PAVEMENT ENGINEERING
Academic Year 2024/2025 - Teacher: ALESSANDRO DI GRAZIANOExpected Learning Outcomes
This course will provide students with technical knowledge and skills relevant to the field of Pavement Engineering and it has been designed for highways-related engineers and managers or anyone who wishes to extend their knowledge of asphalt materials, pavement design and maintenance.
The course begins by investigating each of the constituent materials followed by consideration of Asphalt Concrete mix composition and design. The course deals with bitumen, aggregates and asphalt materials.
Pavement design is then considered, with recent changes in design procedures from empirical to analytical methods being described. The assessment of pavement conditions and design for maintenance of pavements including overlay design will also be discussed.
Course Structure
Oral examination: mid-term (30%) + final (45%) + homeworks and final pavement design project (25%). mid term exam is optional for the student
1) Mid term exam: topics listed in questions: A) 1+10; 12; 16; 17 - B) 1+3
2) Final exam: topics listed in questions: A) 11; 13+15; 18; 19 - B) 4+10 - C) 1+4 Only Final exam: all topics in the list of questions
3) Timely execution and quality of the assigned homeworks and quality of the final pavement design project Attendance and active participation will be positively evaluated.
Required Prerequisites
Attendance of Lessons
Detailed Course Content
Traffic, environmental conditions, soil and drainage
Weather and Environment factors. Traffic and load distribution concepts. Load Equivalency Factors. Subgrade, Subbase, Drainage. Soil stabilization concept and methods.
Material characterization and asphalt mix design
Historical background. Pavement performances. Pavement Type: Flexible pavement, Rigid pavement, Special Pavement: Draining-Sound Absorbent, Composite. Asphalt Concrete. Properties and characteristics of binders and aggregates. Laboratory material characterization. Viscoelastic nature of asphalt and direct measure of stiffness. Types, properties and design of asphalt mixes. Marshall and Superpave mix Design. Harmonized European Specifications.
Structural design
Resilient modulus, Dynamic modulus of asphalt concrete. Fatigue cracking, Rutting and permanent deformation. Pavement performance and analysis period. Pavements catalogs. Empirical Methods. Mechanicistic-Empirical Methods.
Maintenance and rehabilitation
Maintenance and rehabilitation of asphalt pavement. Pavement Management Systems (PMS). Pavement Survey. Nondestructive tests. Bearing capacity, Unevenness, Skid resistance and surface texture, visual evaluation of Distress. Overlay design.
Textbook Information
Lectures of the course (slides)
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials — AASHTO (1993). Guide for Design of Pavement Structures, 4th Edition.
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials — AASHTO (2008). Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide.
Huang Y. H. (2003). Pavement Analysis and Design. Prentice Hall.
Mallick R. B., El-Korchi T. (2008). Pavement Engineering. Chapman and Hall/CRC.
Course Planning
| Subjects | Text References | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ALL | Highway Engineering - Pavements, Materials and Control of Quality. A. Nikolaides. CRC 2015 |
| 2 | Empirical and Mechanistic Design | Pavement Engineering, Rajib B. Mallick, Tahar El-Korchi, CRC, 3nd edition, 2016 |
| 3 | Mechanistic Design | Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide, AASHTO, 2008 |
| 4 | Empirical Design, Overlay Design | Guide for Design of Pavement Structures, 4th Edition, AASHTO, 1993 |
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Oral examination: mid-term (30%) + final (45%) + homeworks and final pavement design project (25%). mid term exam is optional for the student
1) Mid term exam: topics listed in questions: A) 1+10; 12; 16; 17 - B) 1+3
2) Final exam: topics listed in questions: A) 11; 13+15; 18; 19 - B) 4+10 - C) 1+4 Only Final exam: all topics in the list of questions
3) Timely execution and quality of the assigned homeworks and quality of the final pavement design project Attendance and active participation will be positively evaluated.
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
Topics and Exam questions [reference number of the teaching material]
A) Materials
1. Subgrade classification [3.0]
2. Bearing Capacity Investigation Plate test (static plate, FWD, LWD) [3.0]
3. Bearing Capacity Investigation Resilient Modulus [3.0]
4. Bearing Capacity Investigation Empirical tests (CBR) [3.0] 5.Compaction (proctor test, site control) [3.0]
6.SeasonaI variation, equivalent design value of Mr [3.0] 7.Aggregate characteristics and laboratory test [5.1; 5.2, 5.3]
8. AsphaIt Concrète components and Mix Volumetric properties [5.4]
9. AsphaIt binder typologies and applications (natural, artificial, cutback, emulsion, foamed, modified, special) [6.1]
10. AsphaIt binder empirical testing and classification [6.2]
11. AsphaIt binder rheology: viscosity definition and laboratory test (dynamic, kinematic viscosity) [6.2]
12. AsphaIt binder stiffness (IP, Van der Poel) [6.2]
13. AsphaIt binder rheology: viscosity and complex modulus (RV, DSR) [6.3]
14. AsphaIt binder rheology: Ageing, stiffness and Strength (RTFO, PAV, BBR, DTT) [6.3]
15. AsphaIt Binder Performance Grade [6.4]
16. AsphaIt Concrète Mix Design: Marshall [7.0]
17. AsphaIt Concrète Mix Design: Superpave [5.3; 8.0]
18. AsphaIt Concrète Characteristics: Complex Modulus model and definition [9.0]
19. AsphaIt Concrète Characteristics: Modulus Laboratory testing and empirical formulas [9.0]
B) Design
1. EmpiricaI Mechanistic Design: Traffic factors (Traffic load types and distribution) [2.0]
2. EmpiricaI Mechanistic Design: Environmental factors (temperature, moisture) [2.0]
3. AASHTO empirical Design: Equivalent Standard Axle Load, ESALs in the design period [2.0]
4. AASHTO empirical Design: Structural Number (PSI, Mr, R, S, ESAL) [12.0]
5. AASHTO empirical Design: Swelling [12.0]
6. AASHTO empirical Design: Layer coefficients and thickness distribution [12.0]
7. AASHTO Overlay design [16.0]
8. EmpiricaI Mechanistic Design: Multilayer Elastic System [10.0]
9. EmpiricaI Mechanistic Design: Fatigue cracking model, laboratory test and design formulas [10.0] 10.EmpiricaI Mechanistic Design: Rutting model, laboratory test and design formulas [10.0]
C) Maintenance
11. Effective Pavement bearing capacity: Falling Weight Deflectometer (test, layer moduli, SNeff) [11.0]
2. Skid resistance: GRIP, SCRIM (equipment and coefficient estimation) [13.0]
3. Pavement longitudinal profile: micro-macro-mega texture, MPD, IRI (equipment and coefficient estimation) [13.0]
4. Pavement surface distress: classification and measurement systems (cracks, rutting) [10.0; 13.0]