Use of the Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide and CalME to Mitigate Rutting in Asphalt Overlays of Concrete Pavements

Abstract

This paper describes the development of an approach for the prediction of rutting of newly constructed composite pavements and asphalt overlays of existing concrete pavements [asphalt concrete over portland cement concrete (AC–PCC)]. The rutting model of the Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) and the CalME procedure being developed by the California Department of Transportation and the University of California Pavement Research Center are investigated, and a procedure for incorporating the CalME rutting model into the MEPDG framework is introduced. The goal is to provide pavement engineers with a procedure for rutting in AC–PCC design and analysis that does not require uncommon inputs and does not force the user outside the MEPDG framework. The paper describes the procedure's validation with experimental data from the Pavement Research Center and from the Minnesota Road Research Facility. A brief sensitivity analysis of the procedure for rutting in AC–PCC is presented.