AN EMPIRICAL EQUATION FOR PREDICTING PAVEMENT DEFLECTIONS

THE EMPIRICAL EQUATION IS DOCUMENTED FOR PREDICTING PAVEMENT DEFLECTIONS. THE EQUATION PREDICTS THE DEFLECTIONS MEASURED BY THE DYNAFLECT, GIVEN CERTAIN DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR THE PAVEMENT. THE EQUATION WAS DERIVED IN TWO STEPS: (1) A MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THE DEFLECTION PHENONMENON, CONTAINING CERTAIN UNDETERMINED COEFFICIENTS, WAS DEVELOPED, AND (2) THE COEFFICIENTS WERE EVALUATED BY FITTING THE MODEL TO DYNAFLECT DEFLECTION DATA GATHERED ON A SET OF SPECIAL TEST SECTIONS CONSTRUCTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH STATISTICAL PRINCIPLES OF EXPERIMENT DESIGN. THE MODEL IS PRESENTED AND DESCRIPTION IS GIVEN OF HOW THE COEFFICIENTS WERE EVALUATED. THE PREDICTION ERRORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE EQUATION ARE DISCUSSED. IT IS SHOWN HOW THE MODEL CAN BE USED TO ESTIMATE STIFFNESS COEFFICIENTS IN SIMPLE PAVEMENT STRUCTURES.