COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT BASED ON IRC : 37-2001

Abstract

The primary object of the flexible pavement design is to determine the thicknesses and composition of different layers of pavement so that the pavement structure is strong enough to resist the action of traffic and climate without any distress. The design of flexible pavement involves the interplay of several variables, such as, the wheel loads, traffic, climate, terrain and subgrade conditions. The design guidelines given in the previous edition of IRC: 37-1984 were applicable to design traffic up to 30 million standard axles (msa). With the increasing traffic and incidence of overloading, roads need to be designed for traffic far greater than 30 msa. Design of flexible pavements based on IRC: 37-2001 are for subgrade CBR values ranging from 2 per cent to 10 per cent and design traffic ranging from 1 msa to 150 msa for an average annual pavement temperature of 35 °C. Keeping- in- view thel-ibove aspects a generalized and _user friendly software pauacage FLEX-PAVE 2002 based on IRC: 37-2001 has been developed for the design of flexible pavements. The package includes the features of interactive data entry, checks for invalid inputs and displays warning messages for data exceeding their maximum or minimum limits. The package shows the thicknesses of different layers, their composition and cross-section of pavement and it is protected from an unauthorized user. The package has been validated by applying it to a number of flexible pavement design examples.