Characterization of traffic load and local calibration of the MEPDG for New Mexico
type: CreativeWork
description: In the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG), traffic loading is more complex and precise than in the old AASHTO 1993 Guide. Traffic load in MEPDG is characterized by a larger number of traffic inputs such as Annual Average Daily Truck Traffic (AADTT), traffic growth, traffic directional distribution, lane distribution, vehicle class distribution, hourly distribution, monthly distribution, axle load spectra, number of axles per truck class, traffic wander, speed, and tire pressure. Many of these inputs can only be obtained from Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) data. There are about 15 WIM stations in New Mexico. Data from these WIM sites are evaluated for their use for local calibration of the MEPDG. An algorithm is developed in Visual Basic Application (VBA) to check the quality of WIM data. In essence, frequency distributions of the gross vehicle weight and the front steering axle weight are calculated and compared to the criteria recommended by the Traffic Monitoring Guide (TMG). It is observed that only three WIM sites have consistent and reliable weight data. The reasons for the inconsistency in collected WIM data are found to be lack of calibration and bad condition of the pavement surface near WIM sites. Also, axle load spectra are developed for all WIM data using an algorithm implemented in VBA. The influence of axle load spectra on pavement performance is predicted using MEPDG. For the sections analyzed, it is shown that the effect of axle load spectra is very high on fatigue cracking, moderate on permanent deformation, and non-existent on thermal cracking and roughness. In this study, local data related to traffic, climate, pavement structure, materials, and distress are collected from different NMDOT sources and stored in MEPDG Oracle database. A total of 29 New Mexico pavement sections are found to have all MEPDG inputs, however data lack quantitative distress values required for MEPDG calibration. This is because New Mexico has collected qualitative …
abstract: In the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG), traffic loading is more complex and precise than in the old AASHTO 1993 Guide. Traffic load in MEPDG is characterized by a larger number of traffic inputs such as Annual Average Daily Truck Traffic (AADTT), traffic growth, traffic directional distribution, lane distribution, vehicle class distribution, hourly distribution, monthly distribution, axle load spectra, number of axles per truck class, traffic wander, speed, and tire pressure. Many of these inputs can only be obtained from Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) data. There are about 15 WIM stations in New Mexico. Data from these WIM sites are evaluated for their use for local calibration of the MEPDG. An algorithm is developed in Visual Basic Application (VBA) to check the quality of WIM data. In essence, frequency distributions of the gross vehicle weight and the front steering axle weight are calculated and compared to the criteria recommended by the Traffic Monitoring Guide (TMG). It is observed that only three WIM sites have consistent and reliable weight data. The reasons for the inconsistency in collected WIM data are found to be lack of calibration and bad condition of the pavement surface near WIM sites. Also, axle load spectra are developed for all WIM data using an algorithm implemented in VBA. The influence of axle load spectra on pavement performance is predicted using MEPDG. For the sections analyzed, it is shown that the effect of axle load spectra is very high on fatigue cracking, moderate on permanent deformation, and non-existent on thermal cracking and roughness. In this study, local data related to traffic, climate, pavement structure, materials, and distress are collected from different NMDOT sources and stored in MEPDG Oracle database. A total of 29 New Mexico pavement sections are found to have all MEPDG inputs, however data lack quantitative distress values required for MEPDG calibration. This is because New Mexico has collected qualitative …
author: Rodriguez Ruiz, Jose Ivan
language: English
keywords: Pavements--Performance--New Mexico--Measurement, Pavements--Live loads--New Mexico--Measurement, Pavements--New Mexico--Design and construction.
date published: 2012-02-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:26:55Z
provider: University of New Mexico
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of New Mexico

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1928/17449