Highway maintenance,

Repair and Rehabilitation

4.1 Introduction

Maintenance , Repair and Rehabilitation together form the set of tasks

of preservation, repairing and restoring of elements serviceable
conditions of highway
Variety of operation from planning, programming, and scheduling to
actual activities which can be outlines as follows:
 Identification of defects
 Possible causes
 Appropriate Remedial measures
 Implementation
 Monitoring results
 Not all activities are required on all roads

Some will require something less

Some will require Lets learn what is less and
something more what isn't
 4.1 Introduction
 Maintenance is the set of activities that is performed so that performance of the road is
maintained
 Repair is the activities that shall be performed when the serviceability of the road is
decreased
 Rehabilitation is performed when whole roadways and all its layers are damaged
 Reconstruction is done when new level of strength(with or without additional width) is
achieved for e.g. Butwal-Narayanghat (if width also increase then it is also termed as
upgrading)

Out of the given activities maintenance is the most important . Proper maintenance
Maintenance provides better facilities, longer life and better appearance
Increases comfort of travel
Decreases the cost of travel
Eliminates the chances of costly rehabilitation process
4.1 Introduction

The monetary requirement for the maintenance activity is called

maintenance cost
The maintenance cost depends upon the degree of damage to roads
The degree of deteriorations depends on :
Weather
Organic growth
Traffic wear
Damage
4.1 Introduction
Design
Maintenance cost will be high for poorly constructed roads at the time of
alignment studies.

Proper considerations in maintenance to overcome the problems such as:

Drainage problem
Soil conditions
Directness of route
Landslides problems
Similarly maintenance cost will be high if there is sufficient gap between
maintenance activities and lack of proper routine maintenance
Types of Maintenence
 Based on location of the surface
 Road maintenance
 Road side maintenance
 Based on extent nature and frequency
 Routine maintenance
 Recurrent maintenance
 Specific maintenance Will be dealt with after studying about
 Periodic maintenance distress/Failures of flexible and rigid
 Emergency maintenance pavement
 Based on Nature of surface/Type of surface
 Maintenance of earthen roads
Problems =
 Maintenance of Gravel roads
Dust/Mud and Rutting
 Maintenance of WBM roads
 Maintenance of Bituminous roads
 Maintenance of Rigid pavements
Types of Maintenence
Based on location of the surface where the repair activities are conducted
Highway maintenance can further be divided to :
Road maintenance
• Concerns with works on carriageway and shoulder and on all
structures within and immediately adjacent to roadway
• Road surface , Side ditches, culverts, causeways etc.

Roadside Maintenance
• Structures and surface above and below the road having direct active
and or passive influence on road
• Culvert protection works, retaining walls, area drain, cut slopes, fill
slopes, unstable natural slopes, river protection
Based on the nature of maintenance activities it can be classified as
1. Routine maintenance
2. Recurrent maintenance
3. Specific maintenance
4. Periodic maintenance
5. Emergency maintenance
Preventive maintenance/Planned maintenance = 1+2+3+4 (But with
systematically determined frequencies through long term planning
and experience)
Routine maintenance
Carried as frequently as required
Done on all elements of highway
Localized nature required continually whatever may be its engineering
characteristics or traffic volume
Generally done by labor
Routine maintenance
Includes Activities Like
Grass and bush cutting, grading shaping of unpaved surface
Cleansing of carriageways, ditches, drains, signs and signals etc
Minor damage to carriageways, slopes, culverts, signals and sign post
barriers, lighting facilities
Replacement of ancillary furniture and equipment e.g. Signing,
barriers, road markings, drainage tubes etc.
 Clearance of snow and ice in winter seasons
सडक को सतह लाइ सफा राखने

प हले पछ
सडक को खा डखु डी टाल दनेकाम

१ २ ३
सडक संगैको नाल सफा गन

प हले पछ
सडक वर पर को वाल/कलबटह सफा गन
सडकको सो डर ममत गन
सडक वरपर को च हह दे खने ग र राखने
Recurrent maintenance
Localized nature and of limited extent
Re-occurance duration 6 months to 2 years depending on traffic
volume
Use of minor equipment
Paved roads: sealing cracks, local surface treatment, holes and ruts,
pothole patching, edge repair etc
Specific Maintenance
Prevent premature deterioration retarding the progression of
deficiencies and effectively increasing the useful life of
pavement
Involves
• Large Potholes Patching
• Small Scale Rigid pavement works
• Drain and wall repair
Periodic maintenance
• Covers all long term programmable operations required
within service life
• Done at certain interval of several years
• Frequency and type of renewal depend on type of original
surfacing, traffic, rainfall and other climatic conditions.
• Involves renewal of wearing course and maintenance of
various items.
• Resealing, resurfacing, renovation of wearing surface
Emergency Maintenance
Need for special problems which may cause/have caused big
problems if not dealt timely.
e.g. Damages caused by floods/Landslides

Can be classified into two types

Urgent Works : Removal of debris, placement of warning signs and
diversion etc.
Reinstatement of the road after critical period due to reconstruction
or repair
Note : Long term sustainable solution needs to be implemented
soon so that resilience is built
Maintenance Process
(Inspection, Prioritization and planning)
1 Assessment of maintenance Needs
Type and extent of maintenance depends on required
serviceability standard, existing surface condition and
importance of road. This requires
A road inventory including information regarding the soils,
terrain and climate of the district serviced
Knowledge of the nature and amount of the traffic using the road
Proper deterioration model
 2 Determining priorities
We must be able to allocate the limited resources available for maintenance
organization in such a way that it nearly satisfies the objectives and policies wrt
maintenance of highway system
 Priorities can be as:
 Emergency repairs
 Routine Drainage Works
 Routine Pavement works
 Other Routine Works like bridges
 Periodic Works
 Special Works

3. Funding Management
4. Implementation and Monitoring
 Maintenance Management System
 System approach is appropriate for maintenance
 Factors to be included in maintenance are:
 Minimum serviceability standards
 Factors like: soil, drainage, climate, traffic etc
 Estimation of rate of deterioration
 Type and extent of maintenance requirements
 Requirements for Maintenance cost, materials, manpower and equipment
 economic evaluation of Alternatives
 Mechanism providing alterative execution strategies for Allocating of
resources ensuring optimum utilization of inputs i.e. Shall have priorities
fixing mechanism
Types of Failures and Causes
1. Failure in Flexible Pavement
• Usually flexible pavement fails due to localized depression or settlements.
Localized depression normally is followed with heaving in the vicinity.
• The failure in any of the layers of flexible pavement causes failure of the
pavement
• The failure in different layers and their causes are as follows
Failure of sub-grade:-
• Flexible pavement failure due to excessive deformation in sub-grade soil can be
noticed in the form of excessive undulation or waves and corrugation in the
pavement surface

Major causes of failure of sub-grade may be due to

i) Inadequate stability, this may arise due inherent weakness of the soil itself or
due to excessive moisture or due to improper compaction.
ii) Excessive stress application, this may arise due to the inadequate pavement
thickness or loads in excess of design value. Deformation increases with
increase in number of load repetitions
Failure of sub-base/base course:- Causes of failure of sub-base or base course may be due to
i) Inadequate stability or strength, this may happen due to poor mix proportions, inadequate
thickness, soft varieties of aggregates, improper compaction or improper quality control during
construction.
ii) Loss of binding action, this may happen due to internal aggregate disturbance, loosening of
materials.
iii) Loss of sub-base/base materials, this may occurred due to the pot holes development or
surface course not provided.
iv) Inadequate wearing course, this may be due to inadequate thickness, damage by rain, frost
action or heavier traffic.
v) Use of inferior materials and crushing of sub-base/base course materials, this may occur due to
expose to the atmosphere and weather cycle.
vi) Lack of lateral confinement for the granular sub-base/base course.
Failure of wearing course:- Main causes of wearing course failure are may be due
to
• Improper mix design, this may be due to wrong binder content and use of
aggregate not conformed gradation and etc.
• Volatilization and oxidation, this make the layer brittle which develop cracks
causing infiltration of rain water weakening the underlying layer.
Flexible pavement Failure : Types
 Alligator
Crack

As interconnected cracks forming a series of small blocks.

Causes
o Excessive Deflection of surface over unstable subgrade , subbase ,
base
o Unstable condition may arise from
osaturation of underneath layer
oExcessive overload by heavy vehicle
oInadequate pavement thickness
o Brittleness of the binder due to ageing/overheating binder or aggregate
Treatment of Defects
Determine main cause
- Oxidization and Volatalization
- Crack sealing by bitumen emulsions
- Crack sealing by rubberized and modified bitumen
- In case of a pavement being structurally inadequate
or weak , a properly designed overlay based on
evaluation shall be provided.
- If lower surface is failed then Milling and surface
recycling
Longitudinal Crack

•Appears more or less on a straight line , along road at joints

Causes

o Alternate wetting and drying beneath the

shoulder owing to poor drainage
oTrucks passing over the joints ( shoulder and
pavement)
oA Weak joints between adjoining layers
 Treatment of Defect
Treatment for longitudinal cracks depend upon the severeity and
extent of the cracking

- Low and medium severity (1-3 mm , 3-6 mm ) : crack sealing ,

preferably using rubberized bitumen
- High severity cracks : remove and replace the cracked pavement
layer with fresh overlay
 Shrinkage Crack

Appear in transverse direction or as interconnected to form

large blocks
Causes
o Shrinkage of bituminous layer itself with age ( the loss of ductility becomes
brittle)
Treatment
By crack sealing
Reflection Crack
Appear in bituminous surface over joints and cracks in pavement underneath
Causes
o Due to joints and cracks in pavement layer underneath
oDue to not treating the cause of deterioration
Treatment
• If pavement is structurally sound – crack filled with bitumen binder having
low viscosity. (Cut back bitumen , emulsion)
• In wider crack – slurry seal or sand bituminous premix patching
• If finer crack – fog seal
• Removal of material and then Stress Absorbing Membrane ( SAM) or Stress
Absorbing Membrane interlayer ( SAMI) may be used to seal reflection
cracking and preventions of occurrence.
• Rehab
 Rutting
A longitudinal
depression or
groove in the
wheel track
Causes
o Heavy channelized traffic
oInadequate compaction of mix at the surface or in the underlying course
oImproper mix design ( lacking in stability of the mix to support the traffic and
leading to plastic movement laterally under traffic)
oWeak pavement
oIntrusion of sub grade clay into the base

Treatment
- Filling of ruts with premix ( open graded or dense graded ) patching materials and
compacting to the desired levels after applying a tack coat.
 Corrugation
Formation of fairly regular
undulations ( ripples) across
the surface ( about 25 mm
and spacing waves at 3 m)
Types
Wash boarding
Causes
Short waves
Long waves o Lack of stability in the mix ( excessive binder , high proportion of
Corrugation patches fines , too round or too smooth textured course or fine aggregate,
too soft a binder)

oFaulty laying of surface course

oOscillation set up by vehicle spring ( frequent stop and start)

Treatment
- Surface is scarified and re-surfacing
Settlement and Upheals
Large deformation of pavement ( extremely
uncomfortable to traffic ) followed by extensive crack.
Causes
oFrost effect
oInadequate compaction of the fill ( bridge abutment , utility cuts)

oExcessive moisture in sub-grade ( capillary action or poor drainage)

oInadequate pavement thickness

Treatment of Defects
-if pavements and upheavals indicate any inherent weakness in the fill , it may be necessary to excavate the defective fill
and do the embankment afresh under properly controlled conditions.

• Material having good drainage qualities should be preferred .

• Under drains may become necessary in locations where lack of drainage has been identified as the cause of failure.
• Where the cause of deformation is inadequate pavement thickness , then properly designed pavement shall be
provided.
 Stripping
The separation of bitumen
adhering to the surfaces of
aggregate particles, in the
presence of moisture.
Causes
o Use of hydrophilic aggregate
oInadequate mix composition
oInitial overheating of binder or the aggregate or both
oPresence of dust or moisture on aggregate (SSD aggregate) when it come in contact with
bitumen
oDelay in spreading the cover agg , insufficient compaction
oOccurrence of rain or dust storm immediately after the construction
oOpening of the road to fast traffic before the binder has set
- Treatment of Defects
- In case of ssd – hot course sand heated to at least 150 degree C and spread over the affected areas, to replaced the
lost aggregates , rolled immediately
- If aggreagates are only partially whipped off , a liquid seal may be used.
- In other case , existing bituminous mix should be removed and a fresh one laid
- Rejuvenating sealants, slurry seal or microsurfacing can be used to treat stripped surface.
 Pot-Holes
Bowl shaped holes varying size
in a surface layer or extending
into the base course caused by
localized disintegration of
material
Causes
oCommon cause is the ingress of water into the pavement through the surface course
oHappen if the surface is open-textured and lacks proper camber
oWater soften the surface , under action of traffic depression form
oAlso the rate increase due to use of high plasticity filler in WBM

oLack of proper bond between surface and underlying layer ( tack coat or any localized
inadequacy can cause)
oInsufficient bitumen content.
oIn dense graded mixture , pot-hole forms by too much fines or inadequate camber
oToo thin bituminous surface ( unable to withstand the heavy traffic , when associated with
improper or inadequate camber)
Treatment of Defects
- Hot/cold Mixes for immediate use
- Storable cold mixes ( Cutback /emulsion)
- Readymade mixes
- Cold mixes by patching machines
Edge-Breaking
Edge of the bituminous surface
get broken in an irregular way.

Causes
o Infiltration of water which soften the foundation layer causing the pavement edges to break
oWorn out shoulders resulting in insufficient side support to the pavement
oInadequate strength at the edge of the pavement due to inadequate compaction
oLower layer of pavement not being wider than the upper layer

Treatment
A bituminous surface similar to that in the adjacent reach should be laid
1. Failure of Rigid pavement:-
Failures of cement concrete pavements (Rigid Pavement) are recognized mainly by the formation of
structural cracking. The failures are mainly due to two factors.
• Deficiency of pavement materials or material handling

• Structural inadequacy of the pavement system.

• Inadequate pavement thickness.
• Inadequate sub-grade support and poor sub-grade soil.
• Incorrect spacing of joints
Failures of Rigid Pavement

• Scaling of cement concrete —Excessive vibration makes mortar on top of the layer
which get abraded exposing aggregates of the mix. This makes surface rough and
shabby in appearance.
• Shrinkage cracks.
• Spalling of joints — Develops extensive cracks due to removal of material.
• Warping crack — Cracks appears normally due to improper joint design and if proper
reinforcement is not provided at the longitudinal and transverse joints.
• Mud pumping — It occurred when soil slurry ejects out through the joints and cracks
of cement concrete pavement caused during the downward movement of slab under
the wheel load.
Types and Methods of Pavement maintenance and repair Based on Surface
Earthen Roads
Damages:
 Formation of dust in dry weather
 Formation of longitudinal ruts along wheel path
 Formation of cross ruts due to surface water
Maintenance and repair Activities
Dust can be reduced by
 Sprinkling of water
 Treatment with calcium chloride and other palliatives
 Application of layer oiled earth

Ruts can be repaired by

 Spreading moist soil along ruts and reshaping of camber
 Cross ruts should be repaired time to time
 Oiled earth and calcium chloride application
 The other activities include cutting of grass , repair of potholes etc
Types and Methods of Pavement maintenance and repair
Gravel Roads
Damages:
 Formation of dust in dry weather
 Formation of longitudinal ruts along wheel path
 Formation of cross ruts due to surface water
Maintenance and reapair Activities
For Dust
 Sprinkling of water
 Treatment with calcium chloride and other palliatives
 Application of oiled earth

For ruts and potholes

 A uniform layer of gravel has to be spread at the damaged locations
 Spread Thickness of 50 cm should be maintained
WBM Roads
Damaged rapidly due to heavy mixed traffic, fast moving vehicles and adverse
climatic conditions.
Remedies
• Spread thin layer of moist soil binder after monsoons prevents loosening of
gravels
• Potholes and ruts are repaired by patch repair works
• Dust can be prevented by dust palliatives, moist soil or bituminous surface
dressing
• Resurfacing after useful life
Types and Methods of Pavement Maintenance and Repair
Bituminous Surfaces
Regular inspections for repairing failures in early stages, rainy
season inspections are helpful

Patch Repair:
For damaged, improper sections and pot holes formed
Corrugation occurs due to incorrect gradation, excessive
bitumen, traffic overloads or excessive moisture
Done on localised areas using cold mix
No bump should be felt
 PATCHING PROCEDURE

Seven Steps
1. Mark patch boundaries
2. Cut boundaries
3. Clean and repair foundation
4. Apply tack coat
5. Fill the hole with patching material
6. Compact the patch
7. Clean up
 Pothole patching

Bitumen Heating Mixing heatened sand and aggregates with a

determined amount of hot bitumen

Spreading of hot ashphalt Compacting the mix thoroughly by

concrete mix to backfill means of a vibratory roller
the hole
Types and Methods of Pavement Maintenance and Repair
Surface Treatment:
Too much bitumen results in bleeding of bitumen forming
corrugation, ruts, shoving and slippery surface
Corrected by use of blotting materials; aggregate chips or coarse
sand free from dust and rolled
More than one layer of surface treatment is necessary if surface is
seriously damaged due to oxidization or volatilization.
Types and Methods of Pavement Maintenance and Repair
Resurfacing:
If paving surface is totally worn out, it may be economical to provide
additional surface.
Inadequate thickness also can be repaired by overlay
Types and Methods of Pavement Maintenance and Repair
Maintenance of Waves and Corrugations
• Generally Done by pavement chipping
• followed by overlay
Crack sealing
Maintenance of reflection cracking
Maintenance of Stripping
Maintenance of Skidding of pavement Surfaces:
Keep the highway clean and dry
Providing renewal of surface course when wheels do the polishing of aggregates and
spreading of stone chips when bitumen bleeding occurs can develop skid resisting
surface.
Types and Methods of Pavement Maintenance and Repair
Base Repair:
Failure results from inadequate thickness, inadequate
subgrade support, excess moisture, consolidation, shear in
subgrade, sub base, base or surface
Replace the base material with new material
Types and Methods of Pavement Maintenance and Repair
Cement Concrete Roads:
 Major issue is the development of cracks and failure in the joints
 Treatment of Cracks:
 Temperature cracks formed across the slab (Not Harmful)
 Structural Cracks near edge and corner regions due to combined wheel load and warping
stresses
 Also be due to localized embankment settlement or underground drainage are prime causes
 Structural cracks needs immediate attention as these indicate possible beginning of failure
therefore before cracks get widened and further deterioration, should be sealed

 Crack treatment/sealing for minor cracks

 Reconstruction for badly cracked surface
Types and Methods of Pavement Maintenance and Repair
Sealing Of Cracks
Cracks are thoroughly cleaned
Kerosene oil is applied on cleaned cracks for proper bonding
Cracks are filled by suitable gradse bituminous sealing
compound heated to liquid consistency
Sealer is placed upto about 3mm above the slab level along the
crack
Sand layer is spread over it to protect the sealer temporarily
Types and Methods of Pavement Maintenance and Repair
Maintenance of Joints:
Removal of sealer and deteriorated filler from the expansion joints
Cleaning
Replacement with new filler
Sealing the top of joints with suitable sealer
Types and Methods of Pavement Maintenance and Repair
Mud Jacking or Lifting of slabs:
• Patching for localized subsidence
• Drill number of holes 4 to 5 cm dia and 1.5 to 3 m apart
• Grouting is done under pressure through these holes using
1:3.5 Cement sand mix or bitumen by using compressor
Miscellaneous Maintenance Actvities
Maintenance of Drainage Structures
Good surface drainage maintained by having surface water proofed
as far as possible and providing crown
Shoulders are maintained flush with the pavement and smooth
enough to provide free flow of water away from edge to side ditch
Side ditch should be maintained below the grade of subgrade in
order that so water from subgrade can be drained to side ditch
Side ditch should be below 30-45 cm minimum below the top of
subgrade
Other elements of drainage system such as catch basins,
manholes, culverts etc should be inspected frequently
 Maintenance of Shoulder
Common defects: depression along edge, deep ruts, holes etc
Balding and dragging at frequent intervals to eliminate ruts
Grass offers increased stability and reduces erosion
Grass should be cut often to an attractive height
Holes should be immediately repaired
Periodic reshaping and re-tamping
 Maintenance of Retaining Walls
 Regular inspections to detect defects
Drain holes must be kept open
Erosion at the base should be prevented

Maintenance of Miscellaneous Items

Maintenance of cut & fill slopes are best done by stabilising with
vegetation.
 Erosion should be closely watched
 Construction of intercepting ditches on top of the slopes
 Loose rocks should be scaled for loose rocks in rock slopes
Evaluation of Pavement Distress and Pavement
Condition
Thorough study of various factors to assess the existing conditions
and make decisions for maintenance and strengthening job.

Structural Evaluation:
Checked by amount deflection on specified load or load carried at
specified deflection
Benkelman Beam is the most commonly used equipment
Evaluation of Pavement Surface Condition:
 Distress
 Flexible Pavement: surface unevenness, ruts, cracks etc.
Rigid Pavement: cracks and faulty Joints
Indicators : IRI , SDI
International Roughness Index (IRI)
The IRI summarizes the longitudinal surface profile in the wheel-path and is
computed from surface elevation data collected by either a topographic survey or a
mechanical profilometer.
It is defined by the average rectified slope (ARS), which is a ratio of the accumulated
suspension motion to the distance traveled obtained from a mathematical model of a
standard quarter car traversing a measured profile at a speed of 50mph (80km/h)
Surface Distress Index :
Surface distress is “Any indication of poor or unfavorable pavement
performance or signs of impending failure; any unsatisfactory
performance of a pavement short of failure” It can be in the form of
• Fracture.
• Distortion.
• Disintegration.

SDI measurement can be either subjective or objective.

Subjective measurement can be done through rating of high, medium,
or low based on a brief visual inspection.
Objective measurements, which are generally more expensive to obtain,
use different types of automated distress detection equipment.

83
 Strengthening of Existing Pavements:

If pavements have to support increased wheel load and load repetitions, number of amount of
periodic and routine maintenance should be increased

Alternative can be either diverting traffic or strengthening the existing pavement by providing
additional thickness of the pavement

Types of overlay:
1. Flexible over Flexible
2. Cement Concrete over Flexible
3. Flexible over Rigid
4. Rigid over Rigid

Choice depends on different factors like thickness of overlay, local materials, wheel load, costs
etc.
Flexible overlay over flexible Pavement:
Design of Overlay
Conventional Method
• Evaluation of existing thickness and overlay thickness
Total pavement thickness required is designed for design traffic and
existing conditions of subgrade.
CBR value of Subgrade is determined at field density and CBR
method of pavement design is adopted.
Existing thickness is found by digging pits on wheel path.`
The overlay thickness required is given by
 0 𝑑 𝑒
Where, 0= overlay thickness required
 𝑑= Total Design thickness required, presently determined
 𝑒= Total Thickness of the existing pavement.
*all dimensions are in cm.
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
AC Benkelman used it for first time in 1953
Permissible maximum deflection for satisfactory performance of a
road depends on traffic, material and environmental factors
Benkelman Deflection more than allowable deflection suggests
overlay.
Tests are suggested to be carried out after the monsoon
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
Conceptual Principle
Measures the rebound deflection of pavement due to dual wheel
load assembly or design wheel load.
Beam of length 3.66. pivoted to a datum frame at a distance of
2.44m from the probe end
Datum frame rests on a pair of front levelling legs and rear leg with
adjustable height.
Probe end of the beam is inserted between the dual rear wheels of
truck and rests on pavement surface at the center if the loaded area
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
Dial gauge is fixed on the datum frame with its spindle in contact
with the other end of the beam such that the distance between the
probe end and the fulcrum of the beam is twice the distance
between fulcrum and dial gauge
Rebound deflection measured by dial gauge is half of the actual
movement of the probe end.
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
Deflection Measurement Procedure:
The pavement Stretches (>500m) are classified and grouped as
good, fair and poor.
Loading points are located along a wheel path on a line 0.9m from
edge for road width more than 3.5m and 0.6m for narrow roads
Minimum 10 deflection observations are to be done
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
Standard loaded truck with rear axle weighing 8170 Kg and fitted with
dual tire each having a tyre pressure of 5.6 kg/sq. cm. is used
Dual wheel is centred above the selected point
Probe of the beam is placed between the two wheels
Lock is removed and checked for free movement
If stationary, initial dial gauge reading is taken Do.
Truck is moved slowly and stopped at 2.7m
Corresponding deflection is noted if recovery of pavement is <=
.025mm/minute, recorded as intermediate reading
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
Truck is moved forward for another 9m and final reading is taken
Difference between final and initial reading intermediate and initial
readings are calculated
If difference lies within 0.025mm then actual pavement deflection is
twice the final differential reading
Else apparent pavement deflection is calculated as twice the final
differential reading.
True pavement deflection = apparent pavement deflection +
2.91 * twice the difference between the intermediate and final
readings.
Pavement temperature is recorded at one hour intervals and subgrade
moisture content is recorded in suitable interval.
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
Deflection value D with Leg Correction
𝐷 = 2 𝐷0 − 𝐷𝑓 + 2K 𝐷𝑖 − 𝐷𝑓 𝑑𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠

𝐾 = 3𝑑−2𝑒 (2.91 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦)

𝑓

Where, Do = Initial Dial gauge Reading

Di= Intermediate Dial Gauge Reading
Df= Final Dial Gauge Reading
d= distance between the bearing of beam and rear adjusting leg
e= distance between dial gauge and rear adjusting leg
f= distance between front and rear legs
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
Correction for pavement Temperature and Subgrade Moisture
Variations:
According to IRC Standard pavement temperature is 35 Degree Celsius
and a correction factor of 0.0065 mm per Degree Celsius to be applied for
other temperature.
Negative if temperature above 35 and positive if below.
Studies should be carried when pavement temperature is above 30
degrees
Moisture correction facors are of 2 for clayey soil, 1.2¬1.3 for sandy
subgrade, if the observations are taken during dry seasons.
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
Data Analysis:
Rebound deflections are calculated in mm after applying the leg corrections if
necessary by using observed values of the initial, intermediate and final deflection
𝐷
Mean Deflection mm
𝑛
(𝐷−𝐷)2
Standard Deviation =
𝑛 −1
Characteristics Deflection 𝑐
When t=1, it covers 84% of the cases and when t=2 it covers 97.7% of cases of
deflection values
Necessary corrections for temperature and subgrade moisture should be applied to
characteristics deflections.
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
Overlay Thickness Design:
The overlay Thickness required can be calculated using Ruiz’s Equation:
𝑅 𝐷𝑐
0 0.434 10 𝐷𝑎

0= thickness of bituminous overlay in cm

R = Deflection reduction factor depending upon the overlay material
(Usually 10¬15, Average 12)
𝑎= allowable deflection which depends upon the pavement type and the
desired design life, values ranging from 0.75¬1.25 mm.
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies

𝐷𝑐
0 10 𝐷 𝑎

0= thickness of Granular or WBM overlay in mm

𝑐=

𝑎= 1,1.25 and 1.5mm if the projected traffic is 1500-4500, 450-

1500 and 150-450 respectively
Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
A= 𝒏+𝟏𝟎

If bituminous concrete or bituminous macadam with bituminous

surface course is provided as the overlay, an equivalency factor of 2
is used as suggested by IRC to decide actual thickness required.
THANK YOU