Structural Design of Pavement Overlays Based on Functional Parameters

This paper reports a practical pavement overlay design methodbased on PCI (Pavement Condition Index). Current pavement investigation method (JTJ 073-96) is compared to the ASTM D 5340, which is the standard test method for airport pavement condition evaluation initially developed for US Air Force. The deficiency in the calculation of PCI based on field data in JTJ 073 is discussed. The proposed design method is compared to AASHTO overlay design method with good agreement. The paper concludes with an example illustrating how the existing pavement structural capacity is related to pavement distress survey results. The presented design method can be used in the design for overlay rehabilitation of pavements of highways, urban streets and airports.