Building accurate historic and future climate MEPDG input files for Louisiana DOTD.
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2017-02-01
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Abstract:The pavement design process (originally MEPDG, then DARWin-ME, and now Pavement ME Design) requires a multi-year set of hourly
climate input data that influence pavement material properties. In Louisiana, the software provides nine locations with climate stations
that contain less than ten years of data. This data must be repeated multiple times in the pavement analysis to cover the predicted
pavement performance period. This study applied climate science to create 40-year climate files for each of the 64 parishes. Historic
climate files start in 1970. Future climate files applied global and regional models to adjust the historic data for forecasted changes over
70 years. Random climate files divided the naturally occurring four- to seven-year climate cycles, randomly sequenced the cycles, and
then applied the future adjustment. The final set of climate files placed the cycles into high/low intensity sequences for examining the
impact of temperature and precipitation on predicted pavement performance. The historic climate input should be used to calibrate the
Pavement ME Design performance models. The random climate input should be used for future pavement designs. The high/low intensity
climate input did not generate expected performance trends and needs to be further studied.
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