DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER-BASED SYSTEM FOR DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF HIGHWAY FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS

Abstract

Pavement design is a complicated engineering process as it deals with a structure built at or near the surface of a variety of subrgades and subjected to different environmental influences.

There are numerous methods of pavement design. Some depend on empirical and semi-empirical formulas. Others depend on mechanistic analysis of pavement behavior, based on elastic or viscoelastic approaches to calculate stresses, strains and displacements within the pavement structure.

The second typ_e (mechanistic) is now gaining a very strong momentum among engmeers and practitioners, as it allows the prediction of pavement behavior (response) over time. This in turn, can lead to better pavement design applications as well as a better level of pavement management.

This approach, however, requires sophisticated computer programs to be available due to the extreme complexity of pavement response calculations. In addition, the results presented play a vital role in understanding and utilizing the results within the decision making process.

The purpose of this thesis is to develop a state-of-the art computer model that can be used to calculate different flexible pavement response parameters under different materials and traffic characteristics.

The developed program proved to be very efficient, as compared to most of the available commercial programs. The program, in addition, proved to be superior to any other similar program in terms of the more user-friendly data analysis and wider scope presentation of results.

It is believed that this program can be of significant value to pavement analysis and design applications as well as in mechanistically-based-pavement management system.