摘要: |
The highway engineering community is currently in the process of transition from the traditional empirical design procedures to the mechanistic design procedures. This transition is necessitated by the fact that the largely empirical AASHTO pavement design procedures have become outdated by the introductions of new pavement materials and truck types as well as the continuing increase in traffic volumes, truck weights, and tire pressures. By nature, the empirical procedures are valid only under the conditions addressed in the original study. The empirical procedures have a tendency to introduce a level of uncertainty when the conditions change and extrapolations are needed beyond the bounds. ODOT is one of many state highway agencies gearing up to implement the M-E procedures. There is some preparatory work that each of these agencies must make prior to the implementation of the mechanistic-empirical (M-E) design procedures. It is speculated that a significant portion of the preparation would be spent on obtaining mechanistic properties of various engineering materials encountered in the multi-layer pavement structure. A comprehensive study was conducted to compile mechanistic property data for pavement materials specified and utilized in Ohio. The end result of the project was a collection of recommended hierarchical material property values and prediction methods for both rigid and flexible pavements to aid highway engineers and researchers in Ohio to implement the M-E procedures. |