AASHTO Flexible Pavement

Design Method

Reading: Chapter 11
 AASHTO Pavement Design
Guide
• Semi-empirical design method based on the
results of AASHO Road Test conducted in
Ottawa, IL (1950 – 1960).
• First published in 1961 - Updated in 1986,
1993.
• A new design guide was published in 2004
and is still being evaluated – will not be based
on the AASHO Road Test.

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 Important Design Parameters
1. Performance Period
2. Traffic
3. Reliability (R, S0)
4. Environmental Effects
5. Serviceability
6. Effective Roadbed Soil Resilient Modulus
7. Material Characterization (layer coefficients)
8. Drainage Coefficient
9. Structural Numbers (needed over each layer)
10. Layer Thicknesses (min. thickness and cost)
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 Time Constraints
• Performance Period
– Time Initial Pavement Will Last before It Needs Rehabilitation
• Analysis Period
– Period of Time That Any Design Strategy Must Cover (Stage
Construction)
• High-volume Urban 30-50 Years
• High-volume Rural 20-35 Years
• Low-volume Paved 15-25 Years
• Low-volume Unpaved 10-20 Years

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 Traffic
• Must Compute:
– Number of 18-kip ESAL (w18 ) in the Design
Period
– Number of 18-kip ESAL (w18 ) in the Analysis
Period (If Different from Performance Period)
• EALF
– Flexible Pavements (SN and Pt)
– Rigid Pavements (D and Pt)

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 Reliability
• A means of incorporating some degree of
certainty in the design.
• Reliability (R) = 1- Probability of Failure
• The higher the reliability, the more confident
is the design.
• Higher level of reliability should be chosen
for critical pavement (see Table 11.14).
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Reliability

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 Serviceability
• Initial PSI
– Depends on Pavement Type and
Construction Quality:
– PSIi = 4.2 Flexible Pavements
– PSIi = 4.5 Rigid Pavements
• Terminal PSI:
– PSIt = 3.0 for Interstate Freeways
– PSIt = 2.5 for Major Highways
– PSIt = 2.0 for Low Traffic

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 Environmental Effects
• Serviceability Loss
Due to Total PSISW, FH
– Expansive Soils 0.8
– Freezing and 0.6
Thawing PSIFH
0.4
• Rate of serviceability
loss due to 0.2 PSISW
environmental effects
decreases with time.

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 Reliability
• To achieve a higher
level of reliability, the Z R  log W18  log Wt18
allowable traffic is S 0
decreased: S0 = 0.49 for flexible
– ZR is the normal deviate
pavement.
(Table 11.15).
– Wt18 is the allowable S0 = 0.39 for rigid
traffic for a reliability of pavement.
50%.
– W18 is the allowable to

R stage  R
1/
achieve a higher level overall n
n = number of stages
of reliability.
– S0 is standard
deviation.
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Reliability

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 Design Equation
• W18 = Equivalent single axle load
• ZR = Standard normal deviation for the selected Reliability (Table 11.15
p.512.
• So = Standard deviation
• ∆PSI = Design serviceability loss
• MR = Resilient modulus of the subgrade (psi)
• SN = Structural number = a1D1 + a2D2m2 + a3D3m3 + ...
• ai = Layer coefficient of the ith layer, i = 1,2,3,…no. of layers
• Di = Thickness of ith layer, i = 1,2,3,…no. of layers
• mi = Drainage coefficient of the ith layer
logPSI / 4.2
log W18  ZRS0  9.36 log(SN 1)  0.20  2.32 log M R 
 1.5 
0.4 1094 /(SN 5.19
8.07
1)

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 Example
• Given, R=95%, SN=5, S0= 0.35,
MR=5000psi, and PSI=1.9, Determine
W18 from design equation.
• Use of design equation is suitable for
calculating the sustainable traffic (W18)
for a pavement structure.
• Determination of SN is more tedious.

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 Effective Subgrade Resilient
Modulus
• uf is the relative
• A year is divided into a damage.
number of periods for • Add total relative
which the subgrade MR is
damage and divide
measured.
by the number of
• The pavement relative
periods (n).
damage is related to the
subgrade MR for each period
uf
as follows: u 
f
n
• Estimate the effective
subgrade modulus
14 of
resilience.
 Example
Month MR uf
• Measured MR in a
July 2340
year:
Month MR uf Aug. 3060
Jan. 15900 Sep. 3780
Feb. 27300 Oct. 4500
Mar. 38700 Nov. 4500
Apr. 50000
Dec. 4500
May 900
Total
June 1620

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 Design Chart
• Use of the design equation is cumbersome and
requires a trial and error process to determine
required SN.
• Chart 11.25 is a graphical representation of the
AASHTO design equation.
• Required Inputs:
– Traffic (ESALs in millions)
– Reliability and Standard Deviation (0.49 for flexible
pavements).
– Effective Subgrade modulus of resilience.
– Design serviceability loss (PSI).

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Design Chart

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 Example
• Given, W18=5x106, R=95%, S0=0.35,
MR=5000psi, and PSI=1.9, determine
the required SN from the chart.

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 Material Characterization

• Resilient Modulus
• Layer Coefficient (ai) = f(MR)
– Relative Contribution (per Unit Thickness)
– HMA: a1 from Figure 11.27 – p. 516.
– Base and Subbase: from Figures 7.15 & 7.16.
– Untreated base: a2 = 0.249 (log MR2) - 0.977
– Untreated subbase: a3 = 0.227 (log MR3) - 0.839

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Material Characterization

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 Drainage Coefficients
• Depending on the quality of drainage, layer
coefficients are adjusted.
• Drainage coefficients are applied to bases
and subbase: m2, m3, ...
• Depends on:
– Quality of Drainage (Time Required to Remove
Most of the Water).
– Percentage of Time Pavement Structure Is
Exposed to Moisture
– Levels Approaching Saturation
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 Drainage Coefficients mi
• Adjust layer coefficients to account for effects of
certain levels of drainage on untreated materials
Quality of Drainage Water Removed
Within
Excellent 2 hours
Good 1 day
Fair 1 week
Poor 1 month
Very Poor Never drain

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 Recommended
Drainage Coefficients
Rating Percent of time pavement is exposed to moisture
levels approaching saturation
Less than 1 – 5% 5 – 25% Greater
1% than 25%
Excellent 1.40-1.35 1.35-1.30 1.30-1.20 1.20
Good 1.35-1.25 1.25-1.15 1.15-1.00 1.00
Fair 1.25-1.15 1.15-1.05 1.00-0.80 0.80
Poor 1.15-1.05 1.05-0.80 0.80-0.60 0.60
Very Poor 1.05-0.95 0.95-0.75 0.75-0.40 0.40

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 Selection of Layer
Thicknesses
• Determine required Structural Number (SN) given the
considered pavement conditions:
• SN = a1D1 + a2m2D2 + a3m3D3
• Determine the recommended minimum pavement
thickness (Table 11.21).

SN1
E1 a1, m1=1.0
SN2
E2 a 2 , m2
SN3
E3 a3, m3

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Layer Thickness

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 General Procedure
• Using E2 as MR, determine the SN1 required
to protect the base, and compute thickness of
1st layer: D1 >= SN1/a1.
• Using E3 as MR, determine the SN2 required
to protect the subbase, and compute the
thickness of 2nd layer: D2 >= (SN2 - a1D1)/a2m2
• Based on the subgrade MR, determine SN3
required to protect the subgrade, and
compute the thickness of 3rd layer:
D3 >= (SN3 - a1D1 – a2m2D2)/a3m3

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