State Design Procedure for Rigid Pavements Based on the AASHTO Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide

Abstract

This paper describes research efforts sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (DOT) to update its rigid design procedure to take advantage of locally calibrated mechanistic–empirical models for performance and consequently design. The new procedure, MnPCC-ME, is based on the AASHTO Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) Version 1.1, but restricts the user to predetermined design input parameters. MnPCC-ME matches the MEPDG predicted performance at a fraction of the computation cost. The user is able to modify key design inputs for state and local pavement projects; the parameters include district climate files and traffic load spectra files (based on historical Minnesota DOT weigh-in-motion data). In addition, MnPCC-ME provides alternative reliability analysis, which is based on a Monte Carlo simulation of pavement performance predictions based on typical variability in slab thickness and flexural strength for Minnesota pavements. The MnPCC-ME program requires virtually no run time and outputs a project report with the recommended design thickness for given performance criteria and reliability level for the specified reliability analysis. Although this tool was developed for Minnesota local conditions, the approach developed in the study can be adopted by other transportation agencies for their region and conditions.