Backcalculating pavement structural properties using a Nelder-Mead simplex search

Abstract

A structural integrity assessment technique of pavements that considers the backcalculation of material properties is herein proposed. In order to carry out the backcalculation, a Nelder-Mead simplex (NMS) search is applied to estimate the elastic moduli of layered structures using the deflection data simulated by falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests. In order to utilize a forward calculation engine of the numerical simulation in the FWD testing, a wave analysis program of layered pavement systems is used based on a spectral element method. The performance of the NMS inversion technique is evaluated based on a comparison with the Levenberg-Marquardt method. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.