Implementation of Texas Mechanistic-Empirical Flexible Pavement Design System (TxME)
The Texas Mechanistic-Empirical flexible pavement design system (TxME) allows Texas pavement designers to take full advantage of new or premium materials, with a full consideration of the influential factors including pavement structure, traffic volume, and environmental condition. To further enhance and implement the software, extensive lab testing was conducted to develop default material properties. These properties include the default dynamic modulus, rutting and cracking properties of asphalt concrete (AC) mixtures, and moduli of other layer materials. Specifically, the relationships between reclaimed asphalt pavement/reclaimed asphalt shingles contents and the AC material properties were established and incorporated into the TxME. In addition, default load spectra and initial construction cost analysis were integrated into the TxME. All these features greatly enhanced the practicality and ease of using TxME when conducting pavement design. The Texas Flexible Pavement Database was used to calibrate the TxME performance models. The calibrated TxME was then employed to predict performance of 11 identified test sections located in six different districts. The comparison between the TxME predictions and the field performance survey results further confirmed the validation of the calibrated performance models. Overall, the current TxME is practical, user-friendly, and ready for statewide implementation.
- Record URL:
- Record URL:
-
Supplemental Notes:
- Project Title: Field Implementation of the Texas Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Process in Six TxDOT Districts.
-
Corporate Authors:
Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station
Texas A&M University System
3135 TAMU
College Station, TX United States 77843-3135Texas Department of Transportation
Research and Technology Implementation Office
125 E 11th Street
Austin, TX United States 78701-2483Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Authors:
- Hu, Sheng
- Rahman, Asif
- Zhang, Jun
- 0000-0001-7835-9871
- Zhou, Fujie
- Scullion, Tom
- Publication Date: 2019-2
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Edition: Technical Report
- Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 160p
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Calibration; Cracking; Flexible pavements; Mechanistic-empirical pavement design; Reclaimed asphalt pavements; Rutting; Shingles; Test sections; Validation
- Uncontrolled Terms: Load spectra; Performance models; RAP content
- Geographic Terms: Texas
- Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pavements;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01696589
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/TX-18/5-6622-01-R1, Report 5-6622-01-R1
- Contract Numbers: Project 5-6622-01
- Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
- Created Date: Feb 27 2019 5:21PM