Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design

AASHTO has given interim approval for a new approach to pavement design as described in the AASHTO Interim Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide Manual of Practice. Several years in development, this M-E pavement design guide and the accompanying software should provide a significant advancement in pavement performance prediction. As its title implies, mechanistic-empirical models are used to analyze input data for traffic, climate, materials, and the proposed pavement structure, and then to estimate pavement service life damage. The distress prediction models have been calibrated to national averages based on data gathered by the Long-Term Pavement Performance program. However, for the distress models to be fully applica­ble for the particular materials, construction practices, and environmental conditions in a given region, they must be calibrated with local data. The program can best be used by knowledgeable practitioners as application experience is gained. The tradi­tional methods are the focus of this handbook.