Abstract
The Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG), developed by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) under the directive of the U.S. National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 1-37A, is the latest development in the concept and theories for the analysis and design of new pavements and of overlays for the existing pavements. While MEPDG is waiting for its full-scale implementation and to replace the traditional pavement design methods, it is desirable to make use of the performance prediction capacity of the MEPDG for accurate life-cycle costing analysis. The objective of this study is to review the state of the art and state of the practices for LCC and the new MEPDG methodology for flexible pavement design/preservation, and explore a framework for the integration of LCC into the new MEPDG, which would help the pavement agencies to evaluate the most economic (cost-effective) flexible pavement design for a new roadway section and overlay design for an existing flexible pavement as well as the preservation (maintenance and rehabilitation) time/strategy based on MEPDG methodology.
Highlights
Background and MotivationThe service life of a flexible pavement can be renewed and extended by doing rehabilitation such as overlays
Once the number of loops of life-cycles is established for a flexible pavement, the total costs can be estimated using the techniques of life cycle costing (LCC)
Status of LCC and the State-of-the-Practices of LCC in Canada According to survey report on Life Cycle Costing Analysis (LCCA), conducted by the University of Saskatchewan Civil Engineering Professor Dr Gordon Sparksstates that Ontario has used LCC methods extensively for more than 25 years while Alberta, Manitoba and some other provinces have extensive experiences of using LCC for many years, where New Brunswick was planning to implement an asset management system by 2007, and Newfoundland and Labrador does not typically uses LCCA, but had hired a consultant to perform LCCA of alternative asphalt surface types for major projects [Guvan (2006)]
Summary
The service life of a flexible pavement can be renewed and extended by doing rehabilitation such as overlays. The new Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG), which is a performance based design and analysis tool, provides this opportunity to the pavement designers to predict the performance of the pavement at any time during its service life. The life cycle of a flexible road structure can be established and subsequently how many loops of life-cycles should require completing any period of analysis time continuum can be predicted by using the MEPDG methodology. Determine the life cycle and the associated cost of a flexible pavement structure for a given analysis period. 2. Establish a shorter or longer frequency of rehabilitation scheme by selecting/changing overlay thickness and subsequently estimate the associated costs of a flexible pavement structure. 3. Establish the initial design and the associated cost by selecting/changing suitable material and layer thickness for a given frequency of life cycle. Determine / predict the serviceable life or remaining service life of an existing flexible pavement
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