Pavement response to vehicular loads: a mechanistic approach involving nondestructive evaluation techniques

The need for effective design in the nation's highways is greater now, more than ever, due to shrinking funds for new construction and rehabilitation/maintenance practices and the need to preserve the lands that are not now part of the roadway system. Most of the nation's highways were constructed within the last 30 years and many of these are due for significant rehabilitation and even reconstruction. Thus, the need to infuse robust design methods into these rehabilitation and reconstruction strategies is paramount. Currently, methods for cost allocation for pavement rehabilitation/maintenance activities and pavement management estimations are based on empirical and semi- empirical founded predictions that come up short, particularly when the roadway i subjected to multi-axle, heavy weight vehicles. Additionally, materials currently used int he construction of the pavement structure do not always behave in an elastic manner and the ability to predict the pavement response in the presence of other than elastic material behavior is essential. Finally, prediction of pavement states of distress based on empirical methods and elastic material behavior are inadequate, particularly when heavy weight vehicular traffic is involved. This paper includes descriptions of the overall methodology for pavement design and the unique requirements for the design and implementation of the structural and environmental sensing elements. Description of the mechanistic aspects in the software for the structural and material models is discussed and comparison of predicted and field measured results are presented.