Evaluation of Pavement ME Design Software for Flexible Pavements

This research project is the first step toward Mechanistic-Empirical (ME) Design implementation for flexible pavements in Florida. The Florida Department of Transportation currently uses the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials 93 Method for flexible pavement design and is considering changing to the Pavement ME Design Method (PMED) in the future. Before implementation, the PMED must undergo a series of analyses, calibrations, and validation. First, the research team performed PMED sensitivity analysis to determine which failure models are most relevant to Florida using global inputs. After that, the research team evaluated pavement distresses using the Florida-specific parameters. Lastly, the research team developed a work plan that covered the locally based steps for the PMED calibrations and implementation for Florida. Version 2.6 or higher should be used with local calibration of the ME Design Method for flexible pavements. The Version 2.6 and higher versions include an improved top-down cracking model. The omission of the top-down cracking model in the previous versions was the primary reason for delaying implementation of the PMED for flexible pavements in Florida in past years. Implementation is recommended to be delayed until the roadmap Phases 1 and 2 are completed.