BACKGROUND: Pavement preservation provides a means for maintaining and improving the functional condition of an existing highway system and slowing deterioration. Although pavement preservation is not expected to substantially increase structural capacity, it generally leads to improved pavement performance and longer service life and, therefore, should be considered in the pavement design process. The AASHTO interim edition of the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide Manual of Practiceprovides methodologies for the analysis and performance prediction of different types of flexible and rigid pavements. However, these methodologies and related performance prediction models focus on new design and structural rehabilitation and do not explicitly consider the contributions of pavement preservation treatments to the overall pavement performance. There is a need to identify approaches for considering the effects of preservation on pavement performance and to develop procedures that facilitate consideration of pavement preservation treatments in the MEPDG analysis process. Such procedures will ensure that the contributions of preservation to performance and service life are appropriately considered in the analysis and design process. (MEPDG) and related software (see Special Notes A and B) developed under NCHRP

  

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research was to develop procedures for incorporating pavement preservation treatments into the MEPDG analysis process. 

 

Status: The project is complete. The research identified basic procedures that can be used in pavement design and analysis to account for the effects of preservation treatments on performance but further research is needed to develop models to characterize the factors considered in these procedures. The final report has been published as NCHRP Report 810 (appendices are available online only); is available at https://www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/172941.aspx