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Publication Number:  FHWA-HRT-17-104    Date:  June 2018
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-17-104
Date: June 2018

 

Using Multi-Objective Optimization to Enhance Calibration of Performance Models in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide

APPENDIX C. COMPARISON OF SIMULATED RUTTING CALCULATIONS TO ME SOFTWARE RESULTS

This appendix presents example comparisons between the simulated monthly rutting calculations and the AASHTOWare® Pavement ME Design software calculations. The intent is to demonstrate that the simulated calculation approach produces results that are almost identical to the software results on various pavement structures (LTPP SPS-1 and SPS-5 sections in Florida) and with different local calibration factors. The literature review indicated that the previous calibration efforts had found the calibration factors to be within the ranges in table 49. These ranges were used to change the calibration factors one by one and observe the simulated rutting calculations compared to the Pavement ME software results.

Table 49. Range of the calibration factors reported in the literature.

Statistic HMA Rutting
βr1		 HMA Rutting
βr2		 HMA Rutting
βr3		 Base Rutting
βGB		 Subgrade Rutting
βSG
Average 1.7757 1.0445 0.9273 0.4039 0.4569
Range 0.51 to 7 1 to 1.15 0.7 to 1.1 0.0 to 1.5803 0.0 to 1.38

A handful of these comparisons have been demonstrated in figure 43 through figure 53. In these figures, the solid line represents the rut depth values calculated using the MEPDG software as a function of pavement age, and dashed lines represent the simulated values for the same pavement sections with the same calibration factors. These figures show that overall, the simulated process is successfully estimating the rutting progression trend very similar to the Pavement ME software. While there are some intermediate decrements in rutting values simulated within each month, the total accumulated rutting at the end of each month is very close to the software output. The reason for the intermediate decrements (which do not comply with the theory of rutting accumulation) is the assumptions made for the simulation, which may not be inherently correct. One of those assumptions is that traffic and rutting values are increasing linearly within each month, which might not be true. As explained before, the actual subseason pavement response data for each layer are not provided by the AASHTOWare® software, and therefore, an exact calculation (according to the MEPDG equations) could not be conducted for this project.

This figure includes a time series chart of calculated total pavement rutting as it changes with time. The vertical axis shows total pavement rutting in millimeters, and its range is from 0 to 10 millimeters in increments of 1. The horizontal axis shows pavement age in months, and its range is from 0 to 240 months in increments of 12. There is a solid line that shows the progression of rutting as calculated by the MEPDG software, and there is a dashed line that represents the simulated rutting calculation. Both of the lines fall on top of each other and follow each other very closely.
Source: FHWA.

Figure 43. Chart. Comparison of simulated rutting calculations to ME software results for test section 120102 with β𝑟1 = 1.05, β𝑟2 = 0.9, β𝑟3 = 0.85, βGB = 1.0, βSG = 1.0.

 

This figure includes a time series chart of calculated total pavement rutting as it changes with time. The vertical axis shows total pavement rutting in millimeters, and its range is from 0 to 40 millimeters in increments of 5. The horizontal axis shows pavement age in months, and its range is from 0 to 240 months in increments of 12. There is a solid line that shows the progression of rutting as calculated by the MEPDG software, and there is a dashed line that represents the simulated rutting calculation. Both of the lines fall on top of each other and follow each other very closely.
Source: FHWA.

Figure 44. Chart. Comparison of simulated rutting calculations to ME software results for test section 120102 with β𝑟1 = 1.05, β𝑟2 = 1.15, β𝑟3 = 0.85, βGB = 1.0, βSG = 1.0.

 

This figure includes a time series chart of calculated total pavement rutting as it changes with time. The vertical axis shows total pavement rutting in millimeters, and its range is from 0 to 12 millimeters in increments of 2. The horizontal axis shows pavement age in months, and its range is from 0 to 240 months in increments of 12. There is a solid line that shows the progression of rutting as calculated by the MEPDG software, and there is a dashed line that represents the simulated rutting calculation. Both of the lines fall on top of each other and follow each other very closely.
Source: FHWA.

Figure 45. Chart. Comparison of simulated rutting calculations to ME software results for test section 120102 with β𝑟1 = 1.0, β𝑟2 = 0.9, β𝑟3 = 0.9, βGB = 1.0, βSG = 1.0.

 

This figure includes a time series chart of calculated total pavement rutting as it changes with time. The vertical axis shows total pavement rutting in millimeters, and its range is from 0 to 25 millimeters in increments of 5. The horizontal axis shows pavement age in months, and its range is from 0 to 240 months in increments of 12. There is a solid line that shows the progression of rutting as calculated by the MEPDG software, and there is a dashed line that represents the simulated rutting calculation. Both of the lines fall on top of each other and follow each other very closely.
Source: FHWA.

Figure 46. Chart. Comparison of simulated rutting calculations to ME software results for test section 120102 with β𝑟1 = 0.7, β𝑟2 = 1.02, β𝑟3 = 1.06, βGB = 1.0, βSG = 1.0.

 

This figure includes a time series chart of calculated total pavement rutting as it changes with time. The vertical axis shows total pavement rutting in millimeters, and its range is from 0 to 25 millimeters in increments of 5. The horizontal axis shows pavement age in months, and its range is from 0 to 240 months in increments of 12. There is a solid line that shows the progression of rutting as calculated by the MEPDG software, and there is a dashed line that represents the simulated rutting calculation. Both of the lines fall on top of each other and follow each other very closely.
Source: FHWA.

Figure 47. Chart. Comparison of simulated rutting calculations to ME software results for test section 120502 with β𝑟1 = 0.51, β𝑟2 = 1.0, β𝑟3 = 0.7, βGB = 1.0, βSG = 1.0.

 

This figure includes a time series chart of calculated total pavement rutting as it changes with time. The vertical axis shows total pavement rutting in millimeters, and its range is from 0 to 40 millimeters in increments of 5. The horizontal axis shows pavement age in months, and its range is from 0 to 240 months in increments of 12. There is a solid line that shows the progression of rutting as calculated by the MEPDG software, and there is a dashed line that represents the simulated rutting calculation. Both of the lines fall on top of each other and follow each other very closely.
Source: FHWA.

Figure 48. Chart. Comparison of simulated rutting calculations to ME software results for test section 120502 with β𝑟1 = 0.9, β𝑟2 = 1.0, β𝑟3 = 1.0, βGB = 1.0, βSG = 1.0.

 

This figure includes a time series chart of calculated total pavement rutting as it changes with time. The vertical axis shows total pavement rutting in millimeters, and its range is from 0 to 35 millimeters in increments of 5. The horizontal axis shows pavement age in months, and its range is from 0 to 240 months in increments of 12. There is a solid line that shows the progression of rutting as calculated by the MEPDG software, and there is a dashed line that represents the simulated rutting calculation. Both of the lines fall on top of each other and follow each other very closely.
Source: FHWA.

Figure 49. Chart. Comparison of simulated rutting calculations to ME software results for test section 120502 with β𝑟1 = 1.0, β𝑟2 = 0.9, β𝑟3 = 1.0, βGB = 1.0, βSG = 1.0.

 

This figure includes a time series chart of calculated total pavement rutting as it changes with time. The vertical axis shows total pavement rutting in millimeters, and its range is from 0 to 30 millimeters in increments of 5. The horizontal axis shows pavement age in months, and its range is from 0 to 240 months in increments of 12. There is a solid line that shows the progression of rutting as calculated by the MEPDG software, and there is a dashed line that represents the simulated rutting calculation. Both of the lines fall on top of each other and follow each other very closely.
Source: FHWA.

Figure 50. Chart. Comparison of simulated rutting calculations to ME software results for test section 120502 with β𝑟1 = 1.0, β𝑟2 = 1.0, β𝑟3 = 0.9, βGB = 1.0, βSG = 1.0.

 

This figure includes a time series chart of calculated total pavement rutting as it changes with time. The vertical axis shows total pavement rutting in millimeters, and its range is from 0 to 40 millimeters in increments of 5. The horizontal axis shows pavement age in months, and its range is from 0 to 240 months in increments of 12. There is a solid line that shows the progression of rutting as calculated by the MEPDG software, and there is a dashed line that represents the simulated rutting calculation. Both of the lines fall on top of each other and follow each other very closely.
Source: FHWA.

Figure 51. Chart. Comparison of simulated rutting calculations to ME software results for test section 120502 with β𝑟1 = 1.25, β𝑟2 = 1.04, β𝑟3 = 0.94, βGB = 1.0, βSG = 1.0.

 

This figure includes a time series chart of calculated total pavement rutting as it changes with time. The vertical axis shows total pavement rutting in millimeters, and its range is from 0 to 90 millimeters in increments of 10. The horizontal axis shows pavement age in months, and its range is from 0 to 240 months in increments of 12. There is a solid line that shows the progression of rutting as calculated by the MEPDG software, and there is a dashed line that represents the simulated rutting calculation. Both of the lines fall on top of each other and follow each other very closely.
Source: FHWA.

Figure 52. Chart. Comparison of simulated rutting calculations to ME software results for test section 120502 with β𝑟1 = 1.17, β𝑟2 = 1.1, β𝑟3 = 1.05, βGB = 1.0, βSG = 1.0.

 

This figure includes a time series chart of calculated total pavement rutting as it changes with time. The vertical axis shows total pavement rutting in millimeters, and its range is from 0 to 90 millimeters in increments of 10. The horizontal axis shows pavement age in months, and its range is from 0 to 240 months in increments of 12. There is a solid line that shows the progression of rutting as calculated by the MEPDG software, and there is a dashed line that represents the simulated rutting calculation. Both of the lines fall on top of each other and follow each other very closely.
Source: FHWA.

Figure 53. Chart. Comparison of simulated rutting calculations to ME software results for test section 120502 with β𝑟1 = 1.17, β𝑟2 = 1.1, β𝑟3 = 1.05, βGB = 1.15, βSG = 0.9.

 

 

 

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