Discussion on

STRUCTURAL
EVALUATION
AND
STRENGTHENING
OF
FLEXIBLE
ROAD
PAVEMENTS
USING
FALLING
WEIGHT
DEFLECTOMETER
(FWD)
TECHNIQUEIRC:115-2014
By staff of
Pavement Materials and Geotechnical
Division

Scope

Evaluating the strength of the existing pavement

layers

Estimating the Remaining of life of the existing

pavement

Determination of strengthening requirement

PRINCIPLE OF PAVEMENT EVALUATION USING

FWD
Performance of flexible pavements evaluated by
applying loads on the pavements that simulate
the traffic loading, recording the response of
such loading by measuring the elastic deflection
under such loads and analyzing the data
considering the influencing factors like subgrade
strength, thickness and quality of each
pavement layer, drainage conditions and
pavement surface temperature.

FALLING WEIHT DEFLECTOMETER

An Impulse loading device in which a transient

load is applied to the pavement and the deflected
shape of the pavement surface is measured.

Components of FWD:
a) Load cells to measure the applied load
b) Loading plate of dia. 300mm to 450mm
c) Rubber Pad of 5mm thick glued to the bottom of
Loading plate for uniform distribution of load
d) Falling mass in the range of 50kg to 350kg is dropped
from a height of fall in the range of 100 to 600mm
e) Geophones/Deflection transducers to measure the
vertical surface deflection at radial locations.
f)
Data Acquisition system

Working Principle of FWD

A mass of weight is dropped from a pre determined

height onto a series of spring/buffers placed on top of
loading plate. The corresponding peak load and peak
vertical surface deflections
at different radial
locations are measure and recorded.

Calibration of the FWD:

Static Calibration
The readings of the FWD load cell should be 2 percent of
the reference load cell reading. The date of calibration of
load cell should not be earlier than one year from the date of
testing.
Load repeatability
The standard deviation of applied peak load estimated from
minimum of 12 load drops should be less than 5% of the
mean value of the applied peak load.
Absolute calibration of deflection transducers
Deflection transducers should be accurate to 2 percent of
reference deflections. The date of calibration of geophones
should not be earlier than one year from the date of testing.
Deflection repeatability check may also conducted using
data collected in load repeatability test.

Identification of Uniform sections

Based on the pavement condition survey the uniform sections will be
identified in accordance with the table given below
Classification of pavement sections

Classificatio
n

Pavement Condition

Good

Cracks < 3mm width in less than 5% area of total

paved surface and avg. rut depth <10mm

Fair

Cracks < 3mm width in 5% to 20% area of total

paved surface and avg. rut depth between 10 to
20mm

Poor

Cracks > 3.0mm width in 5 to 20% area of toata

paved surface or cracking of any type > 20% area of
paved surface and avg. rut depth of >20mm

Note: The length of each uniform section should be minimum 1km

except in case of any localized failures.

Deflection Measurement
Estimation of Sample size:
N= (z*CV)2/ (ME2)
Where,
N= sample size
z = Normalized normal deviate which can be obtained
from standard statistical tables for a selected
confidence level (recommended 90% confidence
level)
CV = Coefficient of variation of deflection expressed as
percentage (recommended values for good, fair
and poor sections taken as 15, 30 and 45%)
ME= accept of margin of error (as percentage of mean) ,
recommended 10%
Therefore minimum sample sizes for good, fair and poor
sections will be 4,15,33.

Recommended Deflection measurement scheme

Scheme of Wheel Paths

Outer Wheel Paths of Outer lanes:

I.

For single-lane two-way carriageway

For multilane single carriage way
For divided carriageways with two or
more lanes in each direction

II.
III.

. Outer
I.
II.

0.6m from outer edge of outer lane

- 1.0m from outer edge of outer lane
- 0.75m

Wheel Paths of inner lanes:

For multilane single carriage way

For divided carriageways with two
lanes in each direction
For divided carriageways with three
lanes in each direction

- 4.0m from outer edge of outer lane

4.2m from outer edge of outer lane
- 4.2m for central lane &
5.2m for lane adjacent to median

Data should be recorded at each test point

Section Identity (Chainage)

Position of lane in the carriageway (Outer, Inner, etc.)
Transverse position of test point in the lane
Measurement spacing
Time of test
Air temperature, pavement temperature at a depth of
40mm
Drop number
Peak values of load and deflections of each drop of load
Whole time history of load and deflections should be stored
for one of the test points of each road sections
Deflection transducers configuration
Loading plate diameter

Steps for measuring deflection at a test point

Corrections for deflection data

Correction for temperature

standard temperature 35oC
Corrected back calculated modulus ET1 = ET2
Where,

= temperature correction factor

= 1- 0.238 ln T1/1-0.238 ln T2

Correction for Seasonal Variation

Correction factors for subgrade
Esub_mon = 3.351 * (Esub_win)0.7688 28.9
Esub_mon = 0.8554 * (Esub_sum) 8.461
Correction factors for Granular layer
Egran_mon = - 0.0003*(Egran_sum)2 0.9584*(Egran_sum) 32.989
Egran_mon = 10.5523* (Egran_win)0.624 113.857

Ranges of elastic Moduli of different layers

Bituminous layers
Thick layers without much cracking - 750 MPa to 3000 MPa
- Distressed condition (Fair to Poor) - 400 MPa to 1500 MPa
Granular Layers

100 MPa to 500 MPa

Subgrade Modulus
a)
If No information is available

20 MPa to 100 MPa

b)

If Subgrade CBR is Known

5*CBR to 20*CBR Mpa

c)

IF DCP CBR is Known

d)

From the surface deflections measured at radial distances 1200mm,1500mm and

1800mm
Esubgrade (MPa) = (1-2)*P/(3.14*r*w)

357.87*(DCP) -0.6445

Range of Subgrade modulus (MPa)= 1.2*Esubgrade*0.8 - 1.2* Esubgrade*1.2

Procedure for overlay design based on FWD

Evaluation

Overlay design using FWD Technique.xlsx