Project Title: Development of Simplified Mechanistic-Empirical Design Tool for Pennsylvania Rigid Pavements

Objective/Abstract

To accelerate the implementation of AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) in Pennsylvania, a simplified ME design method and a localized design tool are developed for concrete pavement. The new procedure, PittRigid ME, is based on the AASHTO MEPDG design procedure, but restricts design input parameters to the most influential and relevant for Pennsylvania conditions. It matches the MEPDG predicted performance at a fraction of the computational cost. PittRigid ME can be used to predict pavement performance (i.e. fatigue cracking and joint faulting) or determine the concrete slab thickness and dowel diameters for given performance criteria and reliability level. It simplifies design process and reduces potential design errors from improper use of the AASHTOWare Pavement ME software.

Equipment/Materials Used

• AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG)
• AASHTO Pavement ME Design software

Principal Investigator(s)

Lev Khazanovich, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh

Sponsors and Collaborators

Sponsors:

IRISE, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

742 Benedum Hall

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA 15261

Current Student(s)

Haoran Li, University of Pittsburgh

Former Personnel

N/A

Key Findings

The developed simplified MEPDG design tool for rigid pavements, PittRigid ME, has many benefits for design and analysis of Pennsylvania pavements:

• PittRigid ME is portable and accessible. It does not need to access the Internet.
• The software is localized for Pennsylvania conditions.
• PittRigid ME requires users to provide only a limited number of critical input parameters.
• PittRigid ME performs and reports JPCP cracking and joint faulting predictions. The performance predictions closely match the performance predictions made with the most recent version of AASHTOWare Pavement ME software.
• PittRigid ME can determine the PCC thickness and dowel diameter required to meet the performance criteria established by the designer for the given site conditions and pavement design features.
• PittRigid ME provides flexibility to update the performance model calibration parameters if the latter is re-calibrated for Pennsylvania conditions.
• The PittRigid ME database can be extended or modified to include more design features or site conditions.
• The software can produce results instantaneously, which is much faster than Pavement ME.

Potential Impact:

PittRigid ME is a faster, more flexible, and easier to use pavement design procedure.

Buzzwords

-pavement design/MEPDG