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Background

AASHTOWare Pavement Mechanistic-Empirical Design Software (PMED) is the new design standard for pavement design. ME design method relies on strain computation and transfer functions to predict fatigue life of a pavement. Until now, many studies have focused on transfer functions but there is also a need for strain computation validation. This project aims to validate the strain computation by collecting data from a new flexible pavement built in SH144 near Orchard, CO. The final goal of this project is to compare the collected strain data with the predicted values from PMED. In this project, CU is involved in collecting the data and performing initial analysis. CU 91ÃÛÌÒ¸ó worked in this project in collaboration with CDOT and NCAT (National Center for Asphalt Technology).

91ÃÛÌÒ¸ó Objective

In this project, CU was tasked with collecting data remotely on a bi-weekly basis from the strain gauges installed along SH144 near Orchard, Colorado. Data was collected using the DATAQ high speed data logger. After collecting the data, CU analyzed and converted the raw stress-strain data into a usable format using DADiSP and presented the clean data to CDOT. In addition, CU performed site visits as required to resolve issues affecting the data collection.

Contributions

The findings of this research helped CDOT further analyze the processed strain data and validate the strain computation by Pavement Mechanistic-Empirical Design (PMED).

Funding

Colorado Department of Transportation: 2018-2020.