Failure of

Flexible
pavements
With time, wear and tear of road surface takes
place. If no proper care is observed then the road
will fail before time/designated life. If road fails,
then either it has to be repaired or reconstructed.
First of all, the cause of failure has to be
established. No maintenance can be properly
carried unless causes of failure are known. Failure
of a flexible pavement is indicated by depressions
or settlements, waves, corrugations, and ruts in
the road surface. The cause of road failure may be
the failure of sub grade, sub-base, base or wearing
surface.
1. Subgrade Failure
Excessive plastic deformation of the sub grade soil can
result into waves, corrugations and ruts in the road surface.
Ruts are formed along the path followed by the wheels of
the vehicles if vehicles use the same portion of the
pavement every time. Ruts formation is mainly due to
consolidation settlement/deformation.
A localized depression in surface at one point gives rise to
heaving effect in the vicinity and thus waves and
corrugations are developed in the surface. The above
defects could be due to improper compaction of the sub
grade or excess moisture content in the sub grade.
Excessive stresses can also cause excessive deformation
and subsequent road failure. Excessive stresses on the sub
grade may be due to smaller pavement thickness or due to
heavier loads.
2. Base failure
Failure of base may be due to following reasons:
1. Poor material used in the base course
2. Loss of binding or interlocking properties of the materials
3. Loss of materials from base course
4. If base course is not covered with wearing course, fine materials
in the base course may get removed due to suction of fast
pneumatic tired vehicles. This leaves base course aggregates
exposed and in loose state, which with further use by traffic gets
crushed and blown off by fast moving vehicles with continuation of
this process, aggregates from certain points in the pavement
surface are removed and pot-holes are formed. This process of
removal of materials as such is called raveling.
5. Poor proportion of material
6. Insufficient thickness of base
7. Loss of lateral support to the base
8. Poor surface and subsurface drainage
9. Improper and inadequate compaction
3. Wearing course failure
Wearing course may fail due to the following
reasons:
1. Improper mix design of the WC
2. Inferior quality of binder used in the mix
3. Inadequate quantity of binder (lean surface)
4. More than required quantity of binder i.e.
fatty bleeding surface.
5. Volatilization and oxidation of binders
which make bitumen surfacing brittle and thus
cause cracking.
Causes of failure of cement concrete
pavements
The following may be the main causes of failure
of cement concrete roads:
1. Inadequacy of materials in the concrete mix
2. Defective materials used in the mix
3. Poor workmanship during construction
4. Incorrect spacing of joints
5. Insufficient thickness of slab provided
6. Poor and non-uniform support from sub grade
soil
7. Poor joint fillers and sealers used
8. Inadequate curing
Due to failure of the C.C. pavement, following
defects are developed:
1. Surface of the pavement is spoiled
2. Settlement of slabs
3. Mud pumping
4. Development of shrinkage cracks
5. Cracking of corners
6. Spalling of joints
7. Widening of joints and subsequent ingress
of surface water
 A note on maintenance
Highway maintenance has been defined as the preserving
and keeping of each type of roadway, roadside, structure,
and facility as nearly as possible in its original conditions as
constructed or as subsequently improved; and safe
transportation. Roughly one fourth of all highway funds go
to maintenance. Maintenance is performed for the most
part by the various highway agencies themselves, although
certain functions may be carried out under contract.
Traffic control while maintenance operations are carried
out creates serious difficulties for maintenance personnel
and delays and accident hazards for motorists. Often to
minimize these problems, major operations may be carried
out at night or over weekends, when volumes are smaller.
Careful advance planning as well as signing and traffic
control at the work site are a must for all substantial
maintenance operations.
 Maintenance of bituminous roads
Maintenance operations on flexible
pavements fall broadly onto three categories,
as follows:
1. Surface dressing to seal cracks and improve
skid resistance.
2. Overlaying (generally combined with local
repairs) to extend the life of the road to meet
increased traffic demands.
3. Reconstruction involving surface and base.
1. Pot holes
Patch repairs are done when localized pot holes are
developed on the surface of the road. For repair, the
area of pot holes is marked in rectangular fashion on
the road. The marked areas are then cut to sound base
in rectangular shape and all the affected material is
removed. A priming coat (painting) of suitable primer is
applied. The hole is then filled with premix and
compacted. The finished surface of the pot hole should
be kept slightly higher than the original level to allow
for further compaction under traffic.
2. Surface treatment
When excess bitumen is used, the surface of the bitumen
road may be spoiled by bleeding action or fatty surfaces.
Such a trouble can be rectified by spreading stone grit on
the surface so that excess bitumen gets absorbed by it.
Bituminous binders also get oxidized and cracks are
developed. If quantity of bitumen used is less than required
the surface is called lean surface. Particles come out due to
poor bond with traffic movement. Such a surface can be
renewed by applying seal coat or renewal coat.
3. Corrugations, ruts and wavy surfaces
The waves, corrugations or ruts once develop
cannot be completely eliminated. To obtain a
leveled smooth surface of the road, another 2 to
3 surfacing layer applied to it may solve the
problem but only temporarily. It is seen that
these defects develop again after lapse of some
time. Discover the cause first and then repair it:
1. If the cause is excess m.c. provide subsurface
drainage system.
2. If defective rolling then complete
reconstruction of pavement.
3. If soil in the subgrade is expansive modify or
replace it.
4. Resurfacing
Resurfacing is done if the existing pavement
surface has totally worn out or cracks
developed. Resurfacing operation consist of
cleaning the road surface, applying bitumen,
applying grit and lastly rolling.
 Typical failure of a rigid pavement
Mud Pumping
The process of ejecting out the soil slurry through joints
and cracks under the action of wheel loads is known as
Mud pumping.
Water may get percolated into the soil subgrade through
defective joints and cracks and may soften it. Due to effect
of repeated loads due to traffic, soft patches get somewhat
settled and small initial spaces are developed under the
slab. With further percolation of water, the softened
subgrade forms soil slurry which starts ejecting out through
joints and cracks in the vicinity, when heavy wheel loads
cause pavement slab to deflect or depress a little. The
process of ejecting out or forcing out the soil slurry results
in hollowing of underneath spaces and consequently loss in
subgrade support.
Mud pumping is more pronounced when subgrade is made
from fine grained soils.
 Maintenance of rigid pavements
Rigid pavements require very little of maintenance if
they are properly designed and constructed. However,
various defects are repaired as discussed below:
1. Cracking
Fine cracks in the top surface of slabs after the
concrete has been cured are called map cracks and are
not dangerous.
Wide cracks must first be blown out with compressed
air or cleaned in some other manner and then be
sealed to prevent the intrusion of extraneous material
and to block the downward penetration of surface
water.
2. Broken slabs
For scattered broken area, remove the concrete from
affected locations by vertical straight line cuts parallel and
perpendicular to the roadway centerline. For corner repair,
the angle from the roadway centre line should be between
30 and 60 degree. Sections removed should have minimum
area of 20 ft2. The new slab should be as thick as the
original and of the same color. High early strength concrete
produced with extra cement, high early strength concrete
or an accelerator such as Cacl2 is commonly used for
patching in order to gain early use of the pavement.
3. Scaling
If concrete is poured in winter, due to low
temperature, curing may not take place
completely. Small chips of concrete are
removed from top surface. Surface will be
roughened and wear and tear of tires
increases. To avoid scaling, concrete should be
poured either during summer or sufficient
time should be allowed for the concrete to
set.
4. Spalling
At joints and near edges, when heavy wheel load
passes some part of concrete is chipped off. This
process is called spalling. Freezing and thawing or salt
action also result in spalling. Such patches are leveled
with bituminous mixes or surface treatment. Spalled
joints may also be built up with cement grout
containing epoxy.
5. Mud jacking
Due to pumping of subgrade soil or some other cause, one
slab may go down relative to other. The liquid filler is forced
under the slab through previously drilled holes. The liquid
filler may consist of mixture of fine grained soil, Portland
cement and water or of these three ingredients plus a small
amount of cutback asphalt or cement seal grout 4 to 5 cm
diameter holes at an interval of 1.5 to 3m are drilled in the
cement concrete. Slab is raised until it comes to the original
level.
An alternative to mud jacking in
undersealing. Here heated asphalt
is substituted for the slurry. An
advantage of undersealing is that
the asphalt forms an effective seal
against the penetration of surface
water into the subgrade.
6. Blown up joints
If some foreign materials has stopped working
of the expansion joints, the slab at the joints
may blow up. Remedy is to cut the edges with
some cutting machine and slab will settle
down to desired level. Joints in concrete slab
should be maintained efficiently. Filler and
sealing materials should be checked from time
to time. Edges of joints should be vertical.
Inclined faces from spalling of joints.
7. Polished surfaces
The surface of some concrete pavement may
polish under traffic reducing the coefficient of
friction below acceptable levels. One
procedure for correcting this condition is to
cut longitudinal grooves in the surface.
Favorable dimensions are 1/8 deep and 1/8
wide spaced at on centre.