Instrumentation for Mechanistic Design Implementation

The project involves installing several instruments within and on top of three hot mix asphalt pavements during the construction process and periodically collecting data from the instruments. Analyses of the data will be used to validate a key component of the new pavement design procedure currently being implemented by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). In addition, loose hot mix asphalt and cores extracted shortly after construction will be obtained and tested in the laboratory for dynamic modulus, a key input in the new design procedure. Other field samples will be obtained and tested as necessary for analysis purposes. Falling…

The project involves installing several instruments within and on top of three hot mix asphalt pavements during the construction process and periodically collecting data from the instruments.  Analyses of the data will be used to validate a key component of the new pavement design procedure currently being implemented by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).  In addition, loose hot mix asphalt and cores extracted shortly after construction will be obtained and tested in the laboratory for dynamic modulus, a key input in the new design procedure.  Other field samples will be obtained and tested as necessary for analysis purposes.  Falling weight deflectometer testing will be conducted on a seasonal basis to obtain layer moduli of the aggregate base course and subgrade soil.  Predictions of tensile strain using layered elastic analysis will be generated and compared to the measured values.  It is expected that the results of the study, in combination with the results of a current study, will provide sufficient evidence to determine the validity of tensile strain prediction using layered elastic analysis (as required in the new design procedure) for a range of pavement thickness, traffic loads, and climatic conditions.