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Analytical design of thin surfaced asphalt pavements in Germany - Certificate of merit road design and construction
Dr. Sabine Leischner Lecturer at the Institute of Pavement Engineering, Technische Universität Dresden
Gustavo Canon Falla Researcher/PhD candidate at the Institute of Pavement Engineering, Technische Universität Dresden
Frohmut Wellner Head of the Institute of Pavement Engineering at RWTH Aachen, Germany
Markus Oeser Head of the Institute of Pavement Engineering at RWTH Aachen, Germany
This article presents a new mechanistic-empirical design approach for thin asphalt layer pavements. The design approach was developed by focusing on limiting the main sources of rutting of unbound granular pavements: 1) excessive plastic deformation in the subgrade and 2) excessive plastic deformation of the unbound granular materials (UGM) in the basecourse in the vicinity of the wheel load. The design approach is based on two steps: first, the response of the pavement structure is calculated due to traffic loading, taking into account the effect of climatic conditions on material properties. In the second step, a distress prediction is undertaken to evaluate the accumulated damage in terms of rutting.