Pavement Construction Technology

By Prof. Rajan Choudhary | IIT Guwahati

Learners enrolled: 1755 | Exam registration: 90

ABOUT THE COURSE:

The Pavement Construction Technology course will introduce the students/participants of the course to the Indian road infrastructure and the different pavement types used, and their salient attributes. The composition and characterization of different materials used for the construction of flexible pavements, which form about 95% of the road infrastructure in India as well as globally, will be discussed in detail. The design and the various aspects related to the construction of granular and bituminous bound courses of flexible pavements will then be discussed in detail. This will discuss the various plants and equipment that will be used in the construction of different layers of flexible pavements. This will also discuss the aspects of quality control and quality assurance during pavement construction. Distress due to inadequate pavement construction technology and the maintenance and recycling aspects of distressed pavements will also be presented/discussed in the course.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Undergraduate students, postgraduate students, PhD students (research scholars), professionals, researchers, and academicians involved in activities/works related to road construction.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Highway/road Construction Industries/Stakeholders like NHAI, MoRTH, NHIDCL, IRC, PWD, PMGSY, Highway Contractors, Highway Consultants, etc.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Civil Engineering Construction Materials Technology
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	21 Jul 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	04 Aug 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	15 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	25 Oct 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Road/Pavements and Their Types:

Lec1: Indian road infrastructure and different categories of roads
Lec2: Pavement types and their cross-sectional elements

Week 2: Flexible Pavement Composition:

Lec3: Subgrade course and its function
Lec4: Unbound courses and their functions
Lec5: Bituminous bound courses and their function

Week 3: Characterization of Pavement Materials:

Lec6: Characterization of materials for use in pavement subgrade
Lec7: Physical and mechanical requirements of materials for granular courses
Lec8: Physical and mechanical characteristics of bituminous-bound materials

Week 4: Mix Design of Different Courses in Pavement Construction:

Lec9: Mix design of unbound/granular courses during construction
Lec10: Mix design of bituminous bound courses during construction
Lec11: Mix design of thin bituminous courses for rural roads

Week 5: Construction of Pavement Subgrade:

Lec12: Equipments and their use in pavement subgrade construction
Lec13: Field tests to ensure pavement subgrade quality

Week 6: Construction of Granular Courses:

Lec14: Construction process of granular/unbound courses: Production, laying and compaction
Lec15: Field tests to ensure the construction quality of granular courses

Week 7: Construction of Bituminous Bound Courses:

Lec16: Construction equipment and process for bituminous bound courses comprising there: production, laying, and compaction
Lec17: Field tests to ensure construction quality of bituminous bound courses

Week 8: Quality Control and Quality Assurance in Pavement Construction:

Lec18: Quality control and quality assurance of pavement subgrade and the pavement granular courses
Lec19: Quality control and quality assurance of bituminous bound base, binder, and wearing courses of bituminous pavements

Week 9: Construction of Road Furniture and Pavement Markings:

Lec20: Pavement markings and their construction
Lec21: Roadside safety features and their installation/construction

Week 10: Evaluation of Bituminous Pavements after Construction:

Lec22: Structural evaluation of bituminous pavements using Benkelman beam and falling weight deflectometer
Lec23: Pavement roughness and its determination
Lec24: Pavement skid resistance and its measurement

Week 11: Distress Due to Inadequate Pavement Construction Practices:

Lec25: Pavement distress types
Lec26: Pavement distress causes and their treatments
Lec27: Treatment for different pavement construction defects

Week 12: Recycling/Rehabilitation of Bituminous Pavements:

Lec28: Recycling of bituminous pavements: hot mix plant and hot-in-place recycling
Lec29: Design of recycled mixes
Lec30: Recycling equipment and full-depth reclamation

Books and references

Relevant standards/codes from Indian Roads Congress (IRC), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM), and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
E. R. Brown, P. S. Kandhal, F. L. Roberts, Y. R. Kim, D. Y. Lee, & T. W. Kennedy, (2009). Hot mix asphalt materials, mixture design, and construction. NAPA research and education foundation. (Third Edition)
Prithvi Singh Kandhal, A. Veeraragavan, & Rajan Choudhary. (2023). Bituminous Road Construction in India, PHI publications (Second Edition)
Athanassios Nikolaides. (2015). Highway Engineering: Pavements, Materials and Control of Quality, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis.
S. K. Khanna, C. E. G. Justo, & A. Veeraragavan. Highway Engineering, Nem Chand & Bros. (Tenth Edition)
Rajib B. Mallick & Tahar El-Korchi. (2022). Pavement Engineering: Principles and Practice, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis (Fourth Edition)

Instructor bio

Prof. Rajan Choudhary

IIT Guwahati

Prof. Rajan Choudhary is currently a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. He has more than 15 years of combined experience in teaching, research, and the highway industry, including experience as the Highway Engineer on the Jaipur-Kishangarh Expressway, the first six-lane BOT expressway in India. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (India). He is the principal investigator/co-principal investigator of many research and consultancy projects and has twice won the prestigious Indian Roads Congress Medal. He co-authored the second edition of the text-cum-reference book titled “Bituminous Road Construction in India.” His main areas of research interest are pavement design, construction, maintenance, and evaluation; characterization of pavement materials; sustainable pavement construction technologies; design and construction of recycled pavements; open-graded asphalt friction courses and rural road construction.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: October 25, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Guwahati .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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