Development, Calibration, and Validation of a New M-E Rutting Model for HMA Overlay Design and Analysis

• Published in: Journal of materials in civil engineering 2011-02, Vol.23 (2), p.89-99
• Main Authors: Hu, Sheng, Zhou, Fujie, Scullion, Tom
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Asphalt; Buildings. Public works; Calibration; Computation methods. Tables. Charts; Deformation; Design engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Load tests; Mathematical models; Pavement design; Pavements; Road construction. Pavements. Maintenance; Road test: methods, equipments and results; Structural analysis. Stresses; TECHNICAL PAPERS; Test tracks; Transportation infrastructure
• ISSN: 0899-1561; 1943-5533
• DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0000130

The purpose of this paper is to present a new mechanistic-empirical (M-E) rutting model developed for hot-mix asphalt (HMA) overlay thickness design and analysis. After reviewing existing rutting models in the literature, it was found that the well-known VESYS layer rutting model still is a rational choice and was adopted with minor modification to model HMA overlay rutting development. The main feature of the proposed M-E HMA overlay rutting model is to characterize layer specific permanent deformation properties rather than global rutting parameters used in the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide. For each specific layer, the proposed model requires rutting parameters α and μ ; and these rutting parameters, which are two of the fundamental input parameters required in the proposed M-E rutting model, can be directly determined from the repeated load test following the test protocol discussed in the paper. Additionally, the proposed M-E HMA overlay rutting model was calibrated using 8 test sections of the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) Test Track 2006, and the calibrated model was further validated using two sets of independent rutting data: three test sections of the NCAT Test Track 2000 and four test sections of Special Pavement Study 5 on US175, Texas. Thus far, satisfactory results have been obtained. However, more field performance data are needed for further model improvement.