U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
| Project Information | ||
| Project ID: | FHWA-PROJ-09-0010 | |
| Project Name: | Evaluation of Some Key Assumptions of Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide and Quantification of Its Impact on Prediction Accuracy | |
| Project Status: | Completed | |
| Start Date: | March 20, 2009 | |
| End Date: | March 29, 2010 | |
| Contact Information | ||
| Last Name: | Sivaneswaran | |
| First Name: | Nadarajah (Siva) | |
| Telephone: | 202-493-3147 | |
| E-mail: | nadarajah.sivaneswaran@dot.gov | |
| Office: | Office of Infrastructure Research and Development | |
| Team: | Pavement Design and Construction Team [HRDI-20] | |
| Program: | Innovative Pavement Research and Deployment | |
| Project detail | ||
| Roadmap/Focus area(s): | Infrastructure Research and Technology Strategic Plan and Roadmap | |
| Project Description: | This is a continuation of Fiscal Year 2009 activity 1036. As part of a graduate research fellowship project in Fiscal Year 2008 and the ongoing Fiscal Year 2009 activity, a stand-alone application incorporating relevant portions of Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide flexible pavement analysis procedures was developed to conduct independent evaluations of some of the key Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide assumptions. Fiscal Year 2009 efforts evaluated the effect of loading frequency computation on Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide rutting and bottom-up fatigue cracking predictions for flexible pavements. A draft report of this evaluation has been developed and is being reviewed. Efforts are continuing on evaluating the effect of change in layer moduli due to accumulated damage on the predicted pavement performance. The Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide currently accounts for aging effects but not for accumulated damage and resulting weakening of the pavement structure. Fiscal Year 2010 activities will continue this evaluation and will also explore other recursive algorithms to account for damage accumulation on predicted distress. In addition, efforts will focus on evaluating the effect of level 1 versus level 3 inputs on design reliability using the simulation-based reliability approach that was developed. The current reliability procedure in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide is not capable of accounting for the improved reliability of inputs in the predicted output. This hinders a more reliable design through accurate input parameter estimation and quality control efforts and relies on the thickening of pavement structure. | |
| Goals: | Reliable and effective pavement design. | |
| Product Type: | Other | |
| Expected Benefits: | A successful outcome will inform the pavement design community on Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide's prediction accuracy and enhance confidence and offer recommendations to improve Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide analysis. | |
| Deliverables: | Name: Thyagarajan, S., Sivaneswaran, N., Muhunthan, B. and Petros, K. Statistical Analysis of Critical Input Parameters in Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide, 85th Annual Meeting and Technical Sessions of the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists, Sacramento, California, March 7-10, 2010
Thyagarajan, S., Sivaneswaran, N., Muhunthan, B. and Petros, K. An Evaluation of the Effects of Nonlinear Load-Strain Behavior on MEPDG Analysis of Flexible Pavements, 84th Annual Meeting and Technical Sessions of the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 15-18, 2009 Product Type(s): Other Description: Technical papers reviewed and published in peer-reviewed journals. | |
| FHWA Topics: | Research/Technologies--FHWA Research and Technology | |
| TRT Terms: | Pavement Design Structural Analysis Infrastructure Research Pavements Fatigue Cracking Pavement Performance |
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| FHWA Disciplines: | Pavement and Materials |
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| Subject Areas: | Pavements |
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