mixed, transported substantial distances, placed and compacted before substantial setting can occur. In the case of high alumina cement, the length of set is between 2 and 6 hours, so that there is normally more than adequate time to place the concrete in the roadway. In essence all types of Portland cement are manufactured in identical manner. The various types which are available on the market differ only in that they are obtained by varying the proportions of the raw materials, the temperature of burning and the fineness of grinding. From the point of view of quality validation in Portugal the cements must be in compliance with the Portuguese Regulations NP 2064 - "Cements,
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composition, specifications and compliance criteria". On the site, the material supply is always accompanied by a test bulletin, which characterizes the fabrication lot. Regarding the water used in addition with cement in concrete composition, it have got to be potable, clean and must not contain oils, acids, organic matters or other harmful products. It is required to also comply with the previsions of the current legislation, taking in consideration its intended use, namely compliance with Specification LNEC E 372. All the checkings must be effectuated before concrete production starts, then should be effectuated seasonally (2 to 4 times per year) and whenever there is a suspicion, regarding its consistent quality. In the matter concerning the admixtures used for the mixtures with hydraulic binders, they should be in compliance with the Specification LNEC E-374. The manufacturer must effectuate a self control of the product, to check if it is in compliance with current specifications, by the inherent production control. Occasionally may be collected samples of the supply, with the adequate frequency, for purposes of confirmation of compliance with the regulatory document of the main given properties, which reveal the specific performance of each of the admixtures. The admixtures are in general formed by plasticizers/water reducers (to reduce water in the concrete), bonding accelerators (fasten the setting of the concrete - setting is meant the change in the cement paste which occurs when its liquid or plastic nature begins to disappear), bonding retarders (delay setting of the concrete) and water-repellent.
3.7.5 Stabilized soils To the road engineer, the definition of soil stabilization which is perhaps of most interest is that ascribed to the chairman of the American Highway Research Board in 1938: A stabilized fill, sub-grade, road surface or road base is one that will stay put, and stabilizing is the process by which it has been made that way. Any treatment used to improve the strength of a soil by reducing its susceptibility to the influence of water and traffic is soil stabilization, whether the process is performed in situ or applied to the soil before or after it is placed in the roadway or embankment.
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In practice the methods by which soils may be stabilized for highway purposes can be divided into the following main groups: Mechanical stabilization is by far the most widely used method of stabilization, relies for stability on the inherent properties of the soil material. Its popularity is based on the fact that it makes possible the maximum usage of locally available materials in highway embankments, sub-bases, road bases and surface courses. If a soil cannot be made stable simply by compaction, then additional soil or other aggregate materials may be admixed to produce a mixture having the required stability characteristics. Although not mechanical stabilization in the true sense of the word, the use of additives such as chlorides, calcium lingosulphonate (lignin), and molasses is usually associated with this process. This is because only soils which already have some mechanical stability can be satisfactorily improved by these chemical additives. Other methods sometimes included in the mechanical stabilization category are the thermal procedures involving freezing and heating of the soil. Regarding the types of mechanical stabilization are differences amongst authorities as to what exactly is meant by mechanically stabilizing a soil but here will divide in 2 groups each group having a number of members. First group is formatted by mechanical stabilization by treatments which have as members compaction, consolidation, electrical and thermal methods. The second one is mechanical stabilization with the aid of additives that is composed of soil and aggregate, chlorides, lignin and molasses. Cement stabilization is a process in which cement is mixed with the soil to cause it to harden into a compact mass. A properly designed cement-stabilized soil will not soften in the presence of water and will withstand detrimental forces resulting from frost action. It is second in importance and usage after mechanical stabilization. These is mainly helped because cement is readily available in most countries as a home product, is manufactured on such a large scale for concrete construction that its price is comparatively low, involves less care and control than many other methods of stabilization and any soil can be stabilized with Portland cement if enough cement is used in combination with the right amount of water and proper compaction. All cement-treated soil mixtures are very often and incorrectly called soil cement mixtures. In fact, there are three different types of cement-treated soil mixtures of which soil-cement is just one. The other two are termed plastic soil-cement and cement-modified soil. It is important that the engineer should distinguish between the three so that he will know how and when each may be used most advantageously. - 43 -
Lime and lime-pozzolan stabilization is the methods of stabilization were the functions of the additives are twofold. They may be used to modify the soil properties-principally by chemically changing the soil gradation-or they may also cause the soil to harden into a compact mass having properties and uses similar to those of a cement-stabilized soil. Lime is most often produced by calcining limestones, but chalk and oyster-shells are also calcined for this purpose. The limes that are produced are of two types, high-calcium or calcitic lime and dolomitic or high-magnesium lime. The diference between them is that high-calcium limes contain less than about 5 per cent magnesium oxide, while most dolomitic quicklimes contain between 25 and 45 per cent MgO. A pozzolana is a siliceous or siliceous and aluminous material which possesses little cementitious value but in the presence of moisture form compounds with cementitious properties. The pozzolanic materials can be divided into natural (materials of volcanic origin such as tuff and trass) and artificial (ground bricks, pulverized blast-furnace slag and burnt shale but the material with the greatest possibility as a road construction material is pulverized fuel ash) pozzolanas. Bituminous stabilization is the process in which bituminous materials - bitumens or road tars - are mixed with soil to waterproof the particles and provide the additional cohesion necessary for stabilization. This method is believed to be the first modern stabilization used, but in spite of this is not very popular because there is still not enough knowledge regarding the exact influences of the many variables involved in stabilizing a soil with a bituminous material. Other experimental stabilization methods. Due to the paucity of good road making materials in many parts of the world, considerable research has been carried out in an effort to find a cheap magic chemical which, when added in small quantities to a soil, will quickly result in the formation of a highly stable pavement mixture. Included in this group is the cementing inorganic stabilizer sodium silicate, the organic cationic chemicals which act primarily as water roofers of the soil, and the natural and synthetic resinous materials which cement and/or waterproof the soil particles.
3.7.6 Bituminous mixtures The most common type of flexible pavement surfacing is hot mix asphalt (HMA). Hot mix asphalt is known by many different names such as hot mix, asphalt concrete (AC or - 44 -
ACP), asphalt, blacktop or bitumen. HMA is distinguished by its design and production methods and includes traditional dense-graded mixes as well as stone matrix asphalt (SMA) and various open-graded HMAs. Typically agencies consider other types of asphalt-based pavement surfaces such as fog seals, slurry seals and BSTs to be maintenance treatments and are therefore covered in the Maintenance & Rehabilitation section. Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is generally considered a material within HMA, while forms of in-place recycling are considered separately. A dense-graded mix (Figure 3.15 a)) is a well-graded HMA intended for general use. When properly designed and constructed, a dense-graded mix is relatively impermeable. Dense-graded mixes are generally referred to by their nominal maximum aggregate size. They can further be classified as either fine-graded or coarse-graded. Fine-graded mixes have more fine and sand sized particles than coarse-graded mixes. They work well for structural, friction, leveling and patching needs and are suitable for all pavement layers and for all traffic conditions. Stone matrix asphalt (SMA) (Figure 3.15 b)), sometimes called stone mastic asphalt, is a gap-graded HMA originally developed in Europe to maximize rutting resistance and durability. The mix goal is to create stone-on-stone contact. Since aggregates do not deform as much as asphalt binder under load, this stone-on-stone contact greatly reduces rutting. SMA is generally more expensive than a typical dense-graded HMA because it requires more durable aggregates, higher asphalt content, modified asphalt binder and fibers. In the right situations it should be cost-effective because of its increased rut resistance and improved durability. Other benefits include wet weather friction (due to a coarser surface texture), lower tire noise (due to a coarser surface texture) and less severe reflective cracking. Mineral fillers and additives are used to minimize asphalt binder drain-down during construction, increase the amount of asphalt binder used in the mix and to improve mix durability. Open-graded HMA mixture is designed to be water permeable. Open-graded mixes use only crushed stone (or gravel) and a small percentage of manufactured sands.
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The two most typical open-graded mixes are: Open-graded friction course (OGFC) (Figure 3.15 c)) which have typically 15 percent air voids and no maximum air voids specified. It is used only for surface courses to reduce tire splash in wet weather and typically result in smoother surfaces than dense-graded HMA and also their high air voids reduce tire-road noise by up to 50 percent. The open gradation creates pores in the mix, which are essential to the mix's proper function. Anything that tends to clog these pores, such as low-speed traffic, excessive dirt on the roadway (sometimes even cigar ash when is in excess can clog these pores) or deicing sand, can degrade performance. OGFC is more expensive per ton than dense-graded HMA, but the unit weight of the mix when inplace is lower, which partially offsets the higher per-ton cost. Tire studs tend to dislodge aggregate from the mix causing a sort of raveling phenomenon in the wheel paths causing ruts. Asphalt treated permeable bases (ATPB) have less stringent specifications than OGFC since it is used only under dense-graded HMA, SMA or PCC for drainage.
a)
b) c) Figure 3.15 Bituminous mixtures types: a) Dense-Graded HMA; b) SMA Surface c) OGFC Surface
3.7.7 Mixtures design HMA consists of two basic ingredients: aggregate and asphalt binder. HMA mix design is the process of determining what aggregate to use, what asphalt binder to use and what the optimum combination of these two ingredients ought to be. There are several different methods used to go about this process, of which the Hveem, Marshall and Superpave methods are the most common. Each method has been proven to produce quality HMA from which long-lasting pavements can be constructed, but the most used
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is Marshall Method. The mix design fundamentals discussed here are applicable to all mix design methods. HMA is a complex material which must resist deformation and cracking, be durable over time, resist water damage, provide a good tractive surface, and yet be inexpensive, rapidly made and easily placed. In order to meet these demands, the mix designer can manipulate all of three variables: Aggregate. Items such as type (source), gradation and size, toughness and abrasion resistance, durability and soundness, shape and texture as well as cleanliness can be measured, judged and altered to some degree. Asphalt binder. Items such as type, durability, rheology, purity as well as additional modifying agents can be measured, judged and altered to some degree. The ratio of asphalt binder to aggregate. Usually expressed in terms of percent asphalt binder by total weight of HMA, this ratio has a profound effect on HMA pavement performance. Because of the wide differences in aggregate specific gravity, the proportion of asphalt binder expressed as a percentage of total weight can vary widely even though the volume of asphalt binder as a percentage of total volume remains quite constant. By manipulating the variables of aggregate, asphalt binder and the ratio between the two, mix design seeks to achieve the following qualities in the final HMA product: Deformation resistance. HMA should not distort (rut) or deform (shove) under traffic loading. HMA deformation is related to aggregate surface and abrasion characteristics, aggregate gradation, asphalt binder content and asphalt binder viscosity at high temperatures. Fatigue resistance. HMA should not crack when subjected to repeated loads over time. HMA fatigue cracking is related to asphalt binder content and stiffness. Low temperature cracking resistance. HMA should not crack when subjected to low ambient temperatures. Low temperature cracking is primarily a function of the asphalt binder low temperature stiffness. Durability. HMA should not age excessively during production and service life. HMA durability is related to air voids as well as the asphalt binder film thickness around each aggregate particle.
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Moisture damage resistance. HMA should not degrade substantially from moisture penetration into the mix. Moisture damage resistance is related to air voids as well as aggregate mineral and chemical properties. Skid resistance. HMA placed as a surface course should provide sufficient friction when in contact with a vehicle's tire. Low skid resistance is generally related to aggregate characteristics or high asphalt binder content. Workability. HMA must be capable of being placed and compacted with reasonable effort. Workability is generally related to aggregate texture/shape/size/gradation, asphalt binder content and asphalt binder viscosity at mixing and lay down temperatures. No matter what specific method is used, the basic mix design procedure remains basically the same. All mix design processes involve three basic steps: Aggregate selection. Different agencies/owners specify different methods of aggregate acceptance. Typically, a battery of aggregate physical tests is run periodically on each particular aggregate source. Then, for each mix design, gradation and size requirements are checked. Normally, aggregate from more than one source is required to meet gradation requirements. Asphalt binder selection. Different authorities can and do specify different methods of asphalt binder evaluation. Optimum asphalt binder content determination. Mix design methods are generally distinguished by the way in which they determine the optimum asphalt binder content. This process can be subdivided into: i) making several trial mixes with different asphalt binder contents; ii) compact these trial mixes in the laboratory. iii) run laboratory tests to determine key sample characteristics; and iv) pick the asphalt binder content that best satisfies the mix design objectives. Many private laboratories do because it is a proven method and requires relatively light, portable and inexpensive equipment. The basic concepts of the Marshall mix design method were originally developed by Bruce Marshall of the Mississippi Highway Department around 1939 and then refined by the U.S. Army. Typically, the Marshall mix design method consists of three basic steps:
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Aggregate selection. Different agencies/owners specify different methods of aggregate acceptance. Private labs may or may not run periodic aggregate physical tests on a particular aggregate source. For each mix design, gradation and size requirements are checked. Often, aggregate from more than one source is required to meet gradation requirements. Asphalt binder selection. Optimum asphalt binder content determination. In the Marshall method, this step can be broken up into 5 sub steps: i) Prepare a series of initial samples, each at different asphalt binder content. For instance, two to three samples each might be made at 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0 and 6.5 percent asphalt by dry weight for a total of 10 to 15 samples. There should be at least two samples above and two below the estimated optimum asphalt content; ii) Compact these trial mixes using the Marshall drop hammer. This hammer is specific to the Marshall mix design method; iii) Test the samples in the Marshall testing machine for stability and flow. This testing machine is specific to the Marshall mix design method. Passing values of stability and flow depend upon the mix class being evaluated; iv) Determine the density and other volumetric properties of the samples; v) Select the optimum asphalt binder content. The asphalt binder content corresponding to 4 percent air voids is selected as long as this binder content passes stability and flow requirements.
3.8 Pavement design
3.8.1 Pavement design methods The goal of structural design is to determine the number, material composition and thickness of the different layers within a pavement structure required to accommodate a given loading regime. This includes the surface course as well as any underlying base or subbase layers. Structural design is mainly concerned with determining appropriate layer thickness and composition. Calculations are chiefly concerned with traffic loading stresses; other environmentally related stresses (such as temperature) are accounted for in mix design asphalt binder selection. The principal methods of structural design in use today are (from simplest to most complex) catalogs, empirical and mechanistic-empirical. - 49 -
The simplest approach to HMA pavement structural design involves selecting a predetermined design from a catalog. Typically, design catalogs contain a listing of common loading, environmental and service regimes and the corresponding recommended pavement structures. State and local agencies often include them in their specifications. The pavement designs within these catalogs can be based on a number of different design methods ranging from mechanistic-empirical to historical experience. When using a design catalog, it is important to be aware of the author's assumptions and design procedure. Often assumptions and design procedures are based on extremely local conditions, which may not be transferable. Often the required level of design does not warrant the use of advanced equations or models. For instance, a local residential road subject to only a few heavy loads per week (i.e., school bus, garbage truck) does not warrant the expense and time of a mechanisticempirical design approach. Many pavement structural design procedures use an empirical approach. This means that the relationships between design inputs (e.g., loads, materials, layer configurations and environment) and pavement failure were determined using experience, experimentation or a combination of both. Although the scientific basis for these relationships is not firmly established, they can be used with confidence as long as the limitations with such an approach are recognized. Specifically, it is not prudent to use an empirically derived relationship to describe phenomena that occur outside the range of the original data used to develop the relationship. The most advanced pavement structural design uses a mechanistic-empirical approach. Unlike an empirical approach, a mechanistic approach seeks to explain phenomena only by reference to physical causes. In pavement design, the phenomena are the stresses, strains and deflections within a pavement structure and the physical causes are the loads and material properties of the pavement structure. The relationship between these phenomena and their physical causes is typically described using a mathematical model. Various mathematical models can be used.
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Along with this mechanistic approach, empirical elements are used when defining what values of the calculated stresses, strains and deflections result in pavement failure. The relationship between physical phenomena and pavement failure is described by empirically derived equations that compute the number of loading cycles to failure. The basic advantages of a mechanistic-empirical pavement design method over a purely empirical one are: It can be used for both existing pavement rehabilitation and new pavement construction. It accommodates changing load types. It can better characterize materials. It uses material properties that relate better to actual pavement performance. It provides more reliable performance predictions. It better defines the role of construction. It accommodates environmental and aging effects on materials. A mechanistic-empirical approach can also accurately characterize in situ material (including subgrade and existing pavement structures). This is typically done by using a portable device (like a FWD) to make actual field deflection measurements on a pavement structure to be overlaid. These measurements can then be input into equations to determine the existing pavement structural support and the approximate remaining pavement life. This allows for a more realistic design for the given conditions.
3.8.2 Subgrade The "subgrade" is the in situ material upon which the pavement structure is placed. Although there is a tendency to look at pavement performance in terms of pavement structure and mix design alone, the subgrade can often be the overriding factor in pavement performance. A subgrade performance generally depends on two interrelated characteristics: Load bearing capacity. The subgrade must be able to support loads transmitted from the pavement structure. This load bearing capacity is often affected by degree of
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compaction, moisture content, and soil type. A subgrade that can support a high amount of loading without excessive deformation is considered good. Volume changes. Most soils undergo some amount of volume change when exposed to excessive moisture or freezing conditions. Some clay soils shrink and swell depending upon their moisture content, while soils with excessive fines may be susceptible to frost heave in freezing areas Poor subgrade should be avoided if possible, but when it is necessary to build over weak soils there are several methods used to improved subgrade performance: Removal and replacement (over-excavation). Poor subgrade soil can simply be removed and replaced with higher quality fill. Although this is simple in concept, it can be expensive. Stabilization with a cementitious or asphaltic binder. The addition of an appropriate binder (such as lime, portland cement or emulsified asphalt) can increase subgrade stiffness and/or reduce swelling tendencies. Additional base layers. Marginally poor subgrade soils may be made acceptable by using additional base layers. These layers spread pavement loads over a larger subgrade area. This option is rather perilous; when designing pavements for poor subgrades the temptation may be to just design a thicker section with more base material because the thicker section will satisfy most design equations. However, these equations are at least in part empirical and were usually not intended to be used in extreme cases. In short, a thick pavement structure over a poor subgrade may not make a good pavement. Subgrade materials are typically characterized by (1) their resistance to deformation under load, in other words, their stiffness or (2) their bearing capacity, in other words, their strength. In general, the more resistant to deformation a subgrade is the more loads it can support before reaching a critical deformation value. Although there are other factors involved when evaluating subgrade materials (such as swell in the case of certain clays), stiffness is the most common characterization. There are three basic subgrade stiffness/strength characterizations commonly used: California bearing ratio (CBR). A simple test that compares the bearing capacity of a material with that of a well graded crushed stone (thus, a high quality crushed stone
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material should have a CBR of 100%). CBR is basically a measure of strength. It is primarily intended for, but not limited to, evaluating the strength of cohesive materials having maximum particle sizes less than 0.75 inches (AASHTO, 2000). It was developed by the California Division of Highways around 1930 and was subsequently adopted by numerous states, U.S. federal agencies and internationally. Most agencies and commercial geotechnical laboratories are equipped to perform CBR tests. Resistance value (R-Value). A test that expresses a material's resistance to deformation as a function of the ratio of transmitted lateral pressure to applied vertical pressure. It is essentially a modified triaxial compression test. Materials tested are assigned an R-value. The testing apparatus used in the R-value test is called a stabilometer and is identical to the one used in Hveem HMA mix design. The R-Value is basically a measure of stiffness. Resilient modulus (MR). A test used to estimate elastic modulus (a material's stressstrain relationship). The resilient modulus test applies a repeated axial cyclic stress of fixed magnitude, load duration and cyclic duration to a cylindrical test specimen. While the specimen is subjected to this dynamic cyclic stress, it is also subjected to a static confining stress provided by a triaxial pressure chamber. It is essentially a cyclic version of a triaxial compression test; the cyclic load application is thought to more accurately simulate actual traffic loading. Resilient modulus is basically a measure of stiffness.
3.8.3 Temperatures and weather Most asphalt binder course and base materials are characterized by an aggregate skeleton, where the individual particles are mechanically interlocked, bound with penetration grade bitumen in the range 10/20 to 100/150pen. The aggregate skeleton provides deformation resistance (provided that in-situ air voids are typically in the range 2-6%), as well as contributing to stiffness. The binder content should be sufficient to provide thick enough binder films on the aggregate to create fatigue resistance and achieve durability. Generally, the lower penetration binders are used to obtain increased stiffness and deformation resistance. Low penetration binders are normally used in zones with high temperatures, because comports better under these conditions than binders with high penetration value. Because of the high temperatures, bituminous - 53 -
mixtures prepared with bitumen with high penetration value have big deformations, this being the reason for what they are not suited for zones with high temperatures. In areas with varying temperatures must be selected a bitumen from the middle range of penetrations values, so that the mixture to be stiff enough in high temperatures condition but also must be flexible enough in low temperatures. Moisture (in the form of accumulated water or rainfall) can affect pavement design and construction as well as basic driving conditions. Certain types of soils can be highly expansive when wet. Structural design must account for this expansiveness. Rainfall reduces skid resistance and can cause hydroplaning in severely rutted areas.
3.8.4 Drainage Proper drainage is important to ensure a high quality long lived pavement; moisture accumulation in any pavement structural layer can cause problems. Moisture in the subgrade and aggregate base layer can weaken these materials by increasing pore pressure and reducing the materials resistance to shear. Additionally, some soils expand when moist, causing differential heaving. Moisture sources are typically rainwater, runoff and high groundwater. These sources are prevented from entering the pavement structure or accumulating in the subgrade through surface drainage and subsurface drainage. Usually, it is more cost effective and less risky to prevent moisture entry and accumulation using surface drainage than to effect moisture removal using subsurface drainage. Surface drainage is concerned with removing all water that is present on the pavement surface, shoulder surface or any other surface from which it may flow onto the pavement. If not systematically removed, this water can accumulate underneath and weaken the pavement structure. There are three primary means used to prevent water infiltration and accumulation: Impermeable HMA. HMA tends to be impermeable below about 8 percent air voids, therefore proper compaction practices should be followed to ensure an impermeable pavement. Also, minor cracks in the HMA should be promptly sealed.
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Slope. The pavement section should be sloped to allow rainwater to sheet flow quickly to the edge where it is typically collected in a curb and gutter system or a roadside ditch. A generally accepted standard is a 2 percent cross slope. Grade. The curb and gutter or roadside ditch must be properly graded to allow flow to central collection points such as catch basins or detention ponds. A generally accepted standard is a grade of 0.5 percent or more although lesser grades have been used effectively. Subsurface drainage is concerned with removing water that percolates through or is contained in the underlying subgrade. This water, typically the result of a high water table or exceptionally wet weather, can accumulate under the pavement structure by two chief means: Gravity flow. Water from surrounding areas can be absorbed by the soil then flow by gravity to areas underneath the pavement structure. In pavement with high air voids (above 8 - 9 percent), water can percolate down through the pavement structure itself. Capillary rise. Capillary rise is the rise in a liquid above the level of zero pressure due to a net upward force produced by the attraction of the water molecules to a solid surface. Capillary rise can be substantial and in general, the smaller the soil grain size, the greater the potential for capillary rise. Often, capillary rise is a problem in areas of high groundwater tables. Most pavements have performed adequately without considering these effects. However, HMA pavements can fail because of subgrade support deterioration as a result of excessive moisture or other water-related problems. These issues can be addressed in two manners: i) minimize water infiltration into the pavement structure. In most cases, the accumulated water in the underlying subgrade that causes the damage comes from surface infiltration. This infiltration can be minimized by providing proper roadside drainage and minimizing air voids within the HMA; ii) provide subsurface drainage. This needs to be done judiciously, because it may be somewhat akin to treating the symptom rather than the problem. Subsurface drainage consists of three basic elements:
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A permeable base to provide for rapid removal of water which enters the pavement structure. Based on recent research from California, permeable base layers may strip and become clogged with fines thus weakening the overall pavement structure. A method of conveying the removed water away from the pavement structure. At the least, this may consist of a base sloped towards a drainage ditch. At the most, this may consist of a pipe collector system. A filter layer (such as a geotextile or graded aggregate layer) to prevent the migration of fines into the permeable base from the subgrade, sub-base or shoulder base material. Excess fines in the permeable base will clog its drainage routes and render it ineffective. Depending upon the subgrade and pavement structure a filter layer may not be used.
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Chapter 4 PAVEMENT CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY
4.1 Earthworks Earthworks, must be said from the start, consists in cut and fill. The cut represents the area where the road crosses the landscape at a lower level than it is the initial ground or the zones which must to be cut and the fill or backfill are the areas which must be filled with loan material. All earthworks begin usually with the removal of unsuitable earth for construction (soils containing organic mater or other) by excavation, but before that the ground must be scrapped from the arable earth and topsoil or earth with high organic matter contents whatever its thickness. When a scrapper is not available, bulldozers can be used with success as in Figure 4.1 in right (in the figure from left can be observed the initial layer of organic soil).
Figure 4.1 Initial earthworks These operations must be carefully carried out to avoid further contamination of the materials which will be used in the backfill. The placement along side of the road layout, of these soils, is not permitted and must be immediately used or loaded in trucks with wheel-loaders or excavators (as can be seen in Figure 4.2 in the left figure is an excavator loading a truck with incompatible earth and in that from left can be seen a wheel-loader also on duty) and stored in places approved before for further use or even taken to a final deposit.
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Figure 4.2 Construction machinery working The shrub vegetation and arboreal in the areas not effected by earthworks must be protected, so that they not be damaged by movement of the machines and traffic. The scrapping, removal of unsuitable and protection of adjacent vegetation are part of preparation works. When grounds, in a backfill, cannot support the weight of the equipment, the bottom layer with a minimum width of 0.50 m should be carried out with granular materials laid on geotextile. The geotextile must have a juxtaposing of minimum 0.30 m in longitudinal direction. The traffic must take place at a distance of 2.0 m minimum from geotextile edge until the height of backfill reach 1.0 m. If for the backfill are used rocks (so called rock-fill), then the rocks should be spread by means of a bulldozer with enough power for this task (in Figure 4.3 a bulldozer can be observed undertaking this job). For compaction it is compulsory to use heavy vibrating rollers. Other rules for this case are discussed on more detail in chapter 6 Case Study.
Figure 4.3 Rock-filling
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If for the backfill is used loan material from borrow pits or from areas of cutting (if material is suitable for backfill), material which is usually cohesive, then is recommended that compaction should be done with sheep-leg rollers (in Figure 4.4 right can be observed such roller).
Figure 4.4 Backfill material spreading and compaction Cuttings can be executed either in rock type soil, which require blasting, or in regular soils. When cuttings are being executed in rock and after blasting remain large rocks, pick-hammer is used to break them in smaller and suitable for backfill pieces (a type of soil like this and an excavator equipped with pick-hammer is shown in Figure 4.5.
Figure 4.5 Cut in rock soil The excavations cannot go below the foreseen levels. In a case like this occurs the material removed below the design level must be substituted by materials with the specified characteristics in norms. All excavations must be executed in such way to assure a perfect superficial flow of the water by gravity. The excavation bottom must be meanwhile keep from water by means of pumping or other means. In the end must be mentioned and taking into account that the transition between excavation and backfill slopes shall be gradually molded.
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4.2 Drainage works Drainage works refers in general to construction of surface and sub-surface drainage, but here will be presented steps of construction for some of those works, principally regarding circular hydraulic passages (made from flexible metal pipes or concrete pipes); PVC pipes wrapped in geotextiles and complementary drainage items. Referring to circular hydraulic passages, made from metal pipes (see Figure 4.6 left) or concrete pipes (see Figure 4.6 right), the first operation is the opening of trenches, which is done with a minimum width, allowing a free space on each side of the pipes of 0.30m and the depth shall be such that the pipes total cover in normal foundation conditions is at least one and half times equal to its diameter. Pavement layers or capping layers can not be laid directly on them.
Figure 4.6 Circular hydraulic passage and type of concrete pipes When the trenches are carried out in rock all the necessary measures must be taken to prevent that the use of explosives to cause unnecessary damages to the adjacent massifs. If the ground at the trench bottom is not sufficiently firm (not enough retaining capacity) for pipe laying, the trench depth must be increased. This process is limited to a maximum deepening of 0.50 m being filled with materials for granular layers with subbase characteristics; material compaction is made by layers with a maximum thickness of 0.20 m. In low alluvial areas, which are very compressible, flexible metal pipes are preferably to be used.
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After the leveling of the trench bottom, the pipes used in drains (hydraulic passages) and collectors can be placed in two ways: i) on a sand bed or any other material insensible to the water (Dmax = 31.5 mm) or ii) a concrete bed type C12/15 (with thickness bigger than to 0.10 m). In order to connect the concrete pipes, they shall be juxtaposed on the extremes and connected with mortar cement (a cord shall be embedded in the mortar) in a proportion of 150 kg of cement/m3 mortar, to assure the necessary waterproofing. The compaction, in the area of the pipe (when laid in trenches), must be done with vibrating plates or small vibrating rollers with a static load, in the other cases standard equipment for the execution of technical backfill can be used. During compaction is imposed to have maximum care the pipes so that no damages occur. Where is not possible to compact the sand by mechanically means, it should be compacted by watering. Perforated pipes (concrete or PVC, rigid or ribbed) used in interception drains are laid on a concrete type C12/15 and if are used for ground waters lowering, shall be laid on sand or pervious material, but indifferently from its nature the minimum thickness of the foundation or bed shall be 10 cm. A PVC pipe used for ground waters lowering can be seen in Figure 4.7.
Figure 4.7 Ribbed PVC pipe used for ground waters lowering The basic procedure for this type of drainage is to excavate the trenches, lay the sand bed, position the drainage system (the geotextil must be hold by hook bolts in order to be plain) and finally fill with draining material (shall be spread with care in order to
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avoid the displacement of the geotextil and damaging the pipe). The eventual overlapping parts must have 0.30 m and must also be hold by hook bolts and the drains longitudinal gradient shall not be less than to 0.5%. In Figure 4.8 is shown how this work is done.
Figure 4.8 Drainage for ground waters lowering works The main holes and backdrop manholes; rubble drains and gullies; cleaning holes/boxes and/or side discharge in longitudinal gutters; reception, junction or direction boxes; soak ways and energy reducers in embankment slopes can be carried out in precast, "in situ" concrete or from ashlars stone, each one of these materials being in accordance with the type detail drawings (see Figure 4.9).
Figure 4.9 Surface drainage systems and cleaning hole When precasted units are used, the joints shall be executed in order to assure the complete waterproofing, juxtaposed (see Figure 4.10), with the extremities connected by cement mortar (the same as for circular hydraulic passages).
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Figure 4.10 Juxtaposed precast elements
4.3 Flexible pavement layers
4.3.1 Sub-base Sub-base is a foundation course that is placed and compacted on a prepared subgrade and usually consists in a layer of an aggregate drainage layer placed over an aggregate separation layer (sand). For all alignments, the thickness of the separation layer is usually required to be between 5 and 10 cm. The drainage layer consists of a course of aggregate which may be ballast (rubble) or crushed stone ballast and can have a thickness which varies from design to design. The maximum thickness which is compacted of each layer must be 15 cm, to assure a good compaction. Layers, separation and drainage, are being spread and trimmed with a blade-grader, as we can see in Figure 4.11, but if the material in one pile is too big for the grader then it must be broken with a wheel-loader or by other means (e.g. bulldozer), so that the grader can trimmer it.
Figure 4.11 Trimmer and compaction of sub-base layer
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In order to compaction, for this type of works, can be used either wheel compactor (due to the kneading effect) or a vibrating roller (vibration settle particles forming a better bounding), observed here in Figure 4.12. The compaction should always be done when soils are in the range of Wopm (optimum humidity), with deviations from this value about 2% in minus and 1% in plus. If the materials are too dry, a water sprinkler tank can be used to increase the water content and when are too humid, the layer on top is subject to scarification and let to dry until Wopm is reached.
Figure 4.12 Compactor types After the final trimming and compacting of the sub-base, depth determinations are made for each layer. These measurements are taken at a minimum frequency of one depth determination per each traffic lane for a specific length mentioned in Specifications of each layer of sub-base. A permanent record is required to be made of all depth checks and include the date, location, and thickness of all checks. This record accompanies the final construction record and is required to verify the quantity of material actually placed. If deficiencies are found in the thickness, appropriate measures are required to be taken. If more material is required, the additional material is mixed with the layer (by scarification) and the layer is re-compacted. Additional depth determinations are then obtained. The width of the sub-base is also checked and recorded. These checks are required to verify the quantity of material in cubic meters that were actually placed. 4.3.2 Base The base layer can be constructed either from granular materials or bituminous. For layers made from granular materials the procedures are almost the same with the one for sub- base layer with few differences.
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For the spreading can be used motor-graders, pavers-finishers or other similar equipment, in order to ensure that the surface of the layer remains in its final form. Before the start of the spreading, the surface of the underlying layer is moistened. The spreading and smoothing of the layer is carried out simultaneously and in such a way that its thickness, after the compaction, is in compliance with the one foreseen under the design. The spreading should also be carried out in a regular manner and in order to prevent the segregation of the materials, and under no circumstances whatsoever shall pockets of thin or thick material shall be allowed. In the case of the occurrence of tracks, creases, or any other type of inconvenient marks during the spreading that can not be easily eliminated by rolling, then the layer is scarified and homogenized, with later smoothing of its surface. If, before the compaction is started, the aggregate does not have the adequate water content, then its correction is be done in the same way as it is done for sub-base layer, compaction of the layer being carried out by a vibrating roller, and it is mandatory that in all points are achieved ratios of empties lower than the one given by the reference ratio. After compaction the layer should be perfectly stable and well compacted, smooth, uniform, free of cracks, corrugations or loose materials and if the thickness of the layer in not obtained like ones established under the design, the layer is totally scarified and the necessary material is added before being compacted (construction of thin layers is not allowed). In the cases where the thickness are lower than ones established under the design, the construction of thin layers with the purpose of achieving a thickness in compliance with the design shall not be allowed. The layer shall be totally scarified and the necessary material shall be added before being compacted. After compaction, the surface is cleaned with mechanical brushes and/or blowing with compressed air (the obtained aspect should be the one of a mosaic - without loose materials, dirt, debris and dust - formed by the top of the crushed stones and gravels, - 65 -
properly kept in place by the finer materials). Next is executed a bituminous impregnation on the base that supports directly the bituminous layers (when a bituminous semi-penetration is laid, this step is not necessary). If the base layer is constructed from bituminous materials, then construction methods are the same as for binder and surface course described forwards. 4.3.3 Binder and Surface course From the start it must be mentioned that all bituminous materials are machine-laid, hand laid materials being restricted to small areas, usually only in areas where machines dont have the possibility of access. Mixtures lay down involves everything used to place the delivered HMA on the desired surface at the desired thickness. The asphalt paver is the principal machine involved in mix lay down and for this reason it must be explain his main components and the principles of which is working. The asphalt paver is a self-propelled lay down machine with a floating screed (see Figure 4.13). HMA is loaded in the front, carried to the rear by a set of flight feeders (conveyor belts), spread out by a set of augers, then leveled and compacted by a screed. This set of functions can be divided into two main systems: Tractor. The tractor contains the material feed system, which accepts the HMA at the front of the paver moves it to the rear and spreads it out to the desired width in preparation for screed leveling and compaction. Screed. The most critical feature of the paver is the self-leveling screed unit, which determines the profile of the HMA being placed. The screed takes the head of HMA from the material delivery system, strikes it off at the correct thickness and provides initial mat compaction.
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Figure 4.13 Screed unit from a paver Screed angle can also be adjusted manually by using a thickness control screw or depth crank, but screed angle adjustments do not immediately change mat thickness, they rather require a finite amount of time and tow distance to take effect. Because of this screed reaction time, a screed operator who constantly adjusts screed level to produce a desired mat thickness will actually produce an excessively wavy, unsmooth pavement. Since it is not practical to manually control tow point elevation, pavers usually operate using an automatic screed control, which controls tow point elevation using a reference other than the tractor body. Since these references assist in controlling HMA pavement grade, they are called grade reference systems and are listed below: Erected string-line (see Figure 4.14). This consists of string-line erected to specified elevations that are independent of existing ground elevation. Most often this is done using a survey crew and a detailed elevation/grade plan. Although the string-line method provides the correct elevation (to within surveying and erecting tolerances), string-lines are fragile and easily broken, knocked over or inadvertently misaligned.
Figure 4.14 Erected string-lines for tow point elevation control
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Mobile reference. This consists of a reference system that travels with the paver such as a long beam or tube attached to the paver (called a "contact" device since it actually touches the road - see Figure 4.15) or an ultrasonic device (called a "noncontact" device since it relies on ultrasonic pulses and not physical contact to determine road elevation). The mobile reference system averages the effect of deviations in the existing pavement surface over a distance greater that the wheelbase of the tractor unit. Minimum ski length for a contact device is normally about 7.5 m. with typical ski lengths being on the order of 12 to 18 m.
Figure 4.15 Mobile reference system for tow point elevation control Joint matching shoe (see Figure 4.16). This usually consists of a small shoe or ski attached to the paver that slides on an existing surface (such as a curb) near the paver. This type of grade control results in the paver duplicating the reference surface on which the shoe or ski is placed.
Figure 4.16 Joint matching shoe system for tow point elevation control After paver description is easier to understand the hole paving process, which follows in general the next steps: i) mixtures transportation by trucks from the asphalt plant (the - 68 -
mixtures are covered to not loose heat and for other consideration; ii) the mixtures is loaded in the front of the paver; iii) the paver is laying the mixtures, in the same time pushing the truck from the front; iv) the extra material is cleaned; v) compaction. In Figure 4.17 can be see how a layer of bituminous mixtures is lay down.
Figure 4.17 Bituminous mixtures lay down For the binder layer, the maximum size of a layer is of 8 cm after compaction. If a thicker layer is designed, then the final thickness will be achieved thru several layers (of maximum 8 cm thick each). The compactor is wetted in order to avoid the adhesion of the bituminous binder to the rolls and compaction must be ended before material reach about 100C. For this type of layer are allowed smooth track rolls, pneumatic-tired rolls or mix ones. For surface layer (wearing) the thickness is usually of 4 cm after compaction. Before applying this layer, is carried out a gluing irrigation with a rate of residual bitumen of 350 to 400 g/m2. Usually, few passages of the rolls are necessary, and the use of pneumatic-tired rolls is not allowed. These operation should not be carried out when the air temperature is lower than 10 C, when the weather is rainy or the wind speeds are excessive (over a 30 km/h). 4.4 Interface preparation Interface preparation consists basically in a tack coat or a prime coat applied on subbase, base or on a pavement layer.
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A tack coat is thin bituminous liquid asphalt, emulsion or cutback layer applied between HMA pavement layers or between sub-base and base layers to promote bonding (see Figure 4.18). Adequate bonding between constructions lifts and especially between the existing road surface and an overlay is critical in order for the completed pavement structure to behave as a single unit and provide adequate strength. If adjacent layers do not bond to one another they essentially behave as multiple independent thin layers situation for which none of them are designed to accommodate the anticipated traffic bending stresses. Inadequate bonding between layers can result in de-lamination (debonding) followed by longitudinal wheel path cracking, fatigue cracking, potholes, and other distresses such as rutting that greatly reduce pavement life.
Figure 4.18 Tack coat applied on a sub-base layer Also a prime coat can be applied on a sub-base or on the top granular base layer if this is necessary. Usually prime coats are being executed on sub-base layer if they cannot be paved right away and consist in a sprayed application of a cutback or emulsion asphalt applied to the surface of untreated sub-base or base layers in order to: Fill the surface voids and protect the sub-base from weather. Stabilize the fines and preserve the sub-base material. Promote bonding to the subsequent pavement layers. Before execution of the bituminous impregnation the surface should be moistened in order to make easier the penetration of the binder on the layer and at the time when the binder is to be laid, the air temperature and the pavement temperature should be higher than 5C.
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From a tank wagon the emulsion is laid with a semi-automatic (is normal circumstances there is also a manual sprayer for small areas where the tank wagon cannot reach) or automatic pave bar with a variation of the binder on the effective width no bigger than 15% on the effective width. The time period between the impregnation and the laying of the next layer is determined before taking in consideration the weather conditions, but it shouldnt take more than 24 hours (usually a fast cutting emulsion is applied for which a half an hour is enough), however in the cases where the binder is not completely absorbed by the base during this time, a fine aggregate should be spread in order to capture the excessive binder. This aggregate should be bigger than 4.75 mm (ASTM screen no. 4) and thoroughly free of dust or other foreign matters. Any bituminous layer shall be kept clean and uncontaminated for so long as it remains uncovered by succeeding layers or surface treatment, but when a bituminous layer is trafficked before the next layer is laid, it must be thoroughly cleaned off and a tack coat should be applied. 4.5 Asphalt plant A HMA plant is an assembly of mechanical and electronic equipment where aggregates are blended, heated, dried and mixed with binder to produce HMA meeting specified requirements. The plant may be stationary (located at a permanent location) or portable (moved from project to project). There are numerous types of plants, but the majority of plants in use today can be categorized as either a batch plant (Figure 4.19 a)), or a drum mix plant (Figure 4.19 b)).
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a) Batch plant Figure 4.19 Typical plants
b) Drum plant
Regardless of the type of mixing plant, the basic purpose is the same. That purpose is to produce a HMA containing proportions of binder and aggregate that meets all specification requirements. Each type of plant can produce the same types of HMA and neither type of plant should impart any significant plant specific HMA characteristics. The choice of a batch or drum mix plant depends upon business factors such as purchase price, operating costs, production requirements and the need for flexibility in local markets; both can produce quality HMA. Typical batch quantities range from 1.5 to 5 tons of HMA and each batch can take 15 45 seconds to make. Drum plants, which produce HMA in a continuous manner, generally offer higher production rates than batch plants for comparable cost. Typical production rates for drum plants vary between about 100 tons/hr up to over 900 tons/hr depending upon drum design. In the batch-type mixing plant, hot aggregate and binder are added in designated amounts to make up one batch. After mixing, the HMA is discharged from the pug-mill in one batch. In the drum-type mixing plant, the aggregate is dried, heated, and mixed with the binder in the drum producing HMA in a continuous operation. Certain plant operations are common to both the batch plant and drum mix plants. These operations include: i) cold aggregate storage and feeding; ii) dust control and collection; and iii) mix storage.
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Here will be presented a batch-type mixing plant, mentioning the most important elements. The cold aggregate feeder is the first major component of the mixing plant and may be one or a combination of the following three methods: i) open top bins with several compartments, observed here in Figure 4.20 and which is the most common (materials are fed by a front-end loader); ii) tunnels under stockpiles separated by bulkheads (materials are stockpiled over the tunnel by belt conveyor, or front-end loader); and iii) bunker or large bins (materials are usually fed by trucks, car unloaders, or bottom dump freight cars emptying directly into the bunkers).
Figure 4.20 Typical five bin cold feed system For the control of the flow of material from the cold feeds are numerous methods, depending of the manufacturer. The most common is the variable speed short belt feeder under each cold feed. The operator can adjust the RPM of the belt from the control room. Therefore, control is expressed as RPM or a percentage of the belt's total speed potential. From the cold bins, aggregates are delivered to the dryer by means of a conveyor belt as shown in Figure 4.21 left (in the right is the dryer). The dryer removes moisture from the aggregates and raises the aggregate temperature to the desired level.
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Figure 4.21 Typical conveyor belt and dryer After the aggregates have been heated and dried, they are carried by a hot elevator (an enclosed bucket conveyor) to the gradation unit. In the gradation unit, the hot aggregate passes over a series of screens that separate it into various-sized fractions, deposit those fractions in hot bins and then are weight again. From the weigh hopper, the aggregates are deposited into the plant pugmill (the chamber in which the binder and aggregates are mixed) to be blended with the proper proportion of binder. The pugmill consists of a lined mixing chamber with two horizontal shafts on which several paddle shanks, each with two paddle tips, are mounted (the paddle tips are adjustable and fairly easily replaced). In the typical plant system, binder is weighed separately in a weigh bucket before being introduced into the pugmill. When the weight of binder in the bucket reaches a predetermined level, a valve in the delivery line closes to prevent excess binder from being discharged into the bucket. The binder is then pumped through spray bars into the pugmill. After this the material is discharged into trucks as in Figure 4.22.
Figure 4.22 HMA discharged into truck
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All these operation presented until now are presented in a schematic way in Figure 4.23.
Figure 4.23 Basic batch plant operations shown schematically Due to environmental importance and because an asphalt plant can produce a large amount of dust, must be installed a system to filter all harmful particles. A modern method is the use of a baghouse, which can be described as a large metal housing containing hundreds of synthetic, heat-resistant fabric bags, which are usually siliconetreated to increase their ability to collect very fine particles of dust. A large vacuum fan creates a suction within the housing, which draws in dirty air and filters it though the fabric of the bags. To handle the huge volume of exhaust gases from the aggregate dryer, a very large number of bags (a typical unit may contain as many as 800) are required. A baghouse is divided into a dirty gas chamber and a clean gas chamber. The filter bags are contained in the dirty gas chamber, into which the air from the dryer enters. The flow of air carrying the dust particles passes through the fabric of the filter bags, depositing the dust on the surface of the bag. The air then continues to the clean gas chamber. During the operation, the fabric filter traps large quantities of dust, which must be removed before it reduces or stops the flow of gas through the filter. There are many ways of cleaning the bags in a collector, but the most common methods are to flex the bags, back-flush the bags with clean air or both flex and back-flush. Dust removed from the bags drops into an auger at the bottom of the baghouse and is transferred to a storage silo. The dust may then be returned to the plant or wasted.
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4.6 Engineering structures
-Retaining walls Before to present retaining walls, must be taken to acknowledge little basic information about how the structure functions in general. The most important consideration is that the retained material is attempting to move forward and down slope due to gravity. This creates a soil pressure behind the wall (depending on the angle of internal friction (phi) and the cohesive strength (c) of the material). This pressure is smallest at the top and increases toward the bottom and will push the wall forward or overturn it if not properly addressed. Today, taller retaining walls are increasingly built as composite gravity walls such as: geo-synthetic or steel-reinforced backfill soil with pre-cast facing; gabions (stacked steel wire baskets filled with rocks), crib walls (cells built up log cabin style from precast concrete or timber and filled with soil) or soil-nailed walls (soil reinforced in place with steel and concrete rods) Berlin wall. Gravity walls are made from a large mass of stone, concrete or composite material and depend on the size and weight of the wall mass to resist pressures from behind. For short, landscaping walls, gravity walls made from dry-stacked (mortar-less) stone or segmental concrete units (masonry units) are commonly used. Dry-laid gravity walls are somewhat flexible and do not require a rigid footing below frost. The first type of retaining wall which will present is the gabion wall. The method of construction for this wall is very simple, but must be done very careful: i) first the terrain is cleared (and proper excavations done of course); ii) are constructed the steel wire baskets and then are assembled at their place with a steel framework (Figure 4.24 left); iii) the baskets are filled by an excavator with rocks (the steel framework acts like a support so the wire basket wont lose his shape) starting from the back part of the basket (Figure 4.24 middle); iv) the rocks from the front are arranged by hand (Figure 4.24 right); v) the steel framework is removed (a finished gabion can be seen in Figure 4.25).
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Figure 4.24 Stages in gabion construction Gabion walls have a slight setback, or batter, to improve wall stability by leaning back into the retained soil.
Figure 4.25 Finished retaining wall - type gabion The next type of reinforced wall is the reinforced-soil gravity wall. For reinforced-soil gravity walls, the soil reinforcement is placed in horizontal layers throughout the height of the wall. The wall face is often of precast, segmental concrete units that can tolerate some differential movement. The reinforced soil's mass, along with the facing, becomes the gravity wall. The reinforced mass must be built large enough to retain the pressures from the soil behind it. The main stages in constructing this type of reinforced walls are: i) building the wall from segmental concrete (Figure 4.26); ii) attachment of steel reinforcements (Figure 4.27 left); iii) material discharge from trucks (Figure 4.27 middle); iv) material laying with a bulldozer (Figure 4.27 right); v) compaction of the layer which have just been laid; vi) all these steps are repeated until is reached the desirable level.
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Figure 4.26 Prefabricated concrete elements for reinforced-soil gravity wall This method uses the backfill soil exclusively as the mass to resist the soil forces by engaging the soil using steel or polymeric soil reinforcements.
Figure 4.27 Construction of the backfill for reinforced-soil gravity wall Another type of reinforced wall which will present is soil-nailed walls, known also as Berlin wall. This type of reinforced wall is reinforced in place with steel and concrete rods. It has the particularity that his construction begins from the top to the bottom. After is build the first section (on top), the earth is excavated forward for the construction of the next section (Figure 4.28). The reinforcements are applied after the concrete is hardened (for each section).
Figure 4.28 Works at a Berlin wall
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For soft soils and tight spaces the most often used reinforced walls are sheet pile walls, which basically are made out of steel sheet piles driven into the ground. Structural design methods for this type of wall are more complex than for a gravity wall. As a rule of thumb: 1/3 third above ground, 2/3 below ground. Taller sheet pile walls usually require a tie-back anchor "dead-man" placed in the soil some distance behind the wall face, which is tied to the wall face, usually by a cable or a rod. Anchors must be placed behind the potential failure plane in the soil. With a machine specially equipped (Figure 4.29 left), are drill out holes and then the steel reinforcement (are made on the site Figure 4.29 right) are introduced into these spaces.
Figure 4.29 Equipment and steel cage for sheet pile walls After these operations are being done, the concrete is poured thru a funnel as shown in Figure 4.30. For forming a retaining wall are made more piles like described before aligned side by side.
Figure 4.30 Concrete pouring into a pile
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Proper drainage behind the wall is critical to the performance or retaining walls. Drainage materials will reduce or eliminate the hydraulic pressure and increase the stability of the fill material behind the wall (assuming of course, that this is not a retaining wall for water). A particular type of drainage (thru a retaining wall) is illustrated in Figure 4.31.
Figure 4.31 Drainage thru a gabion
-Junctions Junctions are means of connect a highway with side roads. Works on a junction consists mainly in earthworks (ramp construction), bridge (because of their nature cross over or under highway), retaining walls (to support the earth from ramp construction) and of course pavement construction as observed in Figure 4.32. Due to this factors, is no further use to discuss them here, being already presented in different chapters that contain the works mentioned upper.
Figure 4.32 Junctions
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-Viaducts Viaducts are the types of bridges that cross a big valley or an inhabited place and usually are very tall and have an impressive length. Due to this factor, special methods of construction had to be developed. Here is presented such way of construction. Elements of a viaduct are mainly as those which made a bridge: foundation, piers, abutments and road deck. The foundation is on the front case a pile foundation mat, because first are poured a number of piles into ground like the ones for retaining walls, forming a foundation of a grillage, and then the slab foundation (see Figure 4.33) is constructed. Before the slab foundation pouring, the top of the piles are broken and armored (see Figure 4.34).
Figure 4.33 Slab foundation
Figure 4.34 Pile foundation constructions From the slab foundation the piers that sustain the road deck are constructed. They are built in a continuous way from the bottom to the top, with equipment presented in Figure 4.35. The picture from the left represents the exterior part; the one from the
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middle represents the inner part and in picture from the right is shown how this assemble climb up with the help of hydraulic jacks. After the pier is completed, the structure is disassembled, cleaned up from concrete and moved t build the next pier.
Figure 4.35 Equipment for pier construction After completion of the piers, the road deck construction can begin (is not necessary that all the piers to be build). This stage starts from an end of the viaduct and will continue, constructing section by section, until the other end of the viaduct. The weight of the encasing is sustained by the piers and it is moved forward with the help of hydraulic jacks as shown in Figure 4.36.
Figure 4.36 Road deck constructions When the road deck is finished, ancillary works can be carried out like paving the road deck, building road side obstructions, paintings, etc.
-Bridges As being descript before, the elements of a bridge are the same as ones from a viaduct, which means a bridge has foundation, piers and road deck. In highway construction, bridges are used for all kinds of purposes: in junctions for entering and exit the highway, for crossing rivers, for crossing other ways of transportation, etc. - 82 -
From the strictly construction point of view, bridges can be of two types: monolith and from precast elements. The elements most usually to be found precast are the girders. These usually are transported to the work site by special trucks, and then are raised up with cranes on the piers (see Figure 4.37).
Figure 4.37 Bridge precast elements Another way of building is to build the piers before the cuts are being executed. In this way the bridge can be build in a monolith way (with a minimum of scaffolds required) and without waiting that another stage (earthworks) to be completed. A bridge of this type can be observed in Figure 4.38.
Figure 4.38 Bridge built before execution of earthworks In case of bridges for highways which already exists and is needed to strength them, a modern method is to apply on inferior part of the road deck, carbon fibers which are glued on the bridge with a specific resin. For this job is needed only the materials, a mechanical platform to have access to the bridge and a crew of two man to fur fill the job. A bridge which had been acquiescent to this type of strengthen is shown in Figure 4.39.
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Figure 4.39 Bridge strengthened with carbon fibers
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Chapter 5 QUALITY CONTROL & QUALITY ASSURANCE
5.1 Definitions In engineering and manufacturing, quality control and quality engineering are involved in developing systems to ensure products or services which are designed and produced to meet or exceed customer requirements and expectations. These systems are often developed in conjunction with other business and engineering disciplines using a crossfunctional approach. In its broadest sense, quality is a degree of excellence: the extent to which something is fit for its purpose. In the narrow sense, product or service quality is defined as conformance with requirement, freedom from defects or contamination, or simply a degree of customer satisfaction. For many years, the terms quality control and quality assurance have been used interchangeably. Typically, the purchaser would carry out all required testing to prove the adequacy of a product, such as ready-mix concrete, delivered to the site. More recently, with end-product specifications coming into wider use, the two terms have come to refer to different aspects of materials acceptance. Two recent definitions are: Quality Control is ...those actions which provide a means to measure and regulate the characteristics of an item or service to contractual or regulatory requirements. Quality Assurance is ...those planned and systematic actions needed to provide confidence that products or services will satisfy specific requirements. AASHTO subscribe to definitions that designate quality assurance as an allencompassing term, to include quality control, independent assurance and acceptance as its three key components: Quality assurance. All those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide confidence that a product or facility will perform satisfactorily in service. Quality assurance addresses the overall problem of obtaining the quality of a service, - 85 -
product, or facility in the most efficient, economical, and satisfactory manner possible. Within this broad context, quality assurance involves continued evaluation of the activities of planning, design, development of plans and specifications, advertising and awarding of contracts, construction, and maintenance, and the interactions of these activities. Quality control. Those quality assurance actions and considerations necessary to assess production and construction processes so as to control the level of quality being produced in the end product. This concept of quality control typically includes sampling and testing by the contractor to monitor the process but usually does not include acceptance sampling and testing by the agency/owner. Also called process control. Acceptance. Sampling, testing, and the assessment of test results to determine whether or not the quality of produced material or construction is acceptable in terms of the specifications. Independent assurance. A management tool that requires a third party, not directly responsible for process control or acceptance, to provide an independent assessment of the product and/or the reliability of test results obtained from process control and acceptance testing. The results of independent assurance tests should not be used as a basis of product acceptance. Quality control, acceptance and independent assurance are wholly separate components of quality assurance. It is difficult, if not impossible, to influence one component, solely through actions within another component. For instance, acceptance procedures are essentially monitoring methods used to determine whether or not a particular process is meeting quality standards. As such, they can be used to accept or reject material based on its quality but they should never be used as a method to control or improve quality; quality will not necessarily improve based on increased or stricter monitoring alone. In short, no amount of inspection changes the quality of a product or service (IQA, 2001). Quality Assurance covers all activities from design, development, production, installation, servicing and documentation. It introduced the sayings fit for purpose and do it right the first time. It includes the regulation of the quality of raw materials, assemblies, products and components; services related to production; and management,
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production, and inspection processes. The main goal of QA is to ensure that the product fulfills or exceeds customer expectations.
5.2 Quality Documentation The plans and contract specify the minimum requirements for the quality of materials and work to be furnished or performed under the contract. The Project Manager must assure that the materials incorporated and work performed by the Contractor is in close conformance with contract requirements. The Project Manager must be continually observant to verify that necessary inspection, sampling, testing, and measurements are performed and inspection reports, test results, calculations, and other confirming data are prepared promptly. The Contractor is not allowed to incorporate materials into the project without acceptable conformance documents. This condition may be temporarily waived only if the material must be installed for immediate traffic safety, but no payment will be made for the value of the materials, or the costs of incorporating them, until acceptable conformance documentation is received and/or testing is performed. For each project, the Project Manager must become familiar with the quality compliance requirements for all of the materials that are to be incorporated into the project. The Project Manager must also assure that the Contractor is aware of quality documentation that it needs to submit or sampling and testing that it must perform. The Project Manager may provide the Contractor a copy of the Test Summary which shows the needed quality requirements.
5.3 Quality Control Plan minimum requirements This method describes the minimum requirements for a contractors Quality Control Plan that will help to assure that all materials and work submitted for acceptance will conform to the contract requirements. The Quality Control Plan must have: - 87 -
documents the Contractors policy for obtaining quality and the assignment of quality control accountability and responsibility; a statistically valid sampling, testing and analysis plan with frequencies, locations and methods; details provisions for disposal or rework of non-specification materials or work; laboratory(s) identification the to be used and its credentials; the quality control personnel identification and their qualifications; and provisions for control charts. The inspections and tests required to support conformance with the contract are performed by the Constructors (or their designated agent) and made available to Portuscale, but at his own turn, Portuscale have a company contracted especially for this job, which also make all the results available to it. Standard equipment and qualified personnel will be used by the Constructors to perform the quality control inspection, sampling and testing required by the contract. The Contractors quality control plan shall include the information as outlined below: For Production Facility shall include data related with: i) production equipment (enter make, type and location) with frequency of production equipment inspection, calibration, verification of calibration, and any certification of production facility (Include documentation); ii) personnel responsible for signing forms (name, qualification and telephone number of employee responsible for quality control, name and qualification of sampling and testing technician, name and telephone number of plant manager or employee responsible for making production facility changes when necessary as a result of QC data and name of employee who is responsible to notify Contractor when finished material is ready for acceptance testing, and how Contractor will be contacted); iii) the type of materials and designs to be used in the contract; iv) list of sources to be used for each material type; v) proposed frequency of quality control testing during production operations; vi) how the appropriate Department personnel will be notified before the scheduled work is to begin; vii) how the testing and evaluation will be made available to the Department; viii) how discarded material will be disposed of; and ix) What will happen in the event that test data indicates that non-complying material has been
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incorporated into the work, including when the Department will be notified and when a plan will be submitted, identifying the defective material and its repair and/or removal. For Field Operations the required data is comprised by: i) personnel (name, qualification and telephone number of employee directing the field operations, name, and qualification, of employee who is responsible for insuring that all items of work will comply with Department specifications, name of employee responsible for sampling and testing and name of employee who is responsible to notify Contractor when finished material is ready for acceptance testing and/or surface inspection, and how Contractor will be contacted); ii) proposed frequency of quality control testing during placement operations; iii) how the appropriate Department personnel will be notified before work is scheduled to begin; iv) how the testing, evaluation and surface inspection will be done and results made available to the Department; v) how discarded material will be disposed of; and vi) what will happen in the event that test data or inspections indicate that non-complying material has been incorporated into the work, including when the Department will notified and when a plan will be submitted, identifying the defective material and its repair and/or removal.
5.4 Study for the final characteristics of the pavement The aim of this study is to finalize the characteristics of the pavement and will serve as base for the definition of the hand over conditions and to the analysis of its future behavior. A specialized consultant company named by the Contractor and approved by the Concessionaire will carry out this exercise. Pavement performance is a function of its relative ability to serve traffic over a period of time. Typically, a system of objective measurements is used to quantify a pavement's condition and performance. These systems are used to aid in making the following types of decisions (Hicks and Mahoney, 1981): Establish maintenance priorities. Condition data such as roughness, surface distress, and deflection are used to establish the projects most in need of maintenance and rehabilitation. Once identified, the projects in the poorest condition are more closely evaluated to determine repair strategies.
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Determine maintenance and rehabilitation strategies. Data from surface distress surveys are used to develop an action plan on a year-to-year basis; i.e., which strategy (patching, BSTs, overlays, recycling, etc.) is most appropriate for a given pavement condition. Predict pavement performance. Data, such as roughness, skid resistance, surface distress, or a combined rating, are projected into the future to assist in preparing long-range budgets or to estimate the condition of the pavements in a network given a fixed budget.
5.4.1 Roughness Roughness refers to the characterization of the pavement longitudinal regularity, measuring continuously the longitudinal irregularity of the wearing course. Roughness measurements can be made in a variety of ways including surveying instruments, portable inclinometers, profilographs, response type road roughness meters (RTRRMs) and profiling devices. The most common methods involve profilographs and profiling devices. The used equipment can be of the type APL (Analyseur du Profil en Long) or equipped with sensors such as laser (usually multi-function ones) so that the longitudinal profile and the LIC (Longitudinal Irregularity Content) can be established. The longitudinal irregularity is carried out along the external line or preferentially along the two lines of each of the tested lanes. The final report shall represent the longitudinal profile of the surface as well as the values of the LIC obtained by sections of 100 m along the tested alignments. The first campaign regarding the longitudinal irregularity of the pavement shall be carried out after the conclusion of all pavement works being the report submitted before the provisional hand over of the Works. The second campaign shall take place at the end of the final period of the guarantee and the relevant report must include an evolution analysis concerning the measured parameters. Pavement roughness is an expression of irregularities in the pavement surface that adversely affect a vehicle's ride quality. Roughness is an important pavement characteristic because it affects not only ride quality but also vehicle operating costs, fuel consumption and maintenance costs.
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5.4.2 Skid Resistance Skid resistance is the force developed when a tire that is prevented from rotating slides along the pavement surface (Highway Research Board, 1972). Skid resistance is an important pavement evaluation parameter because: Inadequate skid resistance will lead to higher incidences of skid related accidents. Most agencies have an obligation to provide users with a roadway that is "reasonably" safe. Skid resistance measurements can be used to evaluate various types of materials and construction practices. Skid resistance changes over time. Typically it increases in the first two years following construction as the asphalt binder is worn away by traffic, then decreases over the remaining pavement life as aggregates become more polished. Skid resistance is also typically higher in the fall and winter and lower in the spring and summer. This seasonal variation is quite significant and can severely skew skid resistance data if is not properly compensated. The measurement of the skid resistance can be with an equipment of the SCRIM (Sideway-Force Coefficient Routine Investigation Machine) type, other equipment that measures the cross friction coefficient through oblique wheels, equipment that measures the longitudinal friction coefficient through a partial blocked wheel or with British Pendulum Test. In the first cases the equipment to be used shall have an automatic irrigation system in order to guarantee a uniform water pellicle over the tested surface. The awarded entity shall also present proven connections between the obtained results with the relevant equipment in case distinct equipment is used. The reference conditions taken are a speed of 60km/h and a water pellicle of 0.5 mm being sometimes necessary to use different conditions in conformity with the used equipment. The characterization of the wearing course friction coefficient shall be carried out after the conclusion of all pavement works, preferably between May and September being the report delivered before the provisional hand over. - 91 -
The method most used and agreed in Portugal is the British Pendulum Tester (see Figure 5.1) or The Pendulum Test, where the skid resistance is measured by means of a pendulum arm.
Figure 5.1 the British Pendulum Tester This method measures the skid resistance of a small area of a surface (approximately 0.01 m2) which should be considered when deciding its applicability to a surface which may have non-homogeneous surface characteristics, e.g. containing ridges or grooves, or is rough textured. The principle is very easy; The Pendulum Tester incorporates a spring loaded slider made of a standard rubber attached to the end of a pendulum which on releasing from a horizontal position measure, by the reduction in length of the upswing using a calibrated scale (see Figure 5.2), the loss of energy as the slider assembly passes over the test surface.
Figure 5.2 Calibrated scale of the Pendulum Tester
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The test procedures are carried out following the next steps: i) first the leveling screws are adjusted so that the pendulum support column is vertical, then the axis of suspension of the pendulum is raised so that the arm swings freely and the friction in the pointer mechanism is adjusted so that, when the pendulum arm and pointer are released from the right-hand horizontal position, the pointer comes to rest at zero position on the test scale; ii) the height of the pendulum arm is adjusted so that in traversing the surface the rubber slider is in contact with it over the whole width of the slider and over the length below (a pointer fixed to the foot of the slider assembly and a pre-marked gauge shall be used as shown in Figure 5.3); iii) the surfaces of the specimen and the rubber slider is wetted with water, being careful not to disturb the slider from its set position.
Figure 5.3 Pre-marked gauge used to adjust the pendulum arm The last step is releasing the pendulum is released and pointer from the horizontal position using the holding button (see Figure 5.4), catch the pendulum arm on the early portion of the return swing and record the position of the pointer on the scale to the nearest whole number. After this the pendulum and pointer are returned to the release position by raising the slider using the lifting handle.
Figure 5.4 Releasing the pendulum
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The operation is performed five times, re-wetting the surface copiously just before releasing the pendulum and recording the result each time. If the first five readings differ by more than three units, repeat until three successive readings are constant and record this value.
5.4.3 Deflection Structural characterization of the pavement are based upon load tests - The load tests shall be carried out by means of a Benkelman beam or an Impact Deflectometre (FWD) at each one of the carriageways. The test points shall be located along the external line of the tested lane, spaced 100m on the more used lanes and 200m at the internal lanes if they exist. The temperatures of the bituminous layers during the test campaigns shall be measured by intervals not longer than 1 hour. The analysis report of the load tests shall have an interpretation of the study concerning the obtained results and a comparative analysis with the project assumptions in order to structurally characterize the pavement. This characterization shall be made before the Works provisional hand over. The magnitude and shape of pavement deflection is a function of traffic (type and volume), pavement structural section, temperature affecting the pavement structure and moisture affecting the pavement structure. Thus, many characteristics of a HMA pavement can be determined by measuring its deflection in response to load. Surface deflection is measured as a pavement surface's vertical deflected distance as a result of an applied (either static or dynamic) load. The more advanced measurement devices record this vertical deflection in multiple locations, which provides a more complete characterization of pavement deflection. The area of pavement deflection under and near the load application is collectively known as the "deflection basin". The most common type of measurement equipment is the falling weight deflectometer (FWD) (see Figures 5.5). The FWD can either be mounted in a vehicle or on a trailer and is equipped with a weight and several velocity transducer sensors. To perform a test, the vehicle is stopped and the loading plate (weight) is positioned over the desired
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location. The sensors are then lowered to the pavement surface, the weight is dropped, and the surrounding pavement vertical deflection is recorded.
Figures 5.5 Falling Weight Deflectometer The resulting deflections are measured at the center of the applied load and at 300, 450, 600, 900, 1200, 1500, 1800, and 2100 mm away from the load. Deflections may be either correlated directly to pavement performance or used to determinate the in-situ material characteristics of the pavement layers.
5.5 Final documentation submittals Construction Manual outlines fully the documents required for final project documentation. The quantity documentation and quality documentation are padded separate and are submitted together: The test summary and supporting documentation they can be bound together or separately. If bound together, as in a small project, the test summary should be at the front of the supporting documentation. On a larger project (multiple quality books) it definitely helps the reviewer if the test summary is bound separately from the supporting documentation. Missing documentation will be identified and resolved sooner, resulting in the project being accepted at an earlier date. Price adjustments quality and quantity adjustments, with supporting documentation, all need to be bound together in their own booklet. They should be in numerical order, exactly how they appear in the quantity ledger. (Remember to provide the raw data rolls for the smoothness bonus). DRR the Documentation Review Report has two functions. First, it is used for periodic reviews during the course of the project and to report the deficiencies found - 95 -
in the documentation. Second, at the end of the project, it is used to recommend acceptance of the project documentation, and to list any exceptions. FMC the Final Materials Certification summarizes the quality price adjustments on the project. Bonus adjustments, price reductions for materials that didnt meet the contract requirements, missing test adjustments, and contract change orders that took money back for materials that didnt meet contract specifications all belong on the FMC. Quantity lump sum adjustments, fuel escalation adjustments, and sign inspection charges are all examples of quantity price adjustments that do not get listed on the FMC.
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Chapter 6 CASE STUDY - EARTHWORKS
6.1 Project The main component of this part consists in drawings, which for a highway are, in effect, the graphical instructions as to how the roadway is to be constructed. As such, they are an integral part of the contract drawn up between the highway authority (Estradas do Portugal) and the contractor (Portuscale). Hence great care must be taken in their preparation so that the contractor knows exactly what he has to do and costly changes are not necessary after the contract is awarded. A complete set of plans for a highway construction or improvement may contain the following: A location map of the proposed improvement. This shows the location of the proposed line, major topographical features, possible detour routes, and other general features of introductory interest. A detailed plan of the proposed highway. This should show the exact locations of all pegs; bearings of tangent lines, radii and other geometrical data affecting the layout of all horizontal curves, boundaries of the right-of-way, and streams, railways, buildings, fences, public utility lines, and other structures contained within it; existing and proposed drainage structures; locations of bench marks; and any other details to be considered in the course of construction. Contours showing the topographical nature of the terrain may also be included. A profile section of the longitudinal line of the road. This should show the required surface or formation line of the highway and the natural ground or existing road line; all necessary existing and required elevations at marked pegs; all required vertical curve data; percentages of grade for each continuous grade; elevations of floors of culverts and bridges, and the beds of streams; and any other information necessary for the vertical design of the highway. Earthwork cross-sections at all necessary locations. Each cross-section should be clearly located and indicate the elevations and line of the existing ground and the proposed roadway formation, and the areas of cut and fill for each section.
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Typical roadway cross-sections at selected locations. These should provide all information required to construct the pavement, shoulders, footways, side slopes, drainage ditches, and other such structural items. A mass-haul diagram. This indicates the amount of cut or fills to particular locations along the line of the roadway, and shows where excavated material may be economically moved to create embankments. Construction details of such items as culverts, bridges-these are very often separate contracts-guard rails and fences, traffic islands, kerbs, gutters and drainage inlets, pavement joints, super elevation, and other such items. Special requirements of the scheme. First steps in approach the preparation of highway plans involve preparation of the location map, drawing the highway plan, profile sections plot and developing preliminary concepts relative to cross-sections. After these steps the preparation of cross-section details and estimating earthwork quantities follows. When they are considered complete, the designer traverses the entire length of the scheme, and verifies that each item is as desired. The determination of earthwork quantities is usually based on field cross-section data, the cross-section data showing the extent of the excavation in cuttings and the filling for embankments at regular intervals-usually about every 1530m-and where major surface irregularities occur along the centre-line of the proposed highway. When the ground surface is level or regular, the area of a cross-section is most easily determinable by dividing the enclosed space into triangles and trapeziums and using standard formulas in the calculations. If the ground surface is irregular, the planimeter provides a very easy means of measuring area. Alternatively, the area of an irregularly shaped cross-section can be obtained using the co-ordinate method. By geometry it can be shown that the area enclosed in Figure 6.1 is given by: ABCD = [y1(x4-x2) + y2(x1-x3) + y3(x2-x4) + y4(x3-x1)]
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y-axis
x3 x2 x4 x1 0 y4 D
C B A y3 y1 y2 x-axis
Figure 6.1 Determining area by co-ordinate method When the cross-section areas of excavation and embankment are known, the volumes can be calculated. The simplest and most common procedure for measuring volume is by means of the Trapezoidal or Average-End-Area method. This merely involves the estimation of each of the end cross-section areas of a length of roadway, the calculation of their mean and the multiplication of the mean area by the distance between the ends. Thus, in Figure 6.2, if the area abcd is denoted by A1 and ijkl by A2, then: V = D/2(A1+A2) Where: V = volume (m3); D = distance between end areas (m); A1 and A2 = end areas (m2). The above formula is exact only when the end areas are equal. When they are not, as is usually so, the results given by the equation are larger than the true values. In practice, however, it is found that the total error on a long line is rarely more than a few per cent; hence this very simple method is almost invariably used to calculate earthwork quantities.
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D D/2
i e l f Am g c A2
a h d A1
Figure 6.2 Determining volumes by the average-end-area and prismoidal formulas When more precise results are required-and when the field data are sufficiently exact to warrant them-volumes may be determined by means of the Prismoidal formula. Referring again to Figure 6.2, if A1 and A2 are as indicated before and the mid-section area efgh is denoted by Am then: V = D/6(A1+4Am+A2) In order to distribute earthwork quantities, the location of a highway and the selection of its vertical alignment should ideally be such that the volume of material excavated within the limits oft he scheme is equal to that required in embankment. If all the excavated material can be hauled from the cuttings to the embankments, then wastage and the need to borrow materials are eliminated and most economical design is obtained. In order to cost the scheme, it is necessary therefore to analyze the relationships between cut and fill materials along the proposed line of the road. When earthwork quantities are calculate, an allowance has to be made for the excess of excavation required to form a given embankment volume. The term shrinkage is almost universally used to explain the condition whereby a unit volume of excavation material will occupy less space when placed in a compacted embankment. Also the opposite situation exists when a given volume of excavation occupies a greater volume of embankment, the per cent change between cut and fill is called the per cent swell (or bulking). The ratio of embankment volume to excavation volume (or vice versa) is called the Swell Factor.
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When excavated soil is placed in an embankment, the final volume is nearly always less than the natural volume; here it is the shrinkage factor which is of importance. When, however, rock is excavated, it will always occupy a greater volume in embankment, and it is the swell factor and the per cent swell which must be estimated. Other terms which are related with earthwork calculations are haul, free-haul and overhaul. In earthwork calculations the term Haul has a dual meaning. It is used to describe the distance over which material is moved and also, the volume-distance of material used. In earthwork contract, it is stated that the contractor will be paid a specified price for excavating, hauling and dumping material, provided that the haulage distance does not exceed a certain amount. This distance, which is called the Free-haul, can be as 350m or more on large motorway construction schemes. Within the free-haul distance the contractor is paid a fixed amount per cubic meter of material, irrespective of the actual distance through which it is moved. When the haulage distance is greater than the free-haul, however, the contractor is usually paid at a higher rate for the Overhaul. The unit overhaul price is based on the cost per station meter of moving material beyond the free-haul distance (the length measurement begins at the end of the free-haul distance). When the haul distances are large it may be more economical to waste excavation material and borrow from a more convenient source than pay for overhauling. On any given scheme, the Economic-haul distance will vary considerably, as it depends both on the availability of suitable borrow materials and of nearby sites where excavated material can be wasted. The economic-overhaul distance can be determined by equating the cost of roadway excavation plus overhaul and tipping in embankment with the cost of borrow pit material (includes original cost as well as cost of excavating, hauling and tipping borrow in embankment), plus excavation, haul and wasting of roadway material within the free-haul distance. To enable the contractor to have knowledge of the amount and extent of free-haul and overhaul on a project, so that he can submit a bid, a mass-hauling diagram is included in - 101 -
the plans for the scheme. This diagram is a graphical representation of the amount of earthworks involved in the highway scheme, and the manner in which they may be most economically handled (see Figure 6.3). It shows accumulated volume at any point along the proposed centre-line and from this the economical directions of haul and the positioning of borrow pits and spoil heaps can be estimated.
Longitudinal section
H Elevations Borrow Waste I Borrow K L
D B C E F
Figure 6.3 Example of a mass-haul diagram When a road improvement has been located and designed and the final plans drawn, the next phase is the drawing-up of a bill of quantities for the scheme. A bill of quantities consists of a tabulation of all items of work expected to be met with during the course of construction, the estimated quantities of each, and the unit and total cost of every item. On the basis or these quantify data, the engineer can estimate whether the cost of the scheme will be within the budget at his disposal. When the work is to be advertised for tenders from interested contractors, a bill of quantities is normally included as a part of the plans for the scheme. In this, the unit prices and total costs are not, of course, included. It is up to the contractor to make his own estimation of these costs for tendering purposes. When preparing bills of quantities it is usual to organize the presentation according to a detailed procedure available as a guide in the literature.
6.2 Materials All materials which are supposed to be used for the backfill must be the ones defined on the design and should be imported or from site excavations. The Contractor chose the borrow pits but before used them the Supervision must approve them.
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The materials to for the backfill must be preferably insensitive to water (which determines that the percentage of the material passing the sieve #no 200 cannot exceed 30%) especially when there is the possibility of floods or soaking the adjacent land. Materials used for backfill must be assembled and manipulated so that the stability of works are assured and simultaneously the strains (deformations) after construction can be tolerated in the short and long term considering service conditions can be used for the construction of the backfilled areas. For the purpose of stability requirements (immediately) of the backfilled areas, the materials which are used must have geologic characteristics which allow them to reach immediately after their assembly the strengths, in particular the mechanical, assuring the relevant requirement. The thighs being said upper are carried out taking in consideration the means with which the materials are spread and compacted bearing in mind. In general the maximum dimension (mD) of the elements is the one which allows the layers to be correctly leveled but also the natural water content must be taken into account. The materials that can be used for the construction of the backfill must also be clean of branches, leaves, trunks, roots, herbs, rubbish or organic debris. All layers that are constructed (earthwork can consist in several layers) must not have the maximal dimension of the material elements to be applied, higher than 2/3 of the layer thickness once compacted. Materials of the highest quality are used at the top of the backfill, if there are not good soils on site excavations will be taken from borrow pits, also at the sides of the road materials compatible with the estimated slopes geometry shall be used so that instability and or erosion risks can be avoid. When by economic or environmental reasons it is absolutely necessary to reuse coerentes soils (fine and sensitive to water) for backfill construction, with high water contents in its natural state, treatment techniques can be used (in situ or in the plant) with lime or hydraulic binders in order to guarantee the traffic conditions and to reach the required conditions for its placement on site.
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The types of materials used for backfill are under the grading point of view the following ones: soils, rock materials (rock fill) and hardcore materials. In the specifications used by Portuscale, soils mean the materials retained by the sieve 19 mm (3/4") ASTM are less than 30%. When are used for backfill, in its natural state, soils can be divided, regarding the water content, as follows: Soils incoerentes: 0.8 Wopm Wnat 1.2 Wopm Soils coerentes: 0.7 Wopn Wnat 1.4 Wopn Where: Wopm - optimum water content referring to the Modified Proctor test; Wopn - optimum water content referring to the Normal Proctor test. Whenever this requirement is not verified on the coerentes soils case, are applied treatment techniques with lime or lime combined with cement. Soils which are assumed to be treated with lime or hydraulic binders must have initial characteristics of the natural soils and the final ones (mixtures), in order to provide the adequate traffic conditions, as shown in Table 6.1. Table 6.1 Initial and final characteristics of treated soils Soil class CBRim (initial) CBRim (final) S0 <3 5 S1 3 to 5 5 to 15 S2 5 to 8 7 to 20 Immediate CBR 95% Normal Proctor and to Wnatural The lime which is used for the treatment of the soil is quick lime and only in special situations is used stopped lime with a minimum content of calcium and magnesium oxides of 80% in weight when determined to comply with LNEC specifications E 340 81 and E 341 81 and with a carbon dioxide content lower than 5%. The cement to be used for soils treatment is type II class 32.5, complying with the Definitions, Strength Classes and Characteristics of PR 2064.
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Rocky materials, when are reused for backfill, can be characterized by their strength characteristics, fragility and changeability. Basically they can be dived in the following groups: A - SEDIMENTARY ROCKS A.1 - Carbonated Rocks (limestone) a) LA < 45....................................................................................................hard limestone b) LA > 45 and > 18 kN/m3....................................................medium density limestone c) < 18 kN/m3........................................................................................clastic calcareous A.2 - Rocky clays (Marls, Sedimentary Slate, Clays) a) FR < 7 and ALT < 20................Clayey rocks slightly clastic and of medium degraded b) FR > 7......................................................................................Clayey rocks fragmented c) FR < 7 and ALT > 20...............Clayey rocks slightly fragmented and highly degraded A.3 - Siliceous Rocks (Gres, Conglomerate and Breccia) a) LA < 45.................................................Hard Siliceous Rocks b) LA > 45 and FR < 7 ...............................................Medium Hardness Siliceous Rocks c) FR > 7.................................................Siliceous Rocks fragmented
B - MAGAMTIC AND METAMORPHIC ROCKS
a) LA < 45Hard rocks b) LA > 45 and FR < 7.........................Medium hardness Rocks c) FR > 7 ...............................................................................Fragmented or altered Rocks NOTE: - volumetric weight; LA - durability percentage as per Los Angeles machine (Graded aggregate); CT - fragmented content (NF P 94-066); CH - altered content (NF P 94-067).
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The rock fill materials must be homogeneous, of high quality, without waste, organic matters or any other harmful substances, with maximum dimension of the blocks (MmD) smaller than 2/3 of the layer thickness after compaction nor to 0.80 m. The content of elongated and laminated particles must be less than 30%, in weight, laminates or elongated particles being those presenting a maximum dimension superior to 3 times the minimal one. Under a grading point of view the hard core materials are those which show a continuous grading and for which the material retained by sieve 19 mm (3/4") ASTM is between 30% and 70% and the ones that are passing thru the sieve 0,075 mm (no 200) ASTM is between 12% and 40%. As for the rock fill materials, the maximum dimension of the blocks (mD) shall not exceed 2/3 of the thickness of the layer after compaction and should also not superior to 0.40 m. These materials which are formed by a mixture of soils and rock and that usually come from blasting shall comply with the required specification for each fraction, rock or soil. Another class of soils is that of non-reusable ones. These are indicated in the earthworks project, usually coming from excavations or the borrow pits, consisted in general by rubbish or organic debris, clays with IP > 50%, materials with undesired physical and chemical characteristics requiring special measures for excavation, handling, storage, transport or assembly and turf and organic materials coming from swampy places.
6.3 Construction As mentioned in chapter 4, earthworks consist mainly in cut and fill, but soil stabilization is also included here. These types of works are making the main discussion topic in this chapter. The removal of unsuitable earth for construction (soils containing high organic mater or other) represent the first step for earthworks in general after the grounds have been previously clean of buildings, large rocks, debris and woody vegetation (bushes and threes), roots and bits of trees resulting from cutting, part of work which represent the
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cleaning and grubbing of the grounds. An area which has been cleaned of trees, large rocks, etc. and in which the organic soil is visible, can be seen in Figure 6.4.
Figure 6.4 Area containing organic soil after clearing When the ground foundation is characterized as compressible the grubbing shall not include the shrubbery species, but when geotextile are foreseen the grubbing shall comprise all species that can cause damage to the geotextile. In these cases the uprooting shall not be done. Before starting to excavate, the ground is scrapped from the arable earth and topsoil or earth with high organic matter contents. The scraping can only take place when the backfill height is inferior to 3m; because of environmental reasons (it is not convenient to safeguard all topsoil available). It is important to be said that the scraping operation referred to in the design has nothing to do with unsuitable soils. A way of removing the topsoil or high organic soil is to scrape the earth with a bulldozer into heaps and further on loading it into dumpers with wheel loaders (see Figure 6.5).
Figure 6.5 Topsoil removing
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These operations must be carried out carefully to avoid further contamination of the materials used in the backfill. The topsoil placement along side the road layout is not permitted and shall be immediately used or stored in places approved by the Supervision for further use or even taken to a final deposit. After scrapping, the necessary excavations are carried out with use of mechanical or blasting means, in trenches with large sections or for openings for the structures foundations. In all the remaining excavation works it is considered the principle of "ground of any nature" to which correspond the medium offset characteristics resulting from the geologic- geotechnical study (see Figure 6.6).
Figure 6.6 Mechanical excavation All excavations shall be executed in order to assure a perfect superficial flow of the water by gravity (with a gradient) and taking the necessary measures so that the excavations will not go below the foreseen levels. When this happen the material removed below the design level must be substituted by materials with the required characteristics. Before executing any excavation or drainage item a monitoring process of the incoming water shall begin, in a strip 200m each side of the layout, so that at the end of the works it may be concluded if the execution of the existing design did or not interfere with the existing water table. When during construction is encounter water (e.g. spring water), this is controlled and drained immediately. The excavation bottom must be meanwhile keep from water by means of pumping or other means (in Figure 6.7, in the back of the image, can be seen a machinery equipped with a water pump).
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Figure 6.7 Water pumping from construction area When for excavations are needed blasting operations, the Contractor will submit to the Supervision approval the general methodology which attend to use in all the works. This general methodology shall be followed by a detailed blasting plan for each particular place, which must also be submitted, to the Supervision for approval up to the day before the operations. In dense urban areas the Contractor shall take the necessary precautions, which must include sound warnings to avoid risks for people and goods, measures to avoid or reduce to the minimum the projection of rock fragments and assuming full responsibility for the damages that can eventually be caused to third parties. The blasting after sun set and the use of "detonating strings" in surface connections shall not be allowed and all the time must be checked that the propagation of the vibrating waves can not exceed the values established in Portuguese Standard NP-2074 measured in the constructions. But these measures are part of the Safety Plan and some are part of the Quality Control & Quality Assurance plan. Another type of work in earthworks, beside excavations, is represented by backfilling for which a big attention shall be taken in the preparation of the base where the backfill lay (foundation) and after scraping so that, in sloping situations, the surface is stepped to assure the appropriate connection between the backfill material and the natural ground, steps which cannot have the height inferior to the thickness of two layers. In order to assure a homogeneous behavior of the backfill and to guarantee a high quality of the works, it is not desirable to use materials from different origins or with different geotechnical characteristics. If is not possible to use materials with the same - 109 -
geotechnical characteristics along the entire layer, the priority shall be give to transversal section (instead of the longitudinal one), assuring the use of the same material in all platform width. Before starting the compaction operations necessary measures must be take that the optimum content of water not differ more than 20% of the value foreseen in project. If so, after the spreading and before the compaction, the soils must be moistened (see Figure 6.8) or ventilated (by scarifying usually motor-graders or bulldozers are equipped with a scarify system, mounted in the back part of machinery).
Figure 6.8 Sprinkler system used for moistening or dust control When for the backfill are used cohesive materials, for a better compaction is recommended to use sheep-leg rollers (in Figure 6.9 right can be observed this type of roller and the path after rolling over the layer).
Figure 6.9 Layer compacted with a sheep-leg roller In the construction of the backfill can appear special conditions, for which necessary measures must be take. These special conditions can consist in: areas with rock outcrops
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namely when blocks with considerable dimensions appear on the surface, for which the solution is to demolish or fracture, creating steps in order to guarantee the adequate foundation conditions to the first layers of the backfill; and lands which cannot support the weight of the equipment. When grounds cannot support the weight of the equipment, the bottom layer is constructed from granular materials with a minimum width of 0.50, laid on geotextiles assembled under a longitudinal direction, with a minimum juxtaposition of 0.30 m or 0.50 m in areas with low support capacity or preferential to the site traffic, in some areas being necessary to increase the juxtaposition of the geotextile to 1.0 m. When the area where the geotextiles (for reinforcement, filter or separation) are going to be used is superior to 10.000 m2, the Contractor will supply the Supervision with a plan of the relevant execution works comprising: length, width, diameter and weight of the rollers; storage conditions; type of the geotextile connections it is intended to be used; and type and characteristics of the equipment. After the geotextile has been laid down the traffic of heavy vehicles is forbidden on site (as for example bulldozers, loaders, dampers or compaction machines), trucks that approach the area must reverse in order to avoid passing over the geotextile and also to avoid maneuvers that may cause the geotextile displacement until the height of backfill reaches 1.0 m. Until this thickness is reached the traffic will circulate at a minimum distance of 2.0 m from the platform limit and from the geotextile edge. Backfills can be also executed with rocks, case in which they are called rockfill. The material is unloaded 5 m before the front of the application by trucks or dumpers and with a bulldozer with sufficient power (see Figure 6.10) the material is spread in layers. When the transport means have big dimensions (superior to 20 m3), this distance is increased to 10 m.
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Figure 6.10 Bulldozer executing rockfill All the necessary knowledge about how rockfill will be constructed like the thickness of the layers, the number of the roller passages (usually 6 to 10), the energy of compaction, the water quantity and the circulation speed are determined and defined after the execution of lab tests and an experimental backfill. However general recommendations are: material must have medium and height hardness and is resulted from the blasting of rocks; the height of the layer up to 1.0 m; and the execution of the layer are done with watering with exception to the materials not sensible to the water. In some areas technical and economic restraints can require the in situ treatment of the soils with lime and/or hydraulic binders for allowing the reuse of the material, particularly in the case of soils not satisfying the specifications and in the case of humid cohesive soils. The soil shall be scarified up to the necessary minimum depth in order to obtain a stabilized soil layer with the grade line and thickness duly set up. The depth of scarification is necessary not to surpass the thickness needed to be treated (the formula might be altered). After scarifying, to the soil to be stabilized are applied the necessary measures in order to have the water content specified in the formula. If necessary, the soil can be previously watered to facilitate the mixture, but with one day before mixing with the lime and/or cement so that the clods are moistened in the interior. However the cement distribution cannot be carried out in the presence of water concentration in the surface.
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After this the lime and/or cement are uniformly spread with the pre-established dosage by manually or by mechanic means. In this last case, the equipment must have volume dosage, controlled by the spreading speed and devices adequate to the control and reduction of dust discharges. The soil with the hydraulic binder is then mixed with disc grids rails or ploughs towed by bulldozers or with equipment with horizontal axle rotate mixer ("Pulvi-mixers") with a minimum power of 300 HP. The final leveling is done with motor-graders (see Figure 6.11), and then is compacted (at the start of the compaction water content can not differ more than 1% of the working formula).
Figure 6.11 Motor-grader leveling a soil layer The compaction is done longitudinal from the lowest bottom edge of the different lanes, with a minimum juxtaposition of 0.5 m of the several equipment passages. From the quality point of view the surface of the soil stabilized can not differ from said profiles with more than 5.0 cm and the finished surface can not present an irregularity superior to 2 cm when measured with a 3 m rule, both cross and longitudinally. In earthworks is also included the technical backfilling, which represent the backfilling in areas near drainage pipes (see Figure 6.12), bridge elements and other who require special care in construction. Technical backfilling are conducted in the same way as normal backfilling with the differences that for technical backfilling are used soils of a better quality, the thickness of the layers are smaller (20 cm) and extra attention must be - 113 -
done when compacting so that the drainage system, when the work is carried out near these, is not in any way damaged.
Figure 6.12 Technical backfilling The last topic related with earthworks and shown here is represented by slopes construction. The construction method is very simple: first a lane is preset and marked with pickets on the upper part of the slope with a string tight up between them; an excavator arrange the slope guided by an worker (situated on the top of the slope and equipped with a wood framework constructed at the required grade for the slope and a bubble level); from time to time the worker check to see if the gradient is correct and let know the excavator mechanic with what he must do. Must be mentioned that the worker check the slope gradient in correlation with the string line. An execution of a slope using this method can be observed in Figure 6.13.
Figure 6.13 Slope construction After is given the shape of the slope, the earth is than compacted with the back part of the scoop, pressing the earth without damaging the slope. After all these steps are correctly carried out, the slope should look like the one in Figure 6.14.
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Figure 6.14 Finished slope 6.4 Quality Control & Quality Assurance For earthworks, quality control is done usually in laboratory and on site or in situ, with the required procedures for each of them. In the case of laboratory tests, the Constructors must have the means for conduct them, regarding qualified personnel and equipment (see Figure 6.15) which for earth materials can be a set of sieves, a oven, a blue methylene test, etc.
Figure 6.15 Laboratory equipment Even Constructers have equipment necessary for normal tests, Portuscale has contracted a company from outside to execute 15-20% of all tests (usually they do 30-40%), comparing the results of this company with the ones obtained by Constructors labs. As an internal regulation, all the equipment from the lab is controlled and adjusted (even
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some of them dont require this) once a year. This is done mainly to assure a high quality of the works. In what is regarding sampling, this is usually done at every 25000m3, but this value is relative because when soils change their characteristics more often also sampling is done more often and when soils are the same for a bigger area, sampling can be done for a larger volume (e.g. 40000m3). In what in situ quality control and assurance concerns are few fields to which can be shown what quality means: compaction, slope construction, blasting, technical fillings and verifications of the heights and of the line of the road. The first point on this list, compaction, should be conducted in terms of the types of compaction plant, method of operation of the plant, number of passes of the plant required and the final thickness of the compacted layer. For this it will be necessary to identify and classify these machines in order to determine the thickness of compacted layer and number of passes to be applied. The general type of machine (smooth-wheeled roller, vibrating roller, vibrating-plate compactor, etc), total mass and distribution of mass between rolls, must be determined and, in most instances, either width of roll, number of wheels, or area of plate. Direct weighing and measurements are preferable, although the machine specifications may be resorted to; it is essential that the correct parameters are used. Placing of fill materials must never commence until compaction plant is available. The rate of input of earthwork material to a given area of fill should be assessed from the number of loads per hour and the approximate capacity of the earthmoving machines or in another way said the rate of input in terms of compacted volume in m3/hr must not exceed the potential output of the compactor or compaction team. The depth of layer should be checked regularly, using a probe in the loose material or by small excavations in the compacted material. The uniform coverage of the area to be compacted and the continuous operation of the compaction plant should be ensured by general supervision of the fill area. The spreading and compaction of any backfill layer - 116 -
can not be done without an evaluation of the quality control regarding the subjacent layer and, consequently confirmed its quality. Another point needed to be taken into account is over-compaction. When the moisture content of a soil exceeds the optimum moisture content for the compactive effort being applied, the compaction specified may produce over-compaction of some soils. Overcompaction is compaction of the whole layer to a point of saturation, within the acceptability limits of the Specification. Over-compaction will manifest itself as remolding of the surface of the compacted soil or severe permanent deformation upon passage of the compactor. This is the result of a reduction in air-voids to a low level with the generation of excess pore water pressures. Elastic deformation (the rubber mattress effect) is not necessarily indicative of over-compaction in the surface layer but indicates the generation of excess pore water pressures in one or more of the underlying layers. After compaction, determinations of the state of compaction, in accordance with the sand-replacement method (or water) or by nuclear gauge methods should be made. When for execution of the backfill layers are used materials of bigger size, then the execution quality control in what is regarded compaction, it is done with macro-tests. As can be seen in Figure 6.16, a hole of bigger dimensions (e.g. 2m3) is excavated, a polyethylene material is applied to seal it and then is filled with water. The weight of material which have been excavated and the volume of water are recorded and on their base the compaction is determined.
Figure 6.16 Compaction determined with macro-test
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Nuclear methods are suitable for use on fine, medium and coarse grained compacted soils. The direct transmission method is the recommended method for measuring bulk density. It involves inserting a probe containing a source of gamma radiation down a preformed hole in the soil and placing a gamma detector at the surface of the soil. This technique measures the amount of attenuation of the gamma particles reaching the detector which is a function of the average bulk density over the depth to which the source is inserted (see Figure 6.17).
Figure 6.17 Compaction verify with Troxler gauge In all phases of the works, the compaction activity shall be preceded by an inspection (supported by photographs) of the constructions preservation located up to 100 m from the limit of the motorway platform and re-establishments measured perpendicularly to the axis. Both the referred to inspection and photographic support must be elaborated with the collaboration of the insurance companies and be submitted to the Concessionaire before the beginning of the compaction works. In the inspection report the general characteristics of the construction and relevant construction grounds as well as the type of their use and occupation must be mentioned. This report must be signed by the different parties involved (Landowners, Contractor, Insurance company and Supervision). The second point on the list, soil slopes, consisting in cuttings and embankments, should be inspected on construction and subsequently at regular intervals for signs of cracking or bulging which would indicate imminent failure of the slope, or seepage which could lead to instability. Instability early in a soil slopes life is likely to be deep - 118 -
seated, related to some form of discontinuity such as a pre-existing shear plane, or a thin weak clay layer. The consequences are likely to be severe and may involve considerable amounts of failed material. Shallow failures are relatively rare on new soil slopes when compared to slopes over, say, ten years old but they do occur more frequently on steep recently constructed rock fill slopes as a result of topsoil slippage; the failure is not of the rock fill itself. Preventative measures in soil and rock slopes will be required in cases where a geotechnical investigation shows instability to be likely. Where failure has already begun, as can be seen in Figure 6.18, repair methods will need to be employed.
Figure 6.18 Degraded slopes Slope failure in the case of cuttings, results in material moving onto the carriageway or, in the case of embankments, can undercut the pavement leading to movement and failure of the pavement. To handle this problem tree planting can be an option but trees pit can pond water and concentrate flows of water into the slope which can lead to instability. It is necessary, therefore, to ensure the positions of pits are such that they do not form a path for the development of cracking and that water is prevented from pounding within them. The slopes in rock are also object to quality control. The exposed faces of rock cuttings should be inspected for discontinuities especially those orientated in such a manner as to lead to instability. The face should also be examined for signs of excessive weathering - 119 -
after a period of exposure, preferably through the winter season. If left unchecked, excessive weathering could lead to instability and future high maintenance costs, incurred as a result of frequent removal of large amounts of debris from the base of the face. The inspections should be undertaken by an experienced geotechnical engineer and a report submitted on the stability of the face and whether remedial action is needed. The third point on the list, blasting, needs good public relations and a public information and education program by Contractors are essential, both when blasting commences and during the following construction period. There needs to be full consultation with Local Authorities and the police regarding traffic management measures and publicity. The requirements for traffic management measures should include warning signal procedures. The blasting Contractor must be familiar with the appropriate codes of practice for safety. Contractor shall only permit explosives to be used or handled by or under the immediate control of a competent person in accordance with Construction. For technical backfill, quality control refers in general, as for normal backfill, to compaction and materials which are used in construction. Because compaction has been already discussed, only a referring to materials will be made. The materials must of a better quality than for normal backfill, regarding geotechnical characteristics and size. Because the layers are thinner in these cases (e.g. 30cm) also the size of materials to be used must correspond. An example of wrong materials used in technical backfill, is shown in Figure 6.19.
Figure 6.19 Technical backfill done with wrong materials - 120 -
During construction of the earthworks, the heights of the layers are always checked (for compaction - layers must have a specified thickness - and for linearity reasons), but the final layer require more accuracy. Even from the beginning of earthworks are given by topographer specific points of the road, materialized with wood pickets on which are marked (e.g. paint) specific heights for different layers. With these marks, the transversal profile is controlled during construction). As can be seen in Figure 6.20 (in right are some pickets), a string is stretched between two correspondent pickets (with the ends at the required height) and a worker is measuring along this string the height of the layer. Where there is a bad value, the worker informs the mechanic from the motorgrader with what he has to do for correcting the problem.
Figure 6.20 Layer height control during construction At the end of earthworks are checked the points provided by project, in order to assure that the execution of the works have been done respecting the project. In Figure 6.21 can be observed in a transversal profile (heights are also given in longitudinal profile), a number of points referred to this matter.
Figure 6.21 Stop Points Control - Earthworks/Pavement Structure In summary, it is necessary to ensure the correct layer thickness of deposited material that the spreading and compaction machinery are operating continuously, systematically
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and efficiently, and the rate of input of material for compaction does not exceed the output of the compaction plant, measures for slope stabilize are done and the correct materials are used.
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Chapter 7 CONCLUSIONS The main aim of studies within this project was to investigate how highways in general and earthworks in particular, having as an example a Portuguese company, namely Portuscale, are being constructed, mainly from the quality point of view. During of a period of 4 moths, visits have been conducted to the company Portuscale with headquarter in Maia, a part of the city Porto. The contact person of this company was Eng. Piero Valenti, the chef of Quality Department. In the first four meetings (one at a week) was presented by Portuscale staff, the main phases of road construction as well as their relation to the different departments of Portuscale company, with a general idea about all the required procedures, since the governments decision of constructing a road, until the moment the road is built and exploited (the initial contest; environmental matters in the design phase; design; construction, quality control and assurance, exploitation). Also here was presented the way how the Government (not having sufficient funds) concessioned the road for a determined period. After the four office meetings, the rest of them were materialized in construction site visits, regarding different road construction phases (earthworks, enlargement of an existing highway, paving works, concrete works, parts of the highway already finished), as well as different construction procedures discussed in previous meetings (retaining walls, drainage, earthworks quality control, safety, and others) Thru these site visits it could be observed that the general construction terrain is very accidentally, crossing mountains and deep vales which require special tackling such as big quantities of earthworks (both cut and fills), large engineering works (a 900m viaduct could be seen in various phases of construction) and a large number of retaining walls, just to count some of them, which is different from Romania were the terrain dont put such major problems.
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Another thing observed here in Portugal and which I couldnt see in Romania are the effectuation of the test for earthworks, particularly the macro test and the density determination with the Troxler gauge (Ive been aware of it but didnt see it). The macro tests are not been done in Romania because it is not required (the earth used does not have such big dimensions). All chapters have been created trying to follow examples from site visits, like materials, construction methods and quality assurance. In some parts of the project, examples from field couldnt be shown because there wasnt works involving those particular subjects (e.g. soil stabilization). Although are subjects more important for technicians, in the project have been presented some mechanic or electro-mechanic machinery such as the paver and the asphalt plant because basic knowledge about them is important for an engineer but also because was the opportunity to see and understand them. Overhaul it must be said that the construction methods and quality control on a highway project needs a very good coordination and large quantities of man power, equipment and funds. Where the money are a problem for the government, an alternative solution it is represented by the concession.
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Bibliographic references AASHTO - American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. (april 2006). Standard Practice for Quality Assurance of Standard Manufactured Materials, code R 38-04. Available at http://materials.transportation.org. BRITISH STANDARD. (2003). Road and airfield surface characteristics. Test methods - Part 4: Method for measurement of slip/skid resistance of a surface. The pendulum test. Nottingham. E.P. (2000). Specifications for Pavements of the National Road System CE 14.00. Portugal. E.P. (2000). Specifications for Pavements of the National Road System CE 14.01. Portugal. E.P. (2000). Specifications for Pavements of the National Road System CE 14.02. Portugal. E.P. (2000). Specifications for Pavements of the National Road System CE 14.03. Portugal. E.P. (2000). Specifications for Pavements of the National Road System CE 15.01. Portugal. E.P. (2000). Specifications for Pavements of the National Road System CE 15.02. Portugal. E.P. (2000). Specifications for Pavements of the National Road System CE 15.03. Portugal. Ministrio da segurana social e do trabalho. (2003). Decree-Law nr. 27312003, Portugal. OFlaherty, C. A. (1974). Highways, Volume 1, Highways and Traffic. London. OFlaherty, C. A. (1974). Highways, Volume 2, Highway Engineering. London. Portuscale documents. (2006) Concesses Norte, Costa da Prata, Beira Litoral e Alta e Grande Porto. Internal Report. Porto. Portuscale documents. (2006) Scut do Grande Porto. Apresentao dos Lotes em construo. Internal Report. Porto. Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation. (1994) Standard Test Procedures Manual. Quality Assurance. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. (1996) Standard Specifications for Construction of Roads and Bridges on Federal Highway Projects FP96. Washington.
WAPA. (february 2006). Asphalt Pavement Guide. Washington Asphalt Pavement Association. Available at http://www.asphaltwa.com/wapa_web/index.htm.

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"Gh.

Asachi" Technical University of Iasi

Civil Engineering Department

Ing. Botezatu Costel-Cristian

"Gh. Asachi" Technical University of Iasi

Civil Engineering Department

Ing. Botezatu Costel-Cristian

4. Pavement construction technology ........................................................................... 57 4.1. Earthworks ......................................................................................................... 57

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Figure 1.1 Highway preview

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Chapter 2 THE MAIN STAGES OF ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE CONCESSIONS

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Table 2.1 Contents of a project

Executive commission Project Management Contractors

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Table 2.3 Documents emitted by the Sub-Contractor and submitted to Portuscale

Table 2.4 Documents emitted by the Concessionaire and submitted to Portuscale

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

7 Portuscale Send the invoice to Lusoscut

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Chapter 3 PROJECT OF HIGHWAYS

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Figure 3.3 Horizontal curves in Portugal highways

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Figure 3.6 Works carried out under circulation

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

FREG. DE S. MAMEDE INFESTA

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

3.6 Pavement loads

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

3.7 Pavement materials (identification, behavior, tests)

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

3.7.4 Hydraulic binders

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure

Project, Construction and Quality Control in Highway Infrastructure