Development of a design catalog for bonded concrete overlay pavements considering the regional characteristics of Korea

Abstract

The design of overlay pavement in Korea, using the American empirical method, does not consider the unique Korean climate, pavement material, and traffic conditions. Therefore, in this study, a mechanistic–empirical design catalog for bonded concrete overlays (BCO) that are appropriate for Korean pavement conditions was developed. First, the thickness of the new pavement slab was determined through the Korean pavement design method, which uses a mechanistic–empirical design program according to the traffic volume of the region with the worst climatic conditions in Korea. Then, finite element analysis models of new jointed concrete and BCO pavements were developed to determine the BCO thickness by adjusting it until the stress–strength ratio of an existing slab of BCO pavement was equal to that of a new concrete pavement slab. By repeating this procedure, a design catalog was developed for the sustainable management of concrete pavement according to the traffic volume, elastic modulus, and thickness of the existing slab after milling. The appropriateness of the BCO thickness predicted by the design catalog was verified by comparing it with that predicted by other design methods.