Semi-Flexible Pavement: A Review of Design and Performance Evaluation

Abstract

It is known to researchers in the field of road construction and development. Three types of pavement are rigid, flexible, and composite paving. The composite pavement consists of a layer of flexible pavement on top of which a layer of rigid pavement is placed or vice versa. All of these types have advantages in addition to disadvantages that affect road performance on the one hand and user convenience on the other. About 50 years ago, work began establishing a type of pavement characterized by its semi-flexible performance, which combines rigid pavement's rigidity and flexible pavement's flexibility. It is called semi-flexible pavement and grouted macadam in some sources. It consists mainly of an open-graded asphalt mixture in which the percentage of air voids ranges from (25 to 35%), and in some sources, it is mentioned that it ranges between (20 to 28%) grouted with a high-performance cementitious material. Work began on this type of pavement in the sixties of the last century. However, there is no approved specification for its design, as its design methods differ according to the researcher's vision. This scientific paper aims to facilitate the way for new researchers in this field by knowing the basic stages of semi-flexible pavement design and presenting the existing design methods and what is required for laboratory tests to evaluate the performance of the completed pavement design. It was found that the performance of semi-flexible paving depends mainly on the bonding between its components, as it is considered a composite material. For this reason, the direction in the future may be to study the bonding between asphalt and cement, in particular, as they are two basic materials in their composition.