Sensitivity Analysis of Flexible Pavement Parameters by Mechanistic-Empirical Design Guide

Abstract

The sensitivity analysis of performance for flexible pavement can be used to study the influence of every parameters, which can help optimization design and performance evaluation of the pavement structure. In this research, three asphalt layers and four asphalt layers were selected to study the sensitivity of traffic and material parameters based on MEPDG method. Some computer aided engineering simulation techniques, such as the Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) technique and the multiple regression analysis are used as auxiliary means. The single factorial sensitivity analysis method was used to calculate the sensitivity of traffic and material parameters and to validate the result of sensitivity analysis in multiple regression process based on MEPDG. The result shows that, about traffic parameters, Two-way AADT, Dual tire spacing and Vehicle operational speed are more significant than other parameters. The largest effects on rutting are due to Air Void--2, Air Void--1, Poisson' Ratio--1 and Poisson' Ratio--2. However, it is different on cracking, where the largest effects are due to Air Void--1, Poisson' Ratio--1, and Efficient Binder Content--1.