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The contents of this report reflect the views of the author(s), who is responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Commonwealth Transportation Board, or the Federal Highway Administration. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation. Any inclusion of manufacturer names, trade names, or trademarks is for identification purposes only and is not to be considered an endorsement.

Title:

Development of Pavement Structural Capacity Requirements for Innovative Pavement Decision-Making and Contracting: Phase II
Authors:
James M. Bryce, Gerardo W. Flintsch, Ph.D., P.E., Samer W. Katicha, Ph.D., Alex Sarant
Brian K. Diefenderfer
Brian K. Diefenderfer
Year: 2016
VTRC No.: 16-R20
Abstract: The structural capacity of a pavement has been shown to be a good indicator of the required maintenance and expected performance of pavements. However, results in the literature provide few indices for rigid and composite pavements.

This study developed an index that produced promising results for use with composite pavements. The index relates deflection measurements to the performance of the pavement. Limited conclusions could be drawn from the results of rigid pavement testing due to the limited sample size and scope of the available data. The report presents steps for including the structural indices in pavement evaluation and management processes and a tool that can be used by engineers to calculate the structural indices for flexible and composite pavements based on defined input parameters.

A number of recommendations for implementation are made based on the findings of this study.