Sensitivity Evaluation of Short Jointed Bonded Concrete Overlay of Asphalt Pavement in AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design

One of the most popular rehabilitation methods used for distressed asphalt concrete pavements is use of bonded concrete overlays on asphalt pavements (BCOA). A new procedure, Bonded Concrete Overlay of Asphalt Mechanistic-Empirical Design (BCOA-ME), has been developed at the University of Pittsburgh to address significant limitations of similar procedures that have been used by state highway agencies (SHAs) over the years. A portion of the BCOA-ME procedure, renamed Short Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement over Asphalt Concrete (SJPCP/AC), was recently added to AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design (PMED) Software package. Longitudinal fatigue cracking calculated in terms of percentage of slabs is predicted as output distress by the PMED software. This study reports comprehensive sensitivity results for PMED design inputs to predicted longitudinal fatigue cracking. To help understand the impact of climate on the predictions, five climate locations representing different climatic conditions were considered. Normalized sensitivity index (NSI) values were evaluated by performing one-at-a-time (OAT) sensitivity analyses. A summary of results based on evaluated NSI ranking is presented for the varying design periods and reliability levels considered by the PMED software.

Automated summary

BCOA-ME is a popular rehabilitation method for distressed asphalt concrete pavements. It addresses limitations of similar procedures used by state highway agencies. The study reports sensitivity analyses of PMED design inputs for predicted longitudinal fatigue cracking.