COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN OF LOW VOLUME ROADS

Abstract

Transport infrastructure plays a key role in the economic growth and development of the country. Export, import, industry, agriculture, defense, social services, general administration, maintenance of law and order, exploitation of resource, mobility of persons and goods etc. are some of the many areas of activity which are very closely linked to the availability of adequate transportation system. Among the available modes of transportation, the transport by road is the most versatile one. In India, any road carries less than 450 vehicles per day, called low volume road. Low volume roads are categorized under tertiary road system, which consists of other district roads (ODR) and village roads (VR). India has an essentially rural-oriented economy with 74 per cent of its population living in its villages scattered all over the country. Low volume road is not only the key component of rural development in India; it is also recognized as an effective poverty reduction programme. In the Low Volume Roads, a lot of data have to be analyzed to get optimum design of pavement, overlay and other tasks. Hence a software package was required to be developed to reduce the amount of work, by giving an option to the planner to use the computer, which has been tried here in this dissertation work. The software developed in this dissertation work can be used to perform following tasks of Low Volume Roads: > Cost Comparison between Flexible and Rigid Pavement > Pavement Design • Flexible Pavement • Rigid Pavement > Overlay Design • Benkelman Beam Method • CBR Method > Geometric Design — Super Elevation > Rate Analysis > Cost Estimation