IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (IOSR-JMCE) e-ISSN: 2278-1684,p-ISSN: 2320-334X, Volume 11, Issue 2 Ver. VIII (Mar- Apr. 2014), PP 12-19 www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org 12 | Page Site Investigation Of Road Drains For Rural Road On Batu Pahat Soft Clay (BPSC) Ahmad Hakimi Mat Nor 1 *, Mohd Idrus Hj Mohd Masirin 2 and Mohd Erwan Sanik 3 Abstract: Road failures may be caused by many factors. In Batu Pahat district, open channel system is adopted and built on Batu Pahat Soft Soil and may be a crucial factor to probable damage of the rural roads structure. This study is focused on the drainage system for rural roads in Parit Raja, Batu Pahat. The type of damages is observed and the causes are identified. Recommendations on the best method are made to improve the effectiveness of current drainage system. Both site and laboratory geotechnical testing are carried out to analyze the causes of failure to the drainage system. Laboratory testing such as sieve analysis, moisture content, Atterberg limit, specific gravity and shear strength are conducted. While Mackintosh probes testing and vane shear test are conducted for site testing. From the analysis, four categories of drainage failure such as soil movement, edge drop, cracking and erosion due to the characteristics of soft clay that have low shear strength and high compatibility, have been determined. The propose methods to increase the effectiveness of the drainage system are to stabilize the soil using geotextiless, combination geotextiless and geocontainers, soil anchor and lime. Keywords: Batu Pahat Soft Clay, Drainage Failure, Geotechnical Testing, Road Failures, Rural Road I. Introduction Road is important for land communication. In rural areas, road is important mean to deliver agriculture products. Therefore, when rural roads experience damages like pothole, muddy, and slippery after rainy season, it directly affect the safety, economy and social life of the users. Not forgetting that the performance of roads also depends on its drainage system. Drainage system is very crucial in controlling the surface runoff and to avoid adverse affect to roads. The main function of drainage is to direct the surface flow to catchments area like river, lake and sea. If the drainage system is not well designed and maintained, rural road will rapidly be damaged or will seriously lead to floods and reduce road design life (Liang, 2001). Open drainage system for rural roads is common in Batu Pahat district. From the random observations, it was found that some of drainage system for rural roads are facing deformation and are not functioning as expected. Structure failures of rural road caused by failure on drainage system constructed on Batu Pahat Soft Soil (BPSC) was also observed. Figure 1 shows the example of impact from road drainage structure failure in Parit Raja road. This problem has shortened the life span of rural roads. Normally maintenance works are done by only resurfacing the pavement. However, this approach has not solved the problems (Abdul Rahim, 2005). Figure 1: Impact from road drainage structure failure for rural road in Parit Raja 1 Instructor Engineer, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Johor, MALAYSIA 2 Professor, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Johor, MALAYSIA 3 Senior Instructor Engineer, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Johor, MALAYSIA