• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.19-28
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• 2012

PURPOSES : Recently, the mechanistic-empirical overlay pavement design program that is linked with Korea Pavement Research Program (KPRP) has been developed. This paper focused on establishing the framework and developing the program for the asphalt overlay design over the existing asphalt concrete pavement. METHODS : The overlay pavement design program developed in this study was investigated to assess the sensitivity to various pavement conditions, such as the damage level and thickness of existing layers. In addition, the actual overlay design on currently performing pavement was carried out as a practical example. RESULTS : From the sensitivity analysis, it was found that the thickness and damage level of existing asphalt layer mostly affect the overlay design results. In addition, under the same condition, the overlay pavement would better perform in cold region. From the overlay design with the actual condition, it is noted that the overlay thickness varies depending on the given condition. CONCLUSIONS : Based on various evaluations, it was concluded that the overlay design program developed in this study is a reliable and reasonable tool to be used in the actual pavement design.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.445-469
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• 2024

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has recommended the use of AASHTOWare Pavement Mechanistic-Empirical Design (PMED) software for Roller-Compacted Concrete (RCC) pavement design, but specific calibration for RCC is missing. This study investigates the software's capacity to predict the long-term performance of RCC roadways within the framework of conventional concrete pavement calibration. By reanalyzing existing RCC projects in several U.S. states: Colorado, Arkansas, South Carolina, Texas, and Illinois, the study highlights the need for specific calibration tailored to the unique characteristics of RCC. Field observations have emphasized occurrence of early distresses in RCC pavements, particularly transverse-cracking and joint-related issues. Despite data challenges, the AASHTOWare PMED software exhibits notable correlation between its long-term predictions and actual field performance in RCC roadways. This study stresses that RCC applications with insufficient joint spacing and thickness are prone to premature cracking. To enhance the accuracy of RCC pavement design, it is essential to discuss the inclusion of RCC as a dedicated rigid pavement option in AASHTOWare PMED. This becomes particularly crucial when the rising popularity of RCC roadways in the U.S. and Canada is considered. Such an inclusion would solidify RCC as a viable third option alongside Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCP) and Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements (CRCP) for design and deployment of rigid pavements. The research presents a roadmap for future calibration endeavors and advocates for the integration of RCC pavement as a distinct pavement type within the software. This approach holds promise for achieving more precise RCC pavement design and performance predictions.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.1-8
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• 2014

PURPOSES : Analysis and design of asphalt concrete (AC) and continuously reinforced concrete (CRC) composite pavements. METHODS : In this study, the service life of the AC/CRC composite pavements was determined based on the probabilistic method in the mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide(MEPDG). Typical pavement design was provided with respect to heavy truck traffic volume of highways. RESULTS : The service life of the composite pavements based on IRI was shorter than that based on rutting at lower traffic volume, but this trend was switched at higher traffic volume. CONCLUSIONS : It is concluded that the main distress affecting the service life of the composite pavements was longitudinal roughness and rutting. Roughness became lower, but rut depth became greater as the stiffness of the CRC increased.

• 한국도로학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.03a
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• pp.45-53
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• 2011

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.15-24
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• 2012

The MEPDG(Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide) developed based on the AASHTO Design Guide helps engineers find optimal alternatives by using traffic volume, climate, material property, and pavement structure as its input parameters. However, because technical problems were found in the MEPDG, efforts to improve the program by settling the problems have been continued. Meanwhile, another mechanistic-empirical design program has been developed by the KPRP(Korea Pavement Research Program) in Korea. To develop and improve the Korean design program reasonably, it is necessary to analyze the MEPDG and then compare programs each other. For concrete pavement, fatigue cracking is predicted by using very complicated logic different from other performance indicators. Therefore, in this paper, transfer functions of the fatigue cracking used in the version of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.1 of the MEPDG were analyzed. Sensitivity of the input parameters to the cumulative fatigue damage was compared to each other by the MEPDG version and KPRP.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.4 no.3 s.13
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• pp.1-13
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• 2002

Design methods for new flexible pavements and overlays are in the transition from empirical to mechanistic approach, and many state highway agencies trend to move toward the adoption and use of mechanistic-empirical (M-E) design in new constructions and rehabilitations of flexible pavements. Hence, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) decided to develop a M-E flexible pavement design procedure, in which major pavement distresses such as fatigue cracking and rutting are employed as indicators of the serviceability of a flexible pavement. The main concept of the developed design procedure is that a designed pavement that is supposed to carry a certain number of traffic must satisfy designated thresholds of rut depths and fatigue lives during a service period. For the M-E design procedure, transfer functions were developed to predict rut-depths and fatigue lives. These functions related the pavement responses to pavement performance. For validation, three current new flexible pavement design cases were obtained from the MDOT. In these cases, asphalt concrete (AC) layer thicknesses determined by the suggested M-E procedure compare favorably with those determined by the current MDOT design practice that is based on AASHTO design guide. This finding implies that the suggested Michigan M-E flexible pavement design procedure can provide a good opportunity to improve the current design practice.

• Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2013

The main objective of this research is to develop the Mechanistic-Empirical (M-E) guidelines for evaluating the capacity of existing highways to sustain route overweight truck traffic over a specified performance period due to a growing concern on the impact of increasing overweight truck loads on highways. In this study, a two-stage framework was developed for this purpose. Level I procedure involves the use of pavement evaluation charts to identify the best possible route from among the alternatives considered and to determine what additional tests and analyses are needed as a screening tool. Level II involves the application of the Overweight Truck Route Analysis (OTRA) program to evaluate the structural adequacy of an existing route to carry routine overweight truck traffic over the specified performance period along with estimating asphalt concrete overlay thickness, if necessary.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.183-199
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• 2012

This study is to develop an operating model of Conspectus for online resources by using mechanistic quality factor. Based on some empirical statistics about resource use behaviour such as collection rate, use rate, search rate, the mechanistic quality factor was calculated and applied to each subject by adjusting its acquisition level of Conspectus. according to the result of this study, Acqusition levels of the subject such as technical science which shows higher in use rate, and those such as history and social science which show higher in search rate, should be adjusted to a higher acquisition level, and those of others to the same or a lower level.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.859-869
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• 2016

Component-scale modeling of boiling is predominantly based on the Eulerian-Eulerian two-fluid approach. Within this framework, wall boiling is accounted for via the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) model and, within this model, the bubble is characterized using three main parameters: departure diameter (D), nucleation site density (N), and departure frequency (f). Typically, the magnitudes of these three parameters are obtained from empirical correlations. However, in recent years, efforts have been directed toward mechanistic modeling of the boiling process. Of the three parameters mentioned above, the departure diameter (D) is least affected by the intrinsic uncertainties of the nucleate boiling process. This feature, along with its prominence within the RPI boiling model, has made it the primary candidate for mechanistic modeling ventures. Mechanistic modeling of D is mostly carried out through solving of force balance equations on the bubble. Forces incorporated in these equations are formulated as functions of the radius of the bubble and have been developed for, and applied to, low-pressure conditions only. Conversely, for high-pressure conditions, no mechanistic information is available regarding the growth rates of bubbles and the forces acting on them. In this study, we use direct numerical simulation coupled with an interface tracking method to simulate bubble growth under high (up to 45 bar) pressure, to obtain the kind of mechanistic information required for an RPI-type approach. In this study, we compare the resulting bubble growth rate curves with predictions made with existing experimental data.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.51-59
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• 2011

Tensile stress occurs and random crack develops in concrete pavement slab when it contracts by variation of temperature and humidity. The tensile stress decreases and the random crack is minimized by sawcutting the slab and inducing the crack with regular spacing. The random crack, joint damage, decrease of load transfer efficiency are caused by too wide joint spacing while too narrow joint spacing leads to increase of construction cost and decrease of comfort. A mechanistic-empirical joint spacing design method for the concrete pavement was developed in this study. Structurally and environmentally weakest sections were found among the sections showing good performance, and design strengths were determined by finite element analysis on the sections. The joint width for which the load transfer efficiency is suddenly lowered was determined as allowable joint with referring to existing research results. The maximum joint spacing for which the maximum tensile stress calculated by the finite element analysis did not exceed the design strength were found. And the maximum joint width expected by the maximum joint spacing were compared to the allowable joint width. The new method developed in this study was applied to two zones of Hamyang-Woolsan Expressway being designed. The same joint spacing as a test section constructed by 8.0m of joint spacing wider than usual was calculated by the design method. Very low cracking measured at 6 years after opening of the test section verified the design method developed in this study.