An Introduction to Principles of Pavement Drainage

J. Paul Guyer, P.E., R.A., Fellow ASCE, Fellow AEI

Course Outline

1.  INTRODUCTION
2.  FLOW OF WATER THROUGH SOILS
3.  QUANTITY AND RATE OF SUBSURFACE

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

Upon completion of this course you will:

• Learn the effects of subsurface water;
• Learn about the effects of infiltration and subterranean water;
• Learn how subdrainage facilities can be categorized into two functional categories, one to control infiltration, and one to control groundwater;  
• Learn how flow of water through soils is expressed by Darcy's empirical law;
• Learn how the value of permeability depends on the characteristics of the permeable materials and the properties of the fluid;
• Learn  how permeability is a function of a complex relationship with grain size;  
• Learn about the void ratio or porosity of soils, and its influence on permeability;
• Learn why the type and condition of the pavement surface will have considerable influence on the volume of water entering the pavement structure; and
• Learn about pavement drainage in frost susceptible soils.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for civil engineers and other design and construction professionals wanting an introduction to the principles of pavement drainage.

Benefit for Attendee

This course will give civil engineers and others an introduction to the terminology, fundamentals and methodologies for the design of drainage features in pavements.

Course Introduction

This is an introduction to the technology, systems and design practices for pavement drainage design.

About Course Author

Paul Guyer is a registered mechanical engineer, civil engineer, fire protection engineer and architect with over 35 years experience in the design of buildings and related infrastructure.  For an additional 9 years he was a senior-level advisor to the California Legislature on infrastructure and capital outlay issues.  He has designed and supervised the design of hundreds of construction projects requiring the preparation of detailed working drawings and specifications for federal, state and local public agencies and private companies.  He is a graduate of Stanford University and has held numerous national, state and local positions with the American Society of Civil Engineers and National Society of Professional Engineers.

Course Content

The course content is contained in the following PDF file:

An Introduction to Principles of Pavement Drainage

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

Course Summary

This course will give you professional tools that will allow you to move forward in learning how to design for drainage of pavements.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

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DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

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