What is rigid pavement in highway engineering

➤ Rigid Pavements: These kind of pavement possess a high flexural strength and can transfer the loads coming over it to the lower layers with the slab action of the various layers. The reason behind the flexural strength is the kind of material used in its construction. The various materials like plain cement concrete, reinforced cement concrete or the pre-stressed concrete are the good materials to be used as the rigid pavement materials. There is no need to construct the sub-base course or the base course but for the precautionary purpose the base is generally provided. A good base course of course aggregates makes it more stable, and is more economical in the long run. The base course is more important when the sub grade is formed of the finer material. The rigid pavements are analysed and designed by using the elastic theory, in which the surface layer is considered as the elastic layer, which is supported by another elastic plate called the subgrade. The rigid pavement will not deform like the flexible pavements if the undulating surface is present at the base.