Pavement Purpose

L___
pavements are built for Four main purposes:
[MTypicallv

- _Load support. Pavement material is generally stiffer than the material upon which it
is placed. thus it assnsts the in situ material in ___g__________resistin
loads without excessive
or crackin.
__—______g_deformation

- Smoothness. Pavement material can be placed and maintained much smoother

than in situ material. This helps i_13___'mrove
ride comfort and reduce vehicle op_geratin
costs.
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' Drainage. Pavement material and geometric design can effect quick and efficient I

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drainage thus —_g__p____eli'mi'nati'n
moisture roblems such as mud and pending (puddles).

- Skid Resistance. Pavement material placed as a surface course should provide l

sufficient friction when in contact with a vehicle’s tire
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Pavement Design
- Structural design is mainly concerned with determining appropriate layer
thickness and composition. Calculations are chiefly concerned with traffic
loading stresses; other environmentally related stresses (such as
temperature) are accounted for in mix design asphalt binder selection. The
principal methods of structural design r'n use today are (from simplest to
most complex) c___g_atalos. e_p__mirical and m—p_echanistic-emirical.

Design Catalogs
The simplest approach to HMA pavement structural desi n involves
selecting a predetermined design from a catalog. Typica ly, design catalogs
contain a listing of common loading, environmental and service regimes and
the correspon ing recommended pavement structures. State and local
agencies often include them in their specifications.
- The pavement desig‘ns within these catalogs can be based on a number of
different design met ods ranging from mechanistic-empirical to historical
experience. When using a design catalog. it is important to be aware of the
author‘s assumptions and design procedure. Often assumptions and design
procedures are based on extremely local conditions, which may not be
transferable. For instance. basic Snohomish County structural designs may
not be appropriate for Spokane County and vice versa.