Comparative Study of Using Flexible and Rigid Pavements For Roads: A Review Study

Journal of University of Duhok, Vol.32, No.2 (Pure and Eng.
Sciences), Pp 222-234, 3232 (Special Issue)

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3 international conference on recent innovations in engineering (ICRIE) Duhok, September 9-10-2020
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF USING FLEXIBLE AND RIGID PAVEMENTS

FOR ROADS: A REVIEW STUDY
SHAAFAN ABDULLAH TAHER1,*, SHEYAN ALYOUSIFY* and HUSSEIN JALAL ASWAD HASSAN**
*
Technical College of Engineering, Duhok Polytechnic University, Kurdistan region-Iraq
**
Dep. of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Duhok, Kurdistan region-Iraq
(Accepted for Publication: December 8, 2020)
ABSTRACT
Roads have become an essential measure and symbol of the development of societies. Road
construction projects are essential infrastructure facilities for any countries, and high amounts of the
budget allocated every financial year by decision-maker. The construction of road required researches,
good plan and design, and excellent builders to discover innovatively and cost-effective engineered
products to satisfy the increasing request that would economize the construction as well as increasing
durability. Despite the economic factor, this study will present a comparative review on the suitability of
using rigid and flexible pavements in road depending on traffic, climate, foundation, life cost, materials,
maintainability and safety consideration. The reviewed studies show that the design of concrete pavement
is based on flexural strength whereas in the asphalt pavement is based on load distributing characteristics
of the component layers. The concrete pavement life is slightly longer than asphalt pavement. The initial
cost of the flexible pavement less than the cost of rigid pavement but conversely, the cost of flexible
pavement is more than the rigid pavement with the long run because of the incurring costs of maintenance.
The rigid pavement has better ability and durability to hold a shape against traffic and difficult
environmental conditions than flexible pavement.
KEYWORDS: Rigid pavement; Flexible pavement; Pavement types; Concrete road; Asphalt road; Life
cycle cost
1. INTRODUCTION stone cohesion of roads, binding agents were

used by around the end of the 18th century
enerally, road pavement is an open (Szostak, 1991). The two main kinds of
G generic route to facilitate moving, pavement, rigid and flexible have taken on many
transporting and passing. Layering such roads of the modern characteristics and were being
with a pavement makes them strong, durable and built all over the world by the end of the 19th
solid as well as able to resist the environment century (Berechman, 2003). Nowadays, building
and traffic. Many of the oldest paved roads have roads has become an essential measure and
survived until now due to their high strength and symbol of the development of any country and is
quality, such as the Via Appia in Rome, which often used as an indicator of civilizations'
was paved with large stones (Berechman, 2003). advancement. Pavement, in civil engineering,
Economical roads, for instance, Macadam and can be defined as the durable surfacing of a road,
Telford started to appear as a result of the airfield, or similar area, whose primary function
unutilized stones. To improve the durability and is to transfer loads to the sub-base and
en.shevan@yahoo.com, Sheyan.khaled@dpu.edu.krd, hussein.hassan@uod.ac

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222 Corresponding author: Directorate of Roads and Bridges in Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Journal of University of Duhok, Vol.32, No.2 (Pure and Eng. Sciences), Pp 222-234, 3232 (Special Issue)
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underlying soil. The construction of pavement is among other issues (AASHTO, 1993).
the actual surface on which the vehicles travel,
whose objective is twofold: to transport normal 2. TYPES OF PAVEMENT
stresses to the underlying soils and to provide 2.1 Flexible pavement
friction for the vehicles (Otti et al., 2016). This type of pavement acts as flexible layers
Characteristically, there are three main purposes because the total structure flexes under traffic
for pavements building namely load support, loads. Flexible pavements normally have several
smoothness, and drainage. layers. Therefore, the design of flexible
There are two types of pavements, based on pavement uses the concept of a layered system.
their structural performance and materials used, Flexible pavements have enough plasticity to
rigid pavement (Portland cement concrete) and absorb shock (Yazdani, 2018). It works as a
flexible pavement (Hot asphalt concrete). The flexible sheet by transferring wheel loads during
economic decision has a major impact when the granular structure by grain to grain
choosing pavement type, however, the cost may contacting aggregate. It is included crushed
change due to availability of the material and the stone or gravel and sand, consolidated by a
contractors in the region, this study will present binder of bituminous material. Flexible
a comparative review on the suitability of using pavement typically consists of surface course,
rigid and flexible pavements in road depending sub-base course and sub-grade on natural
on the design criteria like traffic, climate, compacted sub-grade layers (Figure 1). The
materials, whether and life cost. Environmental, materials used for underlying layers, base and
maintainability and safety consideration which is sub-base course are crushed stone or gravel,
important when choosing the pavement type. which can be either unbound granular or treated
Selecting types of pavement could be by asphalt, lime or cement (AASHTO, 1993).
depending on the economic, environmental, The surface layer of the flexible pavement is
maintenance system, traffic, and other constructed of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) according
miscellaneous factors. According to the Asphalt to blending equation which is a mixture of
Pavement Alliance (APA) (2010) Considerations bitumen and aggregate at eminent temperatures
for pavement type selection depends on many to make a strong and hard structure form at
factors, the primary factors which must be ambient temperatures when cooled. HMA is
considered include construction considerations, known by many names, for instance, asphalt,
traffic, weather, recycling material from an asphalt concrete (AC), asphalt concrete
existing pavement, soils characteristics, and cost pavement (ACP), bitumen or blacktop. Three
comparison (AASHTO, 1993). The secondary main types of flexible pavements are commonly
factors include the availability of local materials, used namely: conventional layered flexible
the performance of similar pavements in the area, pavement, contained rock asphalt mat (CRAM)
neighbouring existing pavements, conservation and full-depth asphalt pavement (Mohod and
of materials and energy, and traffic safety, Kadam, 2016).

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Corresponding author: Directorate of Roads and Bridges in Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq 223
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Fig. (1): Typical cross section of a flexible pavement (Suryakanta, 2015)
2.2 Rigid pavement commonly used namely: continuously reinforced

This type of pavement acts as rigid due to the concrete pavement (CRCP), jointed plain
hard stiffness of the material compared to concrete pavement (JPCP), jointed reinforced
asphalt pavement. It is work as a rigid plate by concrete pavement (JRCP) and Pre-stressed
transferring wheel loads to the underground concrete pavement (PCP) (Mohod and Kadam,
layer by flexural strength (Wimsatt et al., 2009). 2016).
The rigid pavement is composed of coarse and Portland cement concrete (PCC) is the most
fine aggregate, water, Portland cement and common material used in the construction of
commonly reinforced with mesh or steel rod. rigid pavement slabs which is identified by
Scheving (2011) demonstrated that the rigid different names involving concrete and cement.
pavement should be constructed in three layers, Production methods and design are used to
a prepared subgrade, sub-base or base and a distinguish PCC. The reason for its popularity is
concrete slab (Figure 2). They are usually used due to its availability and the economy, which
in constructing airports and major highways, was fundamentally invented in the 19th century
such as those in the highway system which have and the first PCC pavement was built in 1889
the ability to carry the weight of heavy vehicles. (Soedirdjo et al., 2003).
Four main types of concrete pavements are
Fig. (2): Cross section of Rigid Pavement (Suryakanta, 2015)

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3. DESIGN While concrete pavement life can be

designed from 30 to 40 years, asphalt pavement
Historically, the methods of flexible pavement can be designed from 15 to 20 years (Tare and
design can be classified into five categories, Chaurasia, 2018). However, AASHTO guide for
empirical methods, limiting shear failure methods, design of pavement structure state that, in the
limiting deflection methods, regression methods past, the typical analysis for pavement design
and empirical mechanistic methods (Ghanizadeh, was 20 years which was considered as the
2016). Opposite to flexible pavement, rigid pavement life, nowadays, highway condition
pavement includes analytical solutions, numerical (location, used material and traffic volume) is
solutions and other developments include pumping considered when estimating the pavement life,
erosion and fatigue damage. generally, concrete pavement can be designed from
Ukar et al. (2007) explain that the layer theory 30 to 40 years, asphalt pavement can be designed
that is formed from the Boussinesq theory is used up to 30 years. These indicate that the age of the
to analyse flexible pavement, which can find concrete roads is relatively more than asphalt
solutions to the deflections, strains and stresses in roads.
the layered system at any point by using this theory Transportation Systems Center (TSC) (2013)
as a structural model. Empirical mechanistic has revealed that the major factor considered in the
methods are commonly used to design the flexible design of rigid pavement is the structural strength
pavement and the number of repeated axle loads of the concrete such as stiffness and rigidity. This
that are allowed for configuration pavement is comparatively tends to distribute the load over a
founded based on the response of the pavement to wide area of natural soil that means loads distribute
axle loads action. Conversely, for rigid pavement horizontally (Figure 3). As a result, small changes
design, the designs of joints are required to ensure in subgrade strength have a small impact on
the environmental stresses. Additionally, the pavement structural. The strength of layer
concrete pavement slab thickness is decided based combinations in the flexible pavement design is
on two points. First, the flexural strength of considered as the main factor, which is
concrete should be more than critical constructed with less stiff and strong materials.
environmental stress and the maximum bending Hence, for optimally transferring the load to the
tensile stress resulting out of maximum wheel load soil layer more layers and greater thickness are
stress. Second, the repeated number of axle loads required in the flexible pavement that indicates
within the design life should be withstood by the loads distribute vertically (Medani et al., 2016),
concrete pavement (Kazda and Caves, 2007). as shown in Figure 3.
Fig. (3): Loads distribution under a rigid and flexible pavement (TSC, 2013)

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The fatigue cracking has been considered as pavements cannot be used until 15 days of
the major criterion for concrete pavements curing, which means it takes a long time to build
design while the major asphalt pavements and as a result, it requires more cost.
failures are thermal cracking, fatigue cracking On the other hand, the future cost of the
and rutting (Mohod and Kadam, 2016). The concrete road is less than the asphalt road, and it
aggregate requirement for asphalt pavement is requires less maintenance over the whole life
more than twice that of concrete pavement cycle (Jain et al., 2013). The potential cost
(Ketema et al., 2016). Moreover, flexible advantage of rigid pavement is due to their
pavement requires more material for base course inherently slower deterioration. Ketema et al.
and sub-base than rigid pavement (Ketema et al., (2016) observed that the concrete road has lower
2016). maintenance and rehabilitation cost when
The rigid pavement is considered inadequate compared with the asphalt road. Asphalt
for low traffic road. When designing of concrete pavement is expected to require major
pavement for low thickness, the deterioration of rehabilitation in around half the time of concrete
the slabs accelerated and showing an inherent pavement. Therefore, paving with concrete
inappropriateness due to the lower loading (Jain means less need for cost over the life of the road.
et al., 2013). The rigid pavement could be a However, in 2005, (APA) conducted a
better choice, especially for the heavy traffic synthesis on life-cycle cost of pavement using
roads which require a large thickness of asphalt actual cost data. According to the study, hot mix
layers (Bansal, 2018). The concrete road might asphalt pavements have lower costs comparer
be used with advantage in locations prone to Portland cement concrete pavements by 10 to 25
submergence for the period of monsoon (Bansal, percent in both initial construction and life-cycle
2018). costs (Villacres, 2005; Medani et al., 2016). The
4. Life Cycle Cost planners often think that the flexible pavement is
Generally, the cost is a major factor for cheaper than the rigid pavement. In fact, this is
selecting the pavement type of road. This is not always the case, because sometimes the price
including the initial cost, which is the cost of the of bitumen or asphalt increases dramatically.
initial new construction or reconstruction, future According to Ukar et al. (2007), in the last
cost or long cost, which include subsequent decade because of the increase in crude oil
facility operation, maintenance and rehabilitation prices, the price of bitumen, which is the main
activities performed during the life cycle until ingredient of flexible pavement, has increased,
the pavement is reconstructed. The initial cost of whilst the rigid pavement’s main component
the flexible pavement is normally lower than the cement price has decreased. With expanding oil
cost of rigid pavement if both of them are costs, the expense of black-top asphalts will be
constructed in the same conditions (Mohod and significantly higher therefore rigid pavement
Kadam, 2016; Skrzypczak et al., 2018). This is must be extremely considered in preference the
because the asphalt components materials, pavement types (Hayat et al., 2019).
especially bitumen, are cheaper than Portland Several economic analysis techniques, for
cement. Also, the materials themselves used for example, the Internal Rate of Return method
the mixing process to create asphalt require less (IRR) and the Net Present Worth method (NPW)
time. Moreover, the surface layer of asphalt can be used to assess pavement type options.
pavements can be used for traffic within 48 Asphalt pavements have a lower initial
hours or less, but the surface layer of concrete construction cost, which leads to more

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productivity with less funding. Nonetheless, intensity, load-bearing capacity and durability of
paving with asphalt requires more costly the surface, road permissible speed, road lanes
maintenance over the life of the project number and regional conditions.
compared with concrete. However, Tare and The road maintenance and repair works
Chaurasia (2018), Kumar (2017), and Bezabih influenced by accepted design standards, the
and Chandra (2009) observed that asphalt roads constructed structure quality and the quality
are more economical for the lesser volume of level and strategy of the executed repair
traffic. activities. Estimating the size of the above
Concrete pavement was shown to have higher components required for determining the road
initial and overall costs than asphalt pavement in surface ideal life cycle cost (Kristowski et al.,
the case of low traffic. Studies by Kristowski et 2018). Rigid pavement requires regular work
al. (2018) on three traffic category typical associated with expansion joints maintenance in
constructions for light, medium and heavy traffic a perfect technical condition. For flexible
over a period of 30 years for each type of pavement surfaces, repairs procedure is only
pavement structure; concrete and asphalt executed in the event of damage, and the wear
pavements. The total costs of heavy and medium layer must be substituted in accordance with the
traffic for rigid pavement are almost similar to maintenance system acceptable. (Kristowski et
the flexible pavement. Conversely, specific al., 2018).
savings in the long-term are visible for the light As a rule, the flexible pavement is more
traffic category which the total cost of influenced by changing temperature and traffic
construction and maintenance of a concrete road load, unlike concrete pavement which is a rigid
in 30 years is 45.4% higher than the cost of surface and does not deform under heavy vehicle
maintaining asphalt road during this period loading and therefore is less susceptible
(Kristowski et al., 2018). distortion and deflection (Taha et al., 2017).
Asphalt pavement is viscoelastic and therefore
5. MAINTENANCE WORKS sensitive to both temperature and loading. This
feature makes asphalt pavement more vulnerable
Pavement maintenance or pavement to the formation of heavy vehicle wheel ruts.
preservation is a program of activities intended Scheving (2011) has advised that whereas a
at preserving roads system. It is now obvious concrete road would require less maintenance
that additional emphasis should be located on above three decades, an asphalt road would need
maintenance to preserve and extend the life of major resurfacing in just 15 years. Data of
the paved roads. Roads’ maintenance depends on survival and performance for concrete and
many factors, such as weather, traffic loads and asphalt pavements treatments in Missouri State
pavement type. According to Grzyl et al. (2017), at the United States obtained by the Missouri
the main factors that affect the cost related to the Department of Transportation (MoDOT) during
repairs of road pavement: road conditions, road 35-year life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) design
type, year season (summer, winter), maintenance period treatments, shown in Table 1, (Wimsatt et
standard acceptable, a road course (road curve, al., 2009).
straight section), passing vehicles type, vehicles

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Table (1): Existing 35-Year LCCA Design Period Treatments (MoDOT, 2004)
st st nd nd
Initial Treatment 1 Rehabilitation 1 Rehabilitation 2 Rehabilitation 2 Rehabilitation Treatment
Time Treatment Time
New Full-Depth Year 15 Cold mill and replace Year 25 Cold mill and replace entire
HMA travel-way HMA HMA wearing surface
wearing surface
New JPCP Year 25 Diamond Grinding None None

(and 2 percent full
depth repairs)
Conventional HMA Year 15 Cold mill and replace Year 25 Cold mill and replace entire
Overlay travel-way HMA HMA wearing surface
wearing surface
Unbounded JPCP Year 25 Diamond Grinding None None

Overlay (and 2 percent full
depth repairs)
However, one of the main disadvantages of consumption on asphalt roads dramatically

concrete pavement is that it is not easy to repair increases as compared to fuel consumption on
and rehabilitate. Due to the frequent need to concrete roads. Gadja and VanGeem (2001)
service utilities in urban settings, concrete proved that measuring rolling resistance on
pavement is considered inadequate for these different pavement types indicated that flexible
cases which consequence in higher repair costs compared to rigid pavements increase fuel
than would be expected with the flexible consumption by 5% at 30 miles per hour for
pavement. TSC (2013) states that if there are any large trucks. Also, at 40 miles per hour, fuel
cracks developed or potholes in the concrete, consumption increases by 7% on asphalt
repairs cannot be done effectively, therefore, a surfaces compared to concrete surfaces.
large area should be removed around the When a vehicle runs over an asphalt road the
damaged place, which is the main problem in fuel consumption is more than that is on the
maintenance works and it is required to be concrete roads by about 15-20%. This is as a
repaved again. Conversely, if there are any result of the fact that a concrete road does not
cracks or potholes in asphalt, repairs can be done acquire deflected under the wheels of loaded
effectively with crack sealing products that are trucks. However, pavement deterioration has a
inexpensive and readily available. In addition, negative influence on fuel consumption.
they do not need heavy machines or expensive According to American Concrete Pavement
tools to repair asphalt. Nevertheless, the flexible Association (ACPA) (2007), numerous studies
pavement damaged by certain chemicals, oils up to now have proposed that the resistance on
and greases conversely than rigid pavement. the concrete pavement that is occurred by the
wheels of heavy trucks is mainly less than the
6. THE ENVIRONMENT deflection or resistance on the asphalt pavement.
6.1 Fuel Consumption and Emissions For this reason, in order to transfer heavy trucks
Types of pavement are greatly affected by the on the flexible pavement more energy and fuel
fuel consumption of vehicles, where the fuel are needed. Studies have revealed that heavy

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vehicles on concrete pavements could consume 2001). Therefore, flexible pavements might lead
statistically less fuel consumption than from to an increase in atmospheric temperature
those who are moving on asphalt pavements compared with rigid pavements.
(ACPA, 2007). 6.3 Visibility at Nights
However, the construction of asphalt road Street lighting is considered as public
pavements requires much energy. ACPA (2007) services, which is found since ancient times
deducted that the fuel usage factor for asphalt when the streets were lit with lamps of oil or
pavements is 12 litres/m3, and for concrete timber, though, in present time, street lightings
pavements is 4.9 litres/m3. Nevertheless, as these are made by electric poles. Darkness at night
fuel usage factors are informed in different units, increases the possibility for risks on the
which is slightly difficult to make a direct roadways because the visibility is decreased. The
comparison. From an economic point of view, daylight-time fatality rate is approximately three
fuel consumption in concrete pavements may be times less than during the night hours, the
better than asphalt pavements; this leads to fatality rate can be reduced by artificial lighting
enormous environmental benefits. of pavements during the night, but this
6.2 Colours of Road Surface represents an additional cost for governments.
In general, material colours have a The estimated costs of illumination differ
relationship with reflection and absorption of the depending on many factors such as the type of
sunlight, while materials that appear to be light lighting and location. In addition, the type of
coloured have a high reflection of the sun's rays, roads pavement is another factor that affects
and those that appear dark coloured have low lighting costs, for example, a concrete pavement
reflection and high absorption of the sun's rays. needs less lighting than asphalt pavement.
According to Gadja and VanGeem (2001), to Concrete roads light colour reflects street
achieve this point, the surface temperature was lighting better than asphalt roads which
measured on various materials by testing in enhancing driver vision at night (Taha et al.,
California, where the air temperature was 13 °C. 2017).
The darker materials such as asphalt attained a According to ACPA (2007), lighting reflects
maximum temperature of 61 °C, while white on concrete surfaces readily. This distinguishing
colours, for instance, concrete or Portland of concrete has advantageous for several reasons.
cement had a temperature of 23 °C. It can considerably improve both vehicular and
Gadja and VanGeem (2001) have argued that pedestrian safety by enhancing night-time
dark coloured pavement surfaces might provide visibility on along the distance of the concrete
certain benefits in cold weather. While no roadways. It minimizes the amount of energy
quantifiable study was identified, pavement required for artificial roadway lighting during
colour could affect the frequency or quantity of the night. Concrete pavement improves
deicer chemical applications. In certain night-time visibility. It reflects light from a
circumstances, dark pavements are warmer and vehicle or lamppost better than the darker
appear to shed ice and snow more rapidly than coloured asphalt, as shown in Figure 4.
light coloured pavements (Gadja and VanGeem,

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Fig. (4): Visibility at night between concrete road (Left) and asphalt road (Right) (ACPA, 2007)
6.4 Traffic Noise Concrete pavement was shown to be 4.4 dBA

Traffic noise is becoming a serious problem. louder than asphalt pavement when the pass-by
People have started feeling bothered by traffic noise level perceptible was compared
noise. There are many causes of road traffic (Ahammed, 2009).
noise which have an effect on the environment, 6.5 Temperature
and this affects humans' psyche. There are two The human’s actions impact the environment
main sources of road traffic noise. The first, both in a negative or positive way. Concrete and
interaction between the road surface and vehicle asphalt roads are essential to transport people
tyres and the second is engine noise (Soedirdjo and goods but the general impact should be
et al., 2003). The characteristics of the road analysed correctly. Thermal energy is also
surface are the most important factors in produced due to increasing the pavement’s
propagating this tyre road noise when the temperature from the energy of the sunlight that
vehicles are travelling at constant speeds is not reflected in pavement surfaces, this
exceeding about 40 km/h (Soedirdjo et al., increases the air temperature around the
2003). pavement. According to Scheving (2011), in
Roads that are made from asphalt pavements urban areas, the higher atmospheric temperature
produce less noise than ones that are made from that happens as a result of pavements and other
concrete pavements. Many people have surfaces absorbing the sun’s heat is recognised
complained about road traffic noise, which is as the heat island effect. In central areas of
generating by vehicles, especially on the Northern America, the temperature is up to 5°C
concrete road. Rigid pavement can be very loud warmer than surrounding rural and suburban
because the concrete is less absorbing sound. areas (Gadja and VanGeem, 2001).
Ahammed (2009) observed that the Stone Mastic Concrete pavements are cooler and reflect
Asphalt and Superpave asphalt mixes were significantly more sunlight than asphalt
shown to absorb 6.3%, 7.5% of the sound, pavements. This might help alleviate urban heat
respectively more the conventional asphalt island effects. According to APA (2010),
pavement. While textured concrete pavement research conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley
surfaces were shown to absorb 5% to 6% the National Laboratory suggests that, when
sound more the conventional rigid pavement. exposed to sunlight, lighter-coloured concrete

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pavements typically have surface temperatures sliding of vehicles when surfaces are wet.
approximately 21°F (12°C) lower than darker During heavy rain weather, water collects in the
coloured asphalt pavements. ruts and this leads to hydroplaning (when vehicle
7. SAFETY loss of traction and friction due to a layer of
water builds between the wheels of the vehicle
Roads that are paved by concrete require less and the road surface). Consequently, concrete
maintenance than those that are paved with can be preferable to asphalt because it offers
asphalt (Scheving, 2011; Wimsatt et al., 2009). better resistance to rut formation and eliminating
Consequently, there is less need for repair staffs this risk.
to deal with the maintenance of concrete roads. Ahammed and Tighe (2009) found that the
This means less disruption and congestion to surface friction of asphalt pavement was shown
work areas and equally less danger to drivers to decrease more than concrete pavement. They
and road crews. In addition, for transporting showed that the surface friction of pavement
goods by road sectors especially at night, long-term affected by accumulative traffic passes,
concrete roads would be better in terms of safety speed, pavement age and temperature. The
due to their visibility and lighting that will make surface friction of asphalt pavement long-term
people feel safer travelling on them. Furthermore, was revealed to be more sensitive in comparison
the concrete road is also more durable than to the concrete pavement. Asphalt pavements
asphalt road, which means that roads paved with surface friction were shown to be influenced
rigid concrete are less possible to have potholes. more by predominant weather conditions
In the winter season vehicles tend to slip or compared to concrete pavements surface. The
slide on roads due to rain or snow that this may surfaces friction were shown to decline
increase the proportion of traffic accident thereafter with age, fundamentally because of
victims. Also, snow melts slowly on the road traffic related to the wear and polishing
surface especially in the mountain roads, this (Ahammed and Tighe, 2009).
leads to having poor frictions between the
surface road and wheel vehicles. A rigid 8. TYPICAL PROPERTIES OF FLEXIBLE
pavement surface is better preventing the AND RIGID PAVEMENTS
vehicles from sliding. Rigid pavement dries out
much faster after rain. Additionally, the braking The summary of the comparison between the
distance is lower on the rigid pavement rather properties of rigid and flexible pavements are
than on flexible pavement. Taha et al. (2017) shown in Table 2 below:
revealed that using concrete road does not cause

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Table (2): Comparison between properties of flexible and rigid pavements

Property Rigid pavements Flexible pavements
Subgrade Deformations are Transferred to the Upper No Yes

Layers
Design is Based on Flexural Strength or Slab Action Load-Distributing

(Rigid) Characteristics of the
Component Layers
Flexural Strength High Low
Load Transfer Flexural Action Grain to Grain Contact
Materials Cement Concrete, Reinforced or Hot asphalt concrete, Granular

Pre-stressed Concrete Material
Good Subgrade Required Significantly Required
Initial Cost High Low
Repairing Cost Low high
Life Span Longer Shorter
Thickness Less More
The Surfacing can be Laid Directly on the Subgrade Yes No
Rolling of the Surfacing is not Needed is Needed
Thermal Stresses Critical No Critical
Expansion Joints Needed Yes No
Vehicles Fuel Consumption Less More
Opening to Traffic Road cannot be Used Until 15 Road can be Used for Traffic
Days of Curing Within 48 Hours or Less
Damaged by Oils and Certain Chemicals No Yes
Night Visibility Good Poor
Generate Traffic Noise High Low
Underground Works Difficult Easy
Temperature Stress is Produced No Stress is Produced
Excessive Loading Causes Cracks Causes Rutting
9. CONCLUSIONS but when comparing the total cost of pavement

through the lifespan, concrete pavements are
In this review study, the differences between more economical than asphalt pavements.
rigid and flexible pavements have been  Flexible pavement is more economical for the
discussed, and the following conclusions were lesser volume of traffic and fractionally more
drawn: expensive under high traffic conditions.
 Design of asphalt pavements is based on load  Asphalt pavements are considered more
distributing characteristics of the component adequate for urban settings.
layers while the design of concrete pavements is  Rigid pavement have less need for
based on flexural strength or slab action. maintenance than flexible pavement over the life
 The initial cost of concrete pavements are high of the project.

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 In terms of safety, concrete roads have better Bansal, P. (2018). Evaluation of Design and Cost
Aspects of Flexible and Rigid Pavements.
skid resistance and provide good traction. It
Berechman, J. (2003). Transportation––economic
seems that rain dries faster on concrete roads, aspects of Roman highway development: the
which are environmentally expected to be better case of Via Appia. Transportation Research
than flexible pavements. Part A: Policy and Practice, 37(5), 453-478.
Bezabih, A. G., and Chandra, S. (2009). Comparative
 In the summer season at the very hot claim, study of flexible and rigid pavements for
asphalt pavements could be damaged under the different soil and traffic conditions. In Journal
heavy traffic load; therefore, concrete pavements of the Indian Roads Congress (pp. 153-162).
Gadja, J. W., & VanGeem, M. G. (2001). A
would be good for this situation. comparison of six environmental impacts of
 The fuel consumption on asphalt roads Portland cement concrete and asphalt cement
dramatically increases as compared to fuel concrete pavements. PCA R&D Serial, (2068),
USA: Portland Cement Association.
consumption on concrete roads.
Ghanizadeh, A. R. (2016). An optimization model for
 Night time visibility in the rigid pavement is design of asphalt pavements based on IHAP
better than flexible pavement. code number 234. Advances in Civil
 Flexible pavement has less traffic noise than Engineering, 2016.
Grzyl, B., Kristowski, A., Jamroz, K., and Gobis, A.
rigid pavement. (2017). Methods of estimating the cost of
traffic safety equipment’s life cycle. In
Acknowledgements MATEC Web of Conferences (Vol. 122, p.
02003). EDP Sciences.
This study as a student paper was submitted Hayat, A., Khan, M. J., and Naeem, M. M. (2019).
in partial fulfilment to the Pre-sessional Course Study of Failure in Rigid Pavements: A
in English for Academic Purposes, University of Review. International journal of
multidisciplinary sciences and engineering,
Birmingham. The authors would like to express
vol. 10, no. 2.
his gratitude to the staff of the EAP Pre-sessional Jain, S., Joshi, Y. P., and Goliya, S. S. (2013). Design
Course, University of Birmingham. The authors of rigid and flexible pavements by various
wish to also thank the Directorate of Roads and methods and their cost analysis of each
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Journal of University of Duhok, Vol.32, No.2 (Pure and Eng.

Sciences), Pp 222-234, 3232 (Special Issue)

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF USING FLEXIBLE AND RIGID PAVEMENTS

(Accepted for Publication: December 8, 2020)

1. INTRODUCTION stone cohesion of roads, binding agents were

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Fig. (1): Typical cross section of a flexible pavement (Suryakanta, 2015)

2.2 Rigid pavement commonly used namely: continuously reinforced

Fig. (2): Cross section of Rigid Pavement (Suryakanta, 2015)

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3. DESIGN While concrete pavement life can be

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New JPCP Year 25 Diamond Grinding None None

Unbounded JPCP Year 25 Diamond Grinding None None

However, one of the main disadvantages of consumption on asphalt roads dramatically

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6.4 Traffic Noise Concrete pavement was shown to be 4.4 dBA

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Table (2): Comparison between properties of flexible and rigid pavements

Subgrade Deformations are Transferred to the Upper No Yes

Design is Based on Flexural Strength or Slab Action Load-Distributing

Flexural Strength High Low

Load Transfer Flexural Action Grain to Grain Contact

Materials Cement Concrete, Reinforced or Hot asphalt concrete, Granular

Good Subgrade Required Significantly Required

Initial Cost High Low

Repairing Cost Low high

Life Span Longer Shorter

Thickness Less More

The Surfacing can be Laid Directly on the Subgrade Yes No

Rolling of the Surfacing is not Needed is Needed

Thermal Stresses Critical No Critical

Expansion Joints Needed Yes No

Vehicles Fuel Consumption Less More

Damaged by Oils and Certain Chemicals No Yes

Night Visibility Good Poor

Generate Traffic Noise High Low

Underground Works Difficult Easy

Temperature Stress is Produced No Stress is Produced

Excessive Loading Causes Cracks Causes Rutting

9. CONCLUSIONS but when comparing the total cost of pavement

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