AASHTO mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide parametric study.
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2012-03-01
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Abstract:This study focuses on assessing the robustness of the AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG v 1.1) for rigid pavement
design projects in Wisconsin. The primary tasks conducted in this study included performing sensitivity analysis on MEPDG’s inputs for jointed
plain concrete pavement (JPCP) design, evaluating the practicality of each input parameter’s sensitivity, determining the effects of using different
concrete materials and different hierarchical levels of inputs on predicted JPCP performances, and identifying the limitations of the current MEPDG.
It was found that the coefficient of thermal expansion and modulus of rupture had a strong impact on MEPDG predictions and these outcomes
appeared consistent with conventional wisdom. The adverse effects of the concrete unit weight and the positive benefits of the widened concrete slab
were suspected to have been overestimated by the MEPDG. It was verified that MEPDG predictions were significantly different depending on the
concrete materials and hierarchical levels of inputs chosen. Therefore, the pavement designer was recommended to select the proper design strategy.
The limitations of MEPDG were illustrated in that it did not account for the effects brought by the supplementary cementitious materials on the
pavement design and it erroneously restrained the permissible range for concrete modulus of rupture input. Although a significant number of material
inputs are possible with level 1 implementation of the MEPDG, these inputs are often used in a narrow context and are largely independent from other
inputs and material properties. It cannot be presumed that the change in one input will lead to a full set of parametric changes that such a change
would actually induce in practice.
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