Application of Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide Software in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The present study explores the structural pavement design techniques related to pavement distresses in terms of pavement rutting, cracking and International Roughness Index (IRI) based on the materials properties, roadbed characteristics, climate and traffic loads for highway network of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The study was focused on selected site conditions at four regions in KSA: Central (Riyadh); Eastern (Al-Ahsa); Western (Jeddah) and Northern (Arar). Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) software was used to calibrate and predict pavement design life according to the mentioned distresses for different regions in the KSA. This is the first time where the exact weather stations were selected to run analysis on the software determining realistic pavement distresses. In the study, the pavement structure design is different for low traffic (700 AADTT) and high traffic (2000, 6000, and 10,000 AADTT). The tests were run on the MEPDG software to analyze the distresses predicted by the software for an interval of 5, 10, 15, and 20 years. The results predicted by the software show that the preliminary example design satisfies all the target distresses for the mentioned design life, even for 20 years. The study provides a base pavement design for pavement designers that can be modified as per project requirements using the specific data for traffic, material properties, thickness, and distress limit to achieve target design life.