International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2014)
Cell-Filled Concrete Roads an Alternative to Rural Roads
A Case Study in Karnataka
Hariprasad. M1, H. S. Prakash Kumar2, Purushothama Das Heggade3, Dr. B. V. Kiran Kumar4
1
Post Graduate Student, 2Ph.D Research Scholar, 3M.Sc.(Engg.) Research Scholar, 4Assistant Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering, Government Sri Krishnarajendra Silver Jubilee Technological Institute, K.R. Circle, Bengaluru-560 001, India
Abstract The main role of the present work is to conduct
pavement performance evaluation of Cell Filled Concrete
road constructed in Sidlaghatta taluk of Chickaballapura
District in Karnataka. The study area selected is from Anur
Hunasenahalli to T-07 (2.16 km) in Sidlaghatta Taluk. The
above selected road is categorized under Village Roads (VR)
and is constructed under the Technology Demonstration
Project of PMGSY phase IX. The objective of the work was to
conduct Pavement Performance Studies on the said road
which include the Structural and Functional evaluations.
Detailed surveys were carried out on the above said stretch.
For Functional evaluation, roughness was measured using
MERLIN and Pavement condition survey by longitudinal
/transverse cracking, severity of potholes and area of patching
has been measured. In the traffic surveys different types of
vehicles including commercial vehicles have been recorded for
72 hours (24 hours X 3 days). In the axle load surveys, type of
vehicle, number of axles and load on each axle has been
recorded to determine the Vehicle damage factor (VDF). In
the non-destructive structural evaluation, Deflection studies
using Benkelman Beam Deflectometer (BBD) was done. The
BBD test was conducted to know the rebound deflection of
cell-filled pavement layer of thickness between 40 to 100 mm.
The evaluation has been carried out in three cycles at an
interval of four months.
The structural evaluation results observed on this road
based on BBD test, in which characteristic deflections are
under the prescribed limits as per the IRC provisions and
results based on VDF and MSA is also within the limits, since
a very low traffic is plying on this road. The functional
evaluation results observed as per MERLIN test, the IRI
values are close to 3.0 m/km which is of less impact to riding
quality. And as per the pavement condition survey, the
pavement looked good except a little distresses found with few
percentages of cracking (cells exposed), patching, potholes and
roughness. Evaluation of distresses has been done considering
pavement condition index (PCI) and found to be satisfactory
as per PCI rating.
Keywords Structural evaluation, Functional evaluation,
BBD, Vehicle Damage Factor, MERLIN, Roughness, PCI.
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I. INTRODUCTION
Providing good road network is very essential for the
development of any country. In India, there are about more
than 6 lakhs villages located in different terrain conditions,
e.g. plains, hilly and mountainous region, deserts, swamps,
coastal region, backwater area, tribal pockets, etc. The
climatic conditions also vary from place-to-place to a great
extent. Social, economic and educational development of
these villages greatly depends on accessibility. A large
number of villages in the rural India are still not connected
with the all-weather roads. The employment opportunities
and basic necessities, like health, education cannot reach
rural masses without a system of good network. It has now
been realized that for the development of rural areas,
development of proper and communication system must be
a priority.
The rural roads are the basic infrastructure required for
the development of rural areas. Rural roads have been
planned and constructed under various Rural Development
Programmes of the Government of India. Serious efforts
through these programmes also could not make all-weather
connectivity to more than 50 percent of the 6 lakhs villages.
On the other hand, many roads which have been built could
not be sustained. Careful examination of these has revealed
that most efforts have not been effective due to the fact that
in those Programmes, the roads were not understood to be
engineering structures. These non-engineered structures
without back-up systems and facilities to sustain them with
engineering inputs for repair and maintenance have
disappeared in no time. Many of the technical aspects of
road making were never given due importance in rural
roads: e.g adequate compaction of subgrade, drainage,
required cross drainage, and most of others. There must not
be any inhibition about the technical details that are
required to be understood for rural roads: these are required
to be adopted necessarily. But none of those are impossible
to adopt for local agencies and authorities by any means.
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2014)
Moreover, there are plenty of appropriate technologies
for rural road construction and maintenance using locally
available materials as well as local agricultural implements.
II. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Evaluation of Functional and Structural parameters
for the selected stretches of Village Roads.
Identifying the merits of new technology over the
conventional technology.
To quantify the structural and functional parameters
to be used for the further study on deterioration
modeling in terms of Pavement Condition Index
(PCI).
This Pavement Performance is taken up to study the
behavior of conventional concrete, flexible pavement,
cell filled concrete of 100mm thick with different
categories for the same traffic and to find out the
economical construction of rural road for the
economical and social development of the rural
population.
III. SELECTION OF STUDY AREA
In this case study, the rural road was selected in
Sidlaghatta Taluk of Chikkaballapur District, Karnataka
state, which was constructed under the technology
demonstration project of PMGSY phase IX. The details of
the test sections of Anur Hunasenahalli to T-07 (2.16 km)
of Sidlaghatta Taluk are shown in Table 1.
IV. LITERATURE SURVEY
Visser, A.T (1999) conducted a study on flexible
Portland cement concrete pavement for low volume roads.
In South Africa Portland cement concrete filled geo-cells,
termed Hyson-Cells, have been used successfully in the
provision of low volume roads and streets. The main
conclusions were that there was no indication of stress
sensitivity of the unbound materials, and typical stiffness
values used in road pavement design could be used.
B. B. Pandey et. al (2005) conducted a study for
evaluating the performance of cast in situ concrete block
pavements for low volume roads.
466
Concrete is filled up into a formwork of cells 150
mm_150 mm_100 mm made up of thin plastic sheets and
compacted to form flexible interlocked concrete blocks. It
was found that the blocks became interlocked and that the
block pavement displayed a very little amount of rutting
along the wheel path.
B. B. Pandey et. al (2011) conducted a study of an
investigation on cell filled pavements. They carried out
studies for investigating the structural behavior of different
types of cell-filled pavements. The main objective of this
study was to investigate the behavior of pavements
constructed by filling the cells with (a) cement concrete (b)
soil cement and (c) sand cement laid over two different
types of sub-bases (moorum and soil cement). A
comparison of costs of different types of cell-filled
pavements with those of traditional flexible and rigid
pavements designed for low traffic volumes indicates that
cell-filled pavements are cost-effective compared with
conventional pavements, particularly in locations with
scarcity of aggregates.
Y. A. Singh et. al (2011) conducted an experimental
study on Structural Performance of Plastic Cell-filled
Concrete Block Pavement (PCCBP) for Low Volume
Roads. Experimental investigations into the structural
behaviors of different thicknesses of plastic cell-filled
concrete block pavement (PCCBP) over 100-mm thick
water bound macadam sub-base course were presented. In
this study, an attempt has been made to use waste stone
dust in place of the traditional river sand as fine aggregates
in concrete.
Haradhan Sarkar et. al (2014) conducted an experimental
study on Behavior of Interlocking Concrete Block
Pavement over Stone Dust Grouted Subbase. This paper
describes structural behavior of interlocking concrete block
pavement (ICBP) that is laid over a sub-base of grouted
single size aggregate with stone dust and confined by
plastic cell made from thin polyethylene. From the test
results it is evident that the pavement without jointing sand
deflects about 14% more than that with jointing sand. The
determined equivalent elastic modulus of the pavement
structure for subgrade soils, subbase and concrete block
layer without and with jointing sand are 59.58 MPa, 232
MPa, 470 MPa and 2352 MPa respectively.
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2014)

TABLE I
DETAILS OF THE STRETCHES AND CRUST DETAILS (ANUR ROAD)

Sl.No. Road Length in Km Sub-Total Technology Layer Layer Layer Overall Crust
(From & To) Length in Adopted details thickness in width in thickness
km mm M (mm)

Conventional GSB 100 Full width 350

1 0.0 0.1 0.10
Concrete GSB 50 4.05
M30 200 3.75

GSB 100 Full width

2 0.1 0.5 0.40 Cell Filled Concrete GSB 50 4.05 250
M30 100 3.75

GSB 100 Full width

3 0.5 0.7 0.20 Cell Filled Concrete WBM-G3 75 3.75 275
M30 100 3.75

GSB 100 Full width

4 0.7 1.1 0.40 Cell Filled Concrete WBM-G3 75 3.75 275
M10 60 3.75
M30 40 3.75

GSB 100 Full width

ICBP Interlocking
5 1.1 1.2 0.10 GSB 50 4.05 260
Concrete Blocks
Sand bed 30 3.75
ICBP 80 3.75

GSB 125 Full width

Conventional
6 1.2 1.7 0.50 WBM G-2 75 3.90 295
Flexible Pavement
WBM G-3 75 3.75
PMC 20 3.75

Conventional GSB 100 Full width

7 1.7 1.825 0.125
Concrete Pavement WBM G-3 75 3.75 375
M30 200 3.75

GSB 125 Full width

Conventional
8 1.825 2.16 0.34 WBM G-2 75 3.90 295
Flexible Pavement
WBM G-3 75 3.75
PMC 20 3.75
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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2014)
V. ENGINEERING SURVEY AND INVESTIGATIONS The formation width is 7.50 m wide with a single lane
carriage way of 3.75 m width and an average shoulder
A. Road Inventory Data width of 1.875 m on each side. The type of adjoining land
The data collected during road Inventory survey is along the test stretch are built up and agricultural land. The
summarized below. road inventory data consists of general details like rainfall,
temperature, binder properties and other pavement details.
The data is summarized in Table 2.
TABLE II
ROAD INVENTORY DATA

Name of the Road Anur Hunasenahalli to T-07

Description 0.0 km to 1.1 km 1.1 km to 2.16 km
General Details
Type of adjoining land AL+BU AL+BU
New construction or Up gradation UG
Annual avg. rainfall (mm) 768
Avg. min and max temp (C) 20- 32
Avg. min and max depth of GWT (m) 25-30
Month and year of opening to traffic March 2013
Binder properties
Grade of concrete/bitumen 60/70
Penetration in (mm) Cell-filled Concrete M30 63
Softening point () 53
Pavement details
Avg. Embankment ht. (m) 0.20 0.15
Carriageway width (m) 3.75 3.75
Shoulder width (m) 1.875 1.875
Type of surface Concrete BS
Condition of shoulder Good Good
(Good, Fair ,Poor)
Effectiveness of surface Good Good
Drainage (Good, Fair, Poor)
AL- Agricultural Land; BU- Built Up; UG- Up gradation; NC- New Construction;
NA-Not Applicable; BS- Bituminous Surface

VI. STRUCTURAL EVALUATION
A. Benkelman Beam Deflection Studies
The rebound deflection value obtained at each point was
calculated making use of the initial, intermediate and final
rebound deflection values, after applying correction where
ever necessary. The average of the rebound deflection
values, at every 50/100 m interval over the entire stretch
given for BBD studies was calculated.
From the deflection values of the observation points
within each stretch, the standard deviation (d) was
calculated. The characteristic deflection value, Dc has been
worked out taking Dc = (m+d), for Village Roads, where
m is the mean deflection values. The average
characteristic deflection value for the two stretches is
shown in Table 3. The BBD test is conducted as per
IRC:81-1997.

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 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2014)
TABLE III
AVERAGE CHARACTERISTIC DEFLECTION VALUE

Anur Hunasenahalli to T-07

Chainage Average Total Average
Sl.
Characteristic Characteristic
No From To Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3
Deflection (mm) Deflection (mm)
1 0.00 0.10 0.08 0.16 0.25 0.16
2 0.10 0.50 0.07 0.21 0.38 0.22
3 0.50 0.70 0.08 0.16 0.06 0.10
4 0.70 1.10 0.12 0.23 0.28 0.21
0.32
5 1.10 1.20 0.74 0.41 0.40 0.52
6 1.20 1.70 0.22 0.13 0.31 0.22
7 1.70 1.825 0.68 0.59 0.50 0.59
8 1.825 2.16 0.61 0.51 0.53 0.55

B. Classified Traffic Volume Counts The vehicles are classified as representative vehicles
such as two wheelers, three wheelers, buses, 2 and 3 axle
Classified traffic volume counts were carried out for the
trucks, jeeps, cars, vans mini bus, mini trucks, tractors,
test stretches. A 24 hour traffic volume count was
bicycles, animal drawn carts (pneumatic tyred and iron
conducted on hourly basis for three days and the details
tyred). The averages of all class of vehicles were multiplied
were recorded.
with their respective PCU factor and PCU and average
CVPD were calculated. The abstract of PCU, CVPD and
MSA calculated are shown in Table 4.
TABLE IV
AVERAGE PCU, CVPD AND MSA

Anur Hunasenahalli to T-07

Sl. No PCU CVPD MSA Avg. MSA

1 Cycle 1 382 46 0.37

0.49
2 Cycle 2 388 60 0.45

3 Cycle 3 384 59 0.48

C. Axle Load Surveys Only the axles with weight of 3 tonnes and above are
Axle Load Survey was conducted on the test stretches considered to have effect on the pavement performance,
for the determination of Vehicle Damage Factor (VDF). hence axles with weight of 3 tonnes and above were
The survey was conducted along with the traffic volume considered in the study. The average of vehicle Equivalent
count for 24 hours X 3 days. The axle load survey was Factors and their total avg. VDF are shown in the Table 5.
conducted in accordance with IRC: SP: 19-2001.
TABLE V
AVERAGE EQUIVALENT FACTOR / VDF

Anur Hunasenahalli to T-07

Sl. No Average Equivalent Factor (E.F) of all Vehicles Total average VDF
1 Cycle 1 0.0327
2 Cycle 2 0.0358
0.034
3 Cycle 3 0.0326

469
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VII. FUNCTIONAL EVALUATION In this case study MERLIN measurements were made
w.r.t the technologies adopted viz., the MERLIN sheets
A. MERLIN Roughness Survey
were changed as the technology changed. The recording of
MERLIN Roughness survey was conducted on the roughness survey is done on a typical recording chart. The
stretches to estimate the roughness of the pavement surface. abstract of the MERLIN roughness value is summarized in
To determine the roughness of a section of road, 200 the Table 6. Analysis is as per TRL report (Cundill).
measurements should be made at regular intervals at a
distance of 0.6 m from the edge of the road.
TABLE VI
AVERAGE MERLIN ROUGHNESS VALUES

Anur Hunasenahalli to T-07

Chainage
Sl. Average IRI
Total Average IRI
No From To Cycle 1 Cycle 2 Cycle 3 value (m/km)
value
1 0.00 0.10 3.18 2.71 2.94 2.94
2 0.10 0.50 3.18 3.53 3.30 3.34
3 0.50 0.70 3.53 2.71 2.94 3.06
2.95 m/km
4 0.70 1.10 3.30 3.30 3.18 3.26
or
5 1.10 1.20 2.47 2.47 2.71 2.55
2950 mm/km
6 1.20 1.70 2.59 3.06 3.30 2.98
7 1.70 1.825 3.18 2.59 2.71 2.83
8 1.825 2.16 2.59 2.59 2.83 2.67

B. Pavement Condition Survey Considering the serviceability criteria as per ASTM

Pavement condition index (PCI) is a numerical indicator
of present condition that is directly to the pavement surface
operational condition. The PCI is a function of the type of
distress. The pavement may also become inadequate due to
general deterioration with age.
D6433-11 for each distress attributes the following factors
was obtained. The pavement condition index values along
the stretch of road is calculated using the pavement
condition survey data and as tabulated in the below Table
7. The PCI rating is done as per ASTM D6433-11.

TABLE VII
PCI VALUE AND RATING

Anur Hunasenahalli to T-07

Chainage
Sl. No From To Pavement Condition Index Pavement Condition Rating
1 0.0 1.10 94 Good
2 1.10 2.16 81 Satisfactory

VIII. GEOTECHNICAL INVESTIGATIONS
Soil investigations such as the soil classification,
Atterberg limits, OMC and MDD, CBR, and natural
moisture content were conducted in the laboratory in order
to determine the soil properties and other engineering
properties of soil.
The soil samples were collected from the respective
chainages shown in the table and tests were conducted in
accordance with IS 2720 and MORTH specifications.
The results of these are shown in the Table 8.

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TABLE VIII
GEOTECHNICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON SOIL

Natural
CBR
Compaction Moisture
(IS-2720
Atterberg limits (IS- parameters (IS content (IS-
part 12,
Chainage (km) 2720 part 5, 1985) 2720, part 8 2720 part 2,
IS Soil 1983)
Sl.no 1983) 1983)
classification
Betwee LL PL PI MDD OMC
At 56 blows (%)
n (%) (%) (%) (g/cc) (%)
Anur Hunasenahalli to T-07
1 0.10 SC 32 20 12 1.875 10.5 6.25 5.0
0.0 to
1.0 km
2 1.00 SC 32 22 10 1.875 11.5 6.00 5.0

3 1.0 to 1.35 SC 31 22 11 1.91 10.0 7.50 5.0

2.16 km
4 2.10 SC 28 20 8 1.88 11.5 7.80 5.0

Note: SC- Silty Sand with Gravel Clay:

IX. CONSTRUCTION COST STATEMENT: (COST PER KM)

TABLE IX
CONSTRUCTION COST STATEMENT OF DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES

Construction of Asphalted Road Rs.21.57 lakhs

Constn. of 200 mm thick CC M30 over GSB+WBM G-3 Road (Conventional Concrete) Rs.47.12 lakhs

Construction of 100 mm Cell Fill M30 over GSB Rs.30.00 lakhs

Construction of 100 mm Cell Fill Multi grade over GSB+WBM G-3 Rs.32.65 lakhs

Construction of 100 mm Cell Fill 20 mm d/z Agg. In CM 1:3 over GSB+WBM G-3 Rs.32.13 lakhs

Construction of 80 mm Interlocking blocks over GSB Rs.32.69 lakhs

X. RESULTS From the traffic data collected, cumulative standard

A. Structural Evaluation
From BBD studies, the deflection results shown in
table-3. The average characteristic deflection is found
to be 0.32 mm. Therefore overlay is not required at
present stage. As per result obtained from BBD test in
Anur Hunasenahalli road, cell-filled concrete
pavement showed minimum deflection than the
interlocked block pavement & flexible pavement.
axles were calculated for the present traffic data and
values of PCU, and CVPD were obtained and the
MSA was found to be 0.45 MSA. Therefore the
present traffic movement has no effect on the
performance of the pavement and normal traffic is
plying on the stretch.
From the Axle Load Surveys conducted, the VDF
obtained from average of three cycles is 0.034. It has
been found that no over loaded vehicles are plying on
the road and there is no damage caused to the road
from these vehicles.

471
 International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 10, October 2014)
B. Functional Evaluation
The MERLIN roughness value obtained from the
average of three cycles in terms of International
Roughness Index (IRI) is 2.95 m/km or 2950 mm/km
from table-6. Therefore the IRI value obtained is
below 3 and has a good riding quality or riding
comfort (as per TRL report (Cundill)). The cell-fill
concrete section has showed a little higher roughness
value than other technologies due to its exposed cells
on the pavement surface.
The results obtained from pavement distress survey,
the PCI values are 94 and 81 for sub stretches of Anur
Hunasenahalli road, which are as shown in table 7.
And as per the ASTM D6433-11, pavement condition
rating, the PCI values ranging from 86-100 are Good
and requires no maintenance and the PCI values
ranging from 71-85 are Satisfactory and requires less
or no maintenance. The PCI value of cell-filled
concrete section is 94, which is much better than other
technologies.
XI. CONCLUSIONS
Cell filled concrete pavement can be recommended
for weak base and sub-base layers instead of flexible
pavement, since it showed resistance to structural
durability.
Cell filled concrete pavements has very little effect to
the riding comfort in terms of roughness.
Construction of Cell Fill Concrete Pavement is
advantageous compared to Conventional Concrete
and Asphalt Pavement. Since cell filled roads are
economical (cost per km) to conventional concrete
roads and they need very less annual maintenance (as
per good PCI rate) compared to flexible roads.
Conventional and cell filled Concrete roads could be a
solution for the rural roads because of the life of
concrete roads. Its beneficial to use cell filled in low
volume traffic condition.
472
Cell Fill Concrete roads is a challenge in the rural
road construction with the effective diversion of
traffic.
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