Load Deflection Profile of Concrete Block Pavement

Abstract

Although worldwide concrete block pavements have been applied successfully in roads and industrial pavements since past 70 years, recently they are used in India in urban roads, footpaths, petrol pumps, parking areas, industrial hardstands and border roads. The concrete blocks form the surfacing of the pavement and are the major load spreading elements. There have been many past stories in respect of load deflection behaviour of block pavements and the outcome of which is inconsistent. This paper describes the results of experiments conducted to access the variation of block parameters, sub-base thickness and loading plate diameter on the load deflection profile of the pavement. The test pavement 3000 mm × 3000 mm was constructed on a sandy clay sub-grade to study these parameters based on plate load test. The applied load on the pavement was 51 KN, which corresponds to the half of the single axle legal limit presently enforced in India. The results thus obtained are compared to those of earlier findings, and the corresponding conclusions are drawn.