Factors affecting geometric design

A number of factors affect the geometric design and they

are discussed in detail in the following sections.

Design speed
Design speed is the single most important factor that affects the
geometric design. It directly affects the sight distance, horizontal curve, and
the length of vertical curves. Since the speed of vehicles vary with driver,
terrain etc, a design speed is adopted for all the geometric design.
Design speed is defined as the highest continuous speed at which individual
vehicles can travel with safety on the highway when weather conditions are
conducive. Design speed is different from the legal speed limit which is the
speed limit imposed to curb a common tendency of drivers to travel beyond
an accepted safe speed. Design speed is also different from the desired
speed which is the maximum speed at which a driver would travel when
unconstrained by either traffic or local geometry.

Since there are wide variations in the speed adopted by different drivers, and
by different types of vehicles, design speed should be selected such that it
satisfy nearly all drivers. At the same time, a higher design speed has
cascading effect in other geometric designs and thereby cost escalation.
Therefore, an 85th percentile design speed is normally adopted. This speed
is defined as that speed which is greater than the speed of 85% of drivers. In
some countries this is as high as 95 to 98 percentile speed.

Topography
The next important factor that affects the geometric design is the
topography. It is easier to construct roads with required standards for a plain terrain.
However, for a given design speed, the construction cost increases multiform with
the gradient and the terrain. Therefore, geometric design standards are different for
different terrain to keep the cost of construction and time of construction under
control. This is characterized by sharper curves and steeper gradients.

Other factors
In addition to design speed and topography, there are various
other factors that affect the geometric design and they are briefly
discussed below:

Vehicle: The dimensions, weight of the axle and operating

characteristics of a vehicle influence the design aspects such as
width of the pavement, radii of the curve, clearances, parking
geometrics etc. A design vehicle which has standard weight,
dimensions and operating characteristics are used to establish
highway design controls to accommodate vehicles of a
designated type.

Human: The important human factors that influence geometric

design are the physical, mental and psychological characteristics
of the driver and pedestrians like the reaction time.

Traffic: It will be uneconomical to design the road for peak traffic

flow. Therefore a reasonable value of traffic volume is selected as
the design hourly volume which is determined from the various
traffic data collected. The geometric design is thus based on this
design volume, capacity etc.

Environmental: Factors like air pollution, noise pollution etc.

should be given due consideration in the geometric design of
roads.

Economy: The design adopted should be economical as far as

possible. It should match with the funds allotted for capital cost
and maintenance cost.

Others: Geometric design should be such that the aesthetics of

the region is not affected.
 Pre stressing steel

Pre-stressing raises both the quality and the resistance to tension and
compression characteristics of the steel; the technique actually manages to
create a state of co-action in which the tensions and deformations are
opposed to those induced by the loads which will subsequently act upon the
structure. It also raises the resistance to tension of reinforced concrete which
is, in fact, negligible.

Forms of Pre-stressing Steel

The development of pre-stressed concrete was influenced by the invention of high

strength steel. It is an alloy of iron, carbon, manganese and optional materials. In
addition to pre-stressing steel, conventional non-pre-stressed reinforcement is used
for flexural capacity (optional), shear capacity, temperature and shrinkage
requirements.

Wires. A pre-stressing wire is a single unit made of steel. The nominal diameters of
the wires are 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 7.0 and 8.0 mm. The different types of wires are as
follows:
1) Plain wire: No indentations on the surface.
2) Indented wire: There are circular or elliptical indentations on the surface.

Strands. A few wires are spun together in a helical form to form a pre-stressing
strand. The different types of strands are as follows:
1) Two-wire strand: Two wires are spun together to form the strand.
2) Three-wire strand: Three wires are spun together to form the strand.
3) Seven-wire strand: In this type of strand, six wires are spun around a central wire.
The central wire is larger than the other wires.
 Tendons. A group of strands or wires are placed together to
form a pre-stressing tendon. The tendons are used in post-
tensioned members. The following figure shows the cross
section of a typical tendon. The strands are placed in a duct
which may be filled with grout after the post-tensioning
operation is completed

Cables. A group of tendons form a pre-stressing cable. The cables

are used in bridges.
Bars. A tendon can be made up of a single steel bar. The diameter
of a bar is much larger than that of a wire. Bars are available in
the following sizes: 10, 12, 16, 20, 22, 25, 28 and 32 mm.
Figure 2 shows the different forms of pre-stressing steel.

Types of Pre-stressing Steel

The steel is treated to achieve the desired properties. The following are the treatment processes:

Cold working (cold drawing) is being done by rolling the bars through a series of dyes. It re-aligns the
crystals and increases the strength.
Stress relieving is being done by heating the strand to about 350C and cooling slowly. This reduces the
plastic deformation of the steel after the onset of yielding.
Strain tempering for low relaxation is being done by heating the strand to about 350C while it is under
tension. This also improves the stress-strain behavior of the steel by reducing the plastic deformation after the onset
of yielding. In addition, the relaxation is reduced.
Properties of Pre-stressing Steel
The steel in pre-stressed applications has to be of good quality. It requires the
following attributes:
1) High strength
2) Adequate ductility
3) Bendability, which is required at the harping points and near the anchorage
4) High bond, required for pre-tensioned members
5) Low relaxation to reduce losses
6) Minimum corrosion.

The tensile strength of pre-stressing steel is given in terms of the characteristic

tensile strength (fpk). The characteristic strength is defined as the ultimate tensile
strength of the coupon specimens below which not more than 5% of the test results
are expected to fall.