Data Collection for Implementation of the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) in Izmir, Turkey

Abstract

Developing countries like Turkey are trying to implement the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). The implementation of this method requires comprehensive local data collection, evaluation, and, if necessary, a local calibration. The objective of this study is to prepare local data such as climate, traffic, and materials for evaluation and local calibration of MEPDG for Izmir City. For this purpose, the climate and traffic data were obtained, analysed, and converted to the MEPDG format. Besides, the bound and unbound pavement material properties were determined. Since some of the obtained local data like climate, vehicle classification, traffic growth factor, and axle load distribution cannot be directly used as design inputs, they were developed and converted to a suitable format to be used in the MEPDG. The output of this study can be used as design inputs for the evaluation and local calibration the MEPDG in Izmir and serves as a guide for data preparation for other parts of the country.

Day-to-Day Dynamic Traffic Flow Assignment Model under Mixed Travel Modes Considering Customized Buses

“…During simulation experiments, set α = 0.15 and β = 4. According to China's Code for design of urban road engineering [63] and the situation of the city, set k (1) , k (2) , k (3) = (1, 1.5, 1.5) and N (1) , N (2) , N (3) = (1.5, 30,20).…”

“…Therefore, researchers and city officials have been very interested in studying road maintenance as a significant aspect of urban infrastructure. To meet the optimal structural rehabilitation design and future budget needs, a technical evaluation of the traffic network's quality based on a pavement management system (PMS) is required [28][29][30][31]. Traffic networks include not only road sections but also intersections.…”

Challenges and Benefits of the Use of AASHTOWare for 3 Climatic Regions in Turkey

“…Climatic inputs are essential to predict the temperature and moisture profiles in the pavement over the design life. Pavement layer temperature and moisture predictions are calculated on an hourly basis and used to estimate the material properties for the foundation and pavement layers throughout the design life [15,27]. It was shown that seasonal temperature variations carry out a considerable drop in pavement durability and significantly affect the overall performance of the pavement system, which is greatly affected by temperature and moisture [8,28].…”

“…There are limited number of studies in Turkey on the M-E design. In the Izmir (city in Turkey) study [15], the focus was the data collection to implement the M-E design, but no runs were performed. In the only study performing the M-E based rigid pavement designs [16], 8 cities were studied individually by simply matching them with the selected US city/weather stations.…”

“…But, despite the interest in adopting the M-E design method for future road investments in developing countries such as Turkey, as well, there has been still limited experience and study in switching to the M-E design, as the data needs create a major challenge, which must be carefully assessed a priori, and was the main motivation behind this study. In the case of Turkey, Shakhan et al [15] focused on the data collection needs for pavement design in the city of Izmir, Turkey, but, it fell short in creating any specific design. Ozturk et al [16] is the only study to use the M-E method for rigid pavement design for 8 different cities in Turkey.…”