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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
| REPORT |
| This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information |
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| Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-12-030 Date: August 2012 |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-12-030 Date: August 2012 |
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Material characterization is a basic aspect of pavement engineering and is critical for analysis, performance prediction, design, construction, quality control/quality assurance, pavement management, and rehabilitation. Advanced tools like the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide, Interim Edition: A Manual of Practice (MEPDG) can be used to estimate the influence of several fundamental engineering material parameters on the long-term performance of a pavement.(1) Consequently, there is a need for more information about material properties, which are addressed only to a limited extent with currently available resources for performing laboratory and field testing. Reliable correlations between material parameters and index properties offer a cost-effective alternative, and the derived material property values are equivalent to the level 2 inputs in the MEPDG. This study initially verified the adequacy of the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) data and also made a preliminary assessment of the feasibility of developing the correlation models. In the next phase of the study, prediction models were developed to help practicing engineers estimate proper MEPDG inputs. This report describes the basis for selecting material parameters that need predictive models, provides a review of current LTPP program data, and proposes several statistically derived models to predict material properties. The models developed under this effort have been incorporated into a simple software program compatible with current versions of Microsoft Windows® operating system.
Jorge E. Pagán-Ortiz Director, Office of Infrastructure Research and Development
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