Methodology and Calibration of Fatigue Transfer Functions for Mechanistic-Empirical Flexible Pavement Design.

摘要

Research and development in the structural design of hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavements over the past fifty years has focused on a shift from empirical design equations to a more powerful and adaptive design scheme. Mechanistic-empirical (M-E) design has been developed to utilize the mechanical properties of the pavement structure along with information on traffic, climate, and observed performance, to more accurately model the pavement structure and predict its life. Although M-E design still relies on observed performance and empirical relationships, it is a much more robust system that can easily incorporate new materials, different traffic distributions, and changing conditions. The M-E design process is more accurately described as an analysis procedure which is used in an iterative manner. The procedure is used to determine the appropriate materials and layer thicknesses to provide the structural capacity for the required performance period.