METHODOLOGY

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a large-scale experiment was performed by the American
Association of Highway Officials (AASHO). Six pavement loops, consisting of several different
pavement cross sections, were continuously loaded to try to simulate a lifetime of fatigue in just
a couple of years. The same level of traffic caused differing amounts of distress to the different
sections. The analysis of the work resulted in a guide that has been used ever since, the
AASHTO Guide for Design of Pavement Structures (the “T” for “Transportation” was added in
1973).

One of the strengths of the design process outlined in the guide lies in the fact that even though it
is empirically based, decades of experience have demonstrated that the method is fairly rigorous
and typically provides reasonable thicknesses as long as the data used to design the pavement is
reliable.

However, one of its weaknesses is that the equations used for pavement analysis are very
complicated. It took a certain level of training to properly use the nomographs and other tools
necessary to make the calculations. Mechanistically-based pavement thickness design methods
are even more complicated to use and have, to date, required sophisticated computer software
and more specialized training. Pavement design engineers in state and federal agencies have the
necessary training and resources, but often city, county and private consulting engineers and
managers do not.

There was a way to design and document asphalt pavement thickness easily, by using a software
it can be accepted methodology of the AASHTO pavement design guide. This software run as a
Microsoft Excel programme and its called initialize CBR Design line software.

The software simplifies the process of using both the 1993 AASHTO design guide for asphalt
pavements and the software is brimming with quick help buttons to assist the designer with
obtaining and properly inputting the necessary information. Initialize CBR Design line software,
can perform pavement thickness design.

It contains a module that can analyze a pavement structure using a more mechanistic type of
methodology, which considers the material properties for a given pavement cross section. The
user is allowed to select an analysis regarding the type of transfer functions to be used, which
results in an estimate of the number of load cycles to failure.

This software has the ability to estimate a required pavement thickness to support anticipated
traffic over a user-defined design period utilizing specified materials. There is the step for using
this software and will be show below :