ORCID Identifier(s)

0000-0001-5488-2123

Graduation Semester and Year

2019

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering

Department

Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Stefan Romanoschi

Abstract

The Ministry of Infrastructure Development in the UAE has used the AASHTO 1993 Pavement Design Guide for the design of new flexible pavement structures for many years. An improved pavement design method, called the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) was developed by AASHTO in their effort to update the empirical method used in 1993 Guide. The project was initiated by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 1-37A project. It is based on mechanistic-empirical analysis of the pavement structure to predict the performance of the pavements subject to pavement structure and materials, traffic and environmental conditions. The development allowed for more complex design concepts. The design approach used is different because the pavement design engineers can determine the damage sustained over the design life and changes of ride quality over time and thus adjust their design to serve specific requirements. Due to the advanced models used, the MEPDG is expected to be adopted for use in the United Arab Emirates in the near future. In order to improve the performance prediction of the models a local calibration is required to accommodate the local pavement materials, traffic characteristics and the environmental conditions. The objective of this study was to calibrate the latest version of the MEPDG, the AASHTOWare Pavement ME 2.5.5 software program to the local conditions of UAE. To achieve this, twenty flexible pavement sections were selected for the calibration process. The structural configuration, in-situ pavement performance, traffic and climate data was obtained from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development. AASHTOWare Pavement ME software runs were made using the nationally calibrated coefficients and the predicted rutting and IRI values were compared with measured values. The difference between the measured and the predicted distresses were minimized through calibration of the rutting and IRI models. A new set of local calibration coefficients (βr1, βGB, and βSG) for the rutting in the asphalt concrete, base and subgrade layer models were obtained. The calibration of IRI was done by deriving the appropriate model coefficients (C1 and C4) for the total rutting and the Site Factor. No calibration was conducted for the fatigue alligator cracking and transverse cracking since they very rarely develop in UAE pavement. However, the rutting and the roughness models were successfully calibrated.

Keywords

Local calibration, Pavement performance models, AASHTOWare, MEPDG, UAE

Disciplines

Civil and Environmental Engineering | Civil Engineering | Engineering

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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