Verification of Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Deterioration Models Based on Field Evaluation of In-Service Pavements

The Virginia Department of Transportation conducted a study on developing pavement designs for high-priority routes based on current and past field experience. The first phase of this project included an in-depth field evaluation and analysis of high-performance in-service pavements. This evaluation included determination of layer thicknesses from cores, historical data and ground-penetrating radar (GPR), pavement condition assessment based on visual survey and friction and roughness measurements, backcalculation of layer moduli from falling-weight deflectometer (FWD) data, and material characterization. The results from this investigation were used preliminarily to validate the application of the new Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) pavement analysis models with the pavements in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Seven selected pavement structures (three flexible and four composite) were modeled, and the predicted pavement distresses were compared with the measured condition. The comparison of the measured distresses with those predicted by the MEPDG software showed fair to poor agreement. In general, the predicted and actually measured distresses were different, although in most cases both were small. There was not enough evidence to determine whether this situation was due to errors in the prediction models or software or because of the use of defaults material properties as inputs, especially for the asphalt concrete layers. It must be noted that although an in-depth field evaluation was performed, only Level 3 data were available for many of the input parameters. The results suggest that significant calibration and validation will be required before implementation of the MEPDG in Virginia.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Gramajo, Carlos Rafael
  • Flintsch, Gerardo W
  • Loulizi, Amara
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2007-1-21 to 2007-1-25
• Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 18p
• Monograph Title: TRB 86th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asphalt concrete pavements; Backcalculation; Deterioration; Falling weight deflectometers; Ground penetrating radar; Mechanistic design; Pavement design; Pavement distress; Pavement layers; Pavement performance; Pavements; Service life
• Identifier Terms: Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide
• Geographic Terms: Virginia
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Design; Highways; Pavements; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01046070
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 07-2850
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Feb 8 2007 7:33PM