Evaluation of a novel calibrated-mechanistic model to design against fracture under Swedish conditions

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Sweden has initiated the development of a new calibrated-mechanistic pavement design procedure to replace the current mechanical-empirical pavement procedure entitled ‘PMS Objekt’. The first phase was focused on the implementation and calibration of the viscoelastic fracture mechanics framework entitled ‘HMA Fracture Mechanics’, developed at the University of Florida. This paper outlines the implementation and calibration of a new pavement design module for Sweden that is based on the HMA fracture mechanics framework. Both the developed design module, as well as the reference model used for calibration (PMS Objekt), is presented in this paper. The results in thickness design after calibration of the design module indicate that the framework is clearly applicable for common Swedish conditions and design standards.