Project: Wind Park Alibunar, Serbia

Base course design

Project-No.: 2006289-1E-KES

Engineer: Marie-Therese van Keßel, M.Sc.

Phone: +49 2542 / 701-304
E-Mail: vankessel@HUESKER.de

Responsable: i.A. M.-T. van Keßel, M.Sc. i.A. Dr.-Ing. A. Sarhan

Engineering Department Engineering Department

Gescher, Date 04.03.2016

Legal advice / Disclaimer:

The present application concept has been prepared for you individually and compiled on a confidential basis. It serves
only as an illustration and does not represent a detailed plan. Use of the concept without the express written consent
of HUESKER Synthetic GmbH is not permitted.
All statements in the concept apply only to the system described here, including the geometry, loads, soils, suggested
geosynthetic materials, etc. with all their specific values, and the construction phases, the duration of load and the
duration of operation. Deviations may put safety and/or the suitability for use at risk and must be agreed with the
authors. Otherwise liability for any damage is excluded.
HUESKER Synthetic GmbH holds the proprietary rights and copyright for this application concept. It may not be
duplicated or made accessible to third parties in whole or in the form of extracts without the express written consent of
HUESKER Synthetic GmbH.
Wind Park Alibunar, Serbia

1. PROJECT
Regarding the above mentioned project we have been asked to do base course design under
consideration of the application of a base reinforcement. The design is performed for both an asphalt
paved road and an unpaved road.

The aim of using a base reinforcement geogrid is to increase the bearing capacity, respectively the
reduction of the required base course thickness, particularly at subgrades with low bearing capacities.
When having inhomogeneous subgrades, constant loads can lead to irregular settlements. Our
geogrids for base reinforcement can bridge these weaknesses, thus providing a viable and
sustainable, level surface.

The existing typical cross section consisting of two mixed in place levels and a geosynthetic reinforced
aggregate layer below an unreinforced aggregate layer is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Typical transversal section, [R1]

2. INPUT PARAMETERS

2.1. Used Documents

[R1] Drawing, Typical transversal section – Road v2.pdf

2.2. Soil Parameters

The soil parameters given in Table 1 were provided by the client. If those soil parameters differ in
reality the design has to be adapted. As recommended by the client design is based on the saturated
loess parameters. Since on several positions the loess is already moistured and the saturation may
accidentally occur for any part of the road.

Table 1: Soil Parameters

CBR EV1 EV2
Description
[%] [MN/m²] [MN/m²]
Loess (moistured) 4.0 5.0 27.0
Loess (natural dry) 6.0* 14.0 41.0
*correlated value

Project-No.: 2006289-1E-KES
Contact: M.-T. van Keßel, M.Sc.
Phone: +49 25 42 / 701-304
E-Mail: vankessel@HUESKER.de Page 2 of 6
Wind Park Alibunar, Serbia

2.3. Access road bearing capacity

The bearing capacity requirements given in Table 2 comply with the common bearing capacity
requirements for wind parks published by ENERCON.

Table 2: Bearing capacity requirements

Natural ground EV2 ≥ 45 MPa
Base course EV2 ≥ 100 MPa
Maximum axle load of transport vehicles 12 t
Maximum axle load of crane 12 t
Maximum vehicle laod 120 t

3. BASE COURSE DESIGN

3.1. Estimation of Granular Base Thickness

To determine the necessary granular base thickness the HUESKER design chart has been used
(Figure 2). With a subgrade EV2 = 27 MN/m² it can be derived from the chart the necessary thickness
to reach a modulus of deformation of EV2 = 45 MN/m² on top of the granular layer. In the design is
considered that quality granular material (e.g. sand or sand-gravel) will be used.

Figure 2: Huesker Design Chart

Project-No.: 2006289-1E-KES
Contact: M.-T. van Keßel, M.Sc.
Phone: +49 25 42 / 701-304
E-Mail: vankessel@HUESKER.de Page 3 of 6
Wind Park Alibunar, Serbia

For a subgrade with a modulus of deformation Ev2 = 27 MPa, the thickness of the sand or sand-gravel
layer should be at least 0.15 m to reach Ev2 = 45 MN/m², when using a geosynthetic reinforcement.
According to our experience with reinforced embankments in roads, highways, parking lots and other
areas, we recommend for fine graded soils or soils with a higher water content to use a geocomposite
layer type Base 40 B15 as base reinforcement. The base reinforcement can be installed directly onto
the existing subgrade.
Base 40 B15 is a geocomposite, which combines a reinforcement grid with a factory-applied
nonwoven geotextile for roadbuilding applications. Its flexible, biaxial geogrid presents high tensile
strength in conjunction with low strain, providing reliable long-term reinforcement for base courses.
The separation and filtration properties of the integral nonwoven also considerably increase stability,
reducing the need for soil replacement (see A.2).

3.2. Estimation of Base Course Thickness

In order to reach the remaining bearing capacity, the German guideline for pavement design RStO [2]
was used. According to Figure 3 (Table 8 [2]), with further 0.20 m of quality sandy-gravel material it is
possible to reach on top of the base layer Ev2 = 100 MN/m².

Figure 3: Base bearing layer thickness according to subgrade bearing capacity [2]

3.3. Typical Cross Sections

The recommended layer set up for both road options are shown in the following sections. The layer
set up does not consider the local requirements for frost protection layers. If the required thickness for
frost protection layers is not met, the layer set up has to be adapted and the layer thickness has to be
increased.

Project-No.: 2006289-1E-KES
Contact: M.-T. van Keßel, M.Sc.
Phone: +49 25 42 / 701-304
E-Mail: vankessel@HUESKER.de Page 4 of 6
Wind Park Alibunar, Serbia

3.3.1. Paved Road

The recommended layer set up for the asphalt paved roads is shown in Figure 4. The thickness of
both sand / sand- gravel layer and crushed stone layer were estimated as demonstrated above. The
thickness of both asphalt binder course and asphalt wearing course was chosen inspired by [2]
(Tafel 1). Latter thicknesses can be adapted to local requirements.

Top of base course 100.0 MN/m²

Base 40 B 15

Figure 4: Recommended layer set up for asphalt paved roads

3.3.2. Unpaved Road

The recommended layer set up for the unpaved roads is shown in Figure 5. The thickness of both
sand / sand- gravel layer and crushed stone layer were estimated as demonstrated above.

Top of base course 100.0 MN/m²

Base 40 B 15

Figure 5: Recommended layer set up for unpaved roads

4. INSTALLATION
To achieve a sufficient bearing capacity we recommend the following set-up:
1. Earth works (to achieve the designed project level) and construction of a base grade.
2. Installation of Base 40 B15 directly onto the existing base. The overlap of adjacent lanes
should not be less than 0.50 m.

Project-No.: 2006289-1E-KES
Contact: M.-T. van Keßel, M.Sc.
Phone: +49 25 42 / 701-304
E-Mail: vankessel@HUESKER.de Page 5 of 6
Wind Park Alibunar, Serbia

3. Installation and compaction of the base course material, done in separate layers. The
installation has to be constructed ahead, so the geogrid is not trafficked by construction
vehicles. The compaction must be done carefully to avoid that the existing bearing capacity of
the subgrade is decreased. Therefore compaction should be done without vibration.
We also recommend, to build a small test field of at least 5m x 10m to react on local characteristics.
The test field can stay in place as part of the construction afterwards. Please let the soil always rest for
at least 3-4 days after compaction before executing the plate compaction test. Otherwise the system
cannot reach its recommended stiffness.

Further information can be found in the Installation Guidelines (A.1)

5. SUMMARY
The design procedure and assumptions of a base course design under consideration of the
application of a base reinforcement were demonstrated in this document for both asphalt paved roads
and unpaved roads within the project “Alibunar Wind Park”.

The estimated base course thickness and reinforcement product are summarized in Table 3. In
comparison to the initial layer set up (Figure 1) the use of a hydraulic binder is not necessary and the
total thickness of 0.8 m can be reduced to 0.4 m for unpaved roads or 0.6 m for asphalt paved roads.

Table 3: Summary of required base course thickness and required geosynthetic product.
Ev2 Ev2 Reinforced base
Planned Granular Reinforcement
on top granular Subgrade course thickness
set-up material product
layer [MN/m²] [MN/m²] [cm]
45 sandy gravel 15
Asphalt
27 crushed Base 40 B15
pavement 100 25
stone
45 sandy gravel 15
Unpaved
27 crushed Base 40 B15
roads 100 25
stone

6. LIST OF REFERENCES
[1] Recommendations for Design and Analysis of Earth Structures using Geosynthetic
Reinforcements – EBGEO
[2] Richtlinien für die Standardisierung des Oberbaus von Verkehrsflächen (RStO 12),
Forschungsgesellschaft für Straßen- und Verkehrswesen, Ausgabe 2012

7. APPENDICES
[A.1] Installation Guidelines HUESKER Geogrids as Base Reinforcement
[A.2] Datasheet Base 40 B15

Project-No.: 2006289-1E-KES
Contact: M.-T. van Keßel, M.Sc.
Phone: +49 25 42 / 701-304
E-Mail: vankessel@HUESKER.de Page 6 of 6