Road Design Assignment Help

We have the course of Road design and construction in the 1st semester ofthe 4th years in civil engineering. This step comes after the previously renowned course called Highway design. This course project represents a case study selected for a distressed road. During the 2nd week, we were supposed to pick a road at any random place of the entire UAE while capturing certain photos depicting the failure of the road. The road was supposed to have minimum 3 failures and it was supposed to be at least 300m in length. We selected a road located in Al Khawanij and it was around 2 kilometres long. Thereafter, we were supposed to produce an AutoCad drawing in the next week which illustrates the road distress. Till the end of the 5th week, we were able to draw the road cross-section on the AutoCad.

A small research was carried out for identifying the causes of distresses along with their procedure for treatment. After the end of the AutoCad tasks, we produced a drawing of the alternatives or the detour capable of providing simple and less disturbing motion to vehicles during the road maintenance. There were two drawings depicting the road alternatives that were maintained throughout the research.

GENERAL CAUSES TO PAVEMENT DAMAGE

When it comes to pavement damage, there are two kinds of damages. First of all, functional pavement distress occurs when the exact qualifications for the road are not met. It occurs when this road is designed for a specific purpose and for some types of cars but more types of vehicles begins using it. Secondly, structural pavement failure occurs when there is a failure of the road features delaying the vehicular movement. Pot holes are good examples of these kinds of failures.

There are different causes affecting the road pavement but they are risky for the road construction simply making it very valuable. There are many kinds of road pavement damages along with the reason for their occurrence. These are:-

1. Usage of the road: road overloading by heavy trucks easily deteriorates the road if its purpose is not fit for taking the heavy tons
2. Climate: hot weather and humidity are main reasons and it occurs due to poor quality drainage.
3. Poor materials: Using poor or unsuitable materials leads to damage
4. Need for maintenance: It happens when the road is constructed while keeping the procedural cracks for maintenance in mind. It damages the shoulder(U.S. Department of Transportation, 1999).

FAILURES AND THEIR CAUSES

A small and local road located near farms in the Al Khawanij, is selected for analysing the road failure. This road is constructed in the residential region and it is a bit far from farms present over there. This road is around 2 km long. I analysed that various types of distresses were repeated throughout the long road. Most of these distresses will be discussed in this case study. There are four types of failures that were detected on site and these failures are Pot Holes, Alligator cracks, Surface texture loss and Block cracks. For proper understanding of the road, a location map is provided below taken from the Google Maps.

1. Pot Holes: Pot holes are represented in the form of sharp edged holes that lead to road penetration while varying in a wide assortment of sizes. This type of failure takes place due to the absence of asphalt. It can be mended by taking corrective and preventive measurements related to the subsurface concerns.

2. Alligator cracks: All these cracks are created in the polygon form where it goes with the path of the wheel. There are various factors that lead to these types of cracks but most prevalent of them are the binder brittleness and ageing. To mend it, there is a need to fully reconstruct the road.

3. Surface texture loss: The surface texture of the road is lost under those conditions where poor asphalt is used. It also conveys other information showing that there is the presence of more aggregate in the road than the binder itself. Poor mix design is one of the major failures. As a solution, aggregate surface can be grinded for levelling the mixture of asphalt and aggregate. Secondly, overlaying increased degree of asphalt is helpful(Distress Identification Manual, 2003).

LIST OF ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS

When it comes provide different procedures for the treatment of distresses; there is a need to understand that it depends upon different aspects like the condition, budget and width of the road. However, repairing contractor of the project management company has the final take upon decisions. These kinds of treatments provide flexibility to people where they can reduce the time, save costs and attain economically viable solutions for the same. The aforementioned distresses can be treated with below mentioned alternative which are:-

1. Potholes: Potholes are mended by patching the cold or hot mix. Hot mix is usable during the spring and summer seasons. On the other hand, the col mix is used in stringent cold weather. However, both the alternatives follow similar process for the treatment.
2. Surface texture loss: It can be mended by grinding process where a cleaning layer is applied over the damaged surface. Moreover, the application of a thin layer is also useful.
3. Alligator cracks: These cracks can also be mended by two alternatives where first of all filling and sealing process will be helpful. On the other hand, full depth reconstruction is also applicable as it was applicable in case of the block cracks.

MAINTENANCE/REHABILITATION PLAN

First of all, there is a need to plan for the detour or alternatives which are subsequently followed by the repairing contractors for free road usage during the phase of construction. There is a need to inform people living in the close proximity for the purpose of maintenance. An apology letter will be useful which conveys regrets related to the noise and disturbances taking place due to the process of construction maintenance. All in all, the work is segmented in two major components as the road has some junctions along with two lanes. This kind of division can allow drivers to use the road during the process of maintenance. There is a need to place warning signs along with warning lights to avoid any accident at night. People will be conveyed the information related to the start and end of the construction. They will be told about the time when the road is ready for normal use along with the general labour working hours. One of the relaxing features about the road is that it has wider space on the road side which provides it good alternative road width(Highway Maintenance - Road Maintenance, 2014). There are two maintenance plans for the distresses observed in this area and their pictorial representation is given in the appendix provided below.

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST WITH INTERNATIONAL CASES

One of the good examples is related to Swansea, UK where road maintenance project was executed in the city in the March, 2011. There are few similarities related to distresses for the projects chosen the current project and this project carried out in UK. UK project was based upon crack sealing and joint sealing procedures it was a part of the improvement programme making sure that the project has the maximized durability and minimal disruption.

The required road repair solution is described on the basis if proven composition and processes for repairing cracks along with fretted joints. These repairs were required for effective utilization of footways as well as carriageways. To rectify this problem, they used concept of cold and hot mixes. During the cold mix, they cleaned the pothole and removed the standing water as well as the loose debris. They also laid the cold mixture into the potholes followed by the compacting of the cold mix material.

On the other hand, hot mix followed a different set of procedures as:-

1. Pothole cutting
2. Removal of the wastage from the hole through jackhammer
3. Spraying of the tack oil over the pothole
4. Placement of the hot mix into the pothole while putting it in layers
5. Compacting the material(Case Study: road repair – joint and crack repairs, 2014)

There is a similar plan for maintenance that is carried out on the selected road. However, here only hot mx is applicable due to the hot and humid weather conditions of Dubai. On the other hand, Topeka roads had an upper hand due to favourable weather conditions providing them flexibility for making an economically-viable road.

RECOMMENDATIONS

There are few recommendations for effective maintenance of the road in the future:-

• There is a need to maintain the road on a regular basis as it forms huge user risk on this specific road
• There should be scheduled road checking for preventing any road material loss. However, some problems are simply out of the hands but regular road checking slows the process of distress formation.
• There is a need to keep a regular check upon the budget and climatic conditions so that effective method of routine maintenance is applied.
• There should be no usage of the cold mix in the potholes
• Full depth reconstruction should be used for filling up alligator and block cracks
• Grinding method should be used for maintaining the surface texture loss

CONCLUSION

This case study is based upon the different types of distress found on the road present in Al Khawanij. I started the research by discussing the identified problems along with problems so that an effective maintenance plan is available. For providing the alternatives, AutoCad drawings were used. A comparison study was also carried out so that the current methodologies followed for road maintenance in UAE are assessed in comparison to the maintenance strategies followed in USA. Most of the graphics were well-elaborated in the case study to satisfy the criteria of visual management and making it simple for people to understand. All in all, every type of distress was identified and a solution plan was provided for the same. I felt good about the project as I managed to learn a lot of aspects related to the construction maintenance. Moreover, this project provides services for the humanity which makes me believe more in myself and this world created by the God.

Inspection Date

ROAD PAVEMENT SECTION DETAILS

Road ID

Road Name

Lane

From

To

Length

Data Entry By :

Alligator

Bleeding

Depression

L&T

Patching

Pothole

Rutting

W&R

Shoving

L

M

H

L

M

H

L

M

H

L

M

H

L

M

H

L

M

H

L

M

H

L

M

H

L

M

H

SEGMENT #1

SEGMENT #2

SEGMENT #3

REMARKS :

CIVL N422 ECVL N401

CASE STUDY PROGRESS REPORT

Progress

Item	Progress	Expected Completion
Checking the road	Visited to the road for checking the dimensions
Drawing	The plan view of distresses was drawn due to less time
Measuring the area of distress	Every distress area was measured in AutoCad and mentioned in the progress report
AutoCAD	THESE DRAWINGS ARE BASED UPON THE CROSS-SECTIONAL SEGMENTATION AND THE PLAN OF THE DRAWING IN THE CROSS-SECTIONAL VIEW WAS SHOWN.
Discuss causes of the pavement damages	Every type of damage was thoroughly discussed and mentioned in the report