Application of a novel linear-viscous approach to predict permanent deformation in simulative inverted pavements

•A novel linear-viscous approach was incorporated to predict permanent deformation of inverted pavements.•Few key assumptions were made on the viscosity values, resulting in reasonable predictions.•Various thickness combinations of bounded and unbounded layers were studied.•The linear-viscous prediction analysis indicated a predominant contribution of unbounded material.•The approach investigated substantiated its potential for predictions in real inverted pavements. This manuscript is a part of a novel investigative approach focusing on the design of inverted pavements in the United Kingdom. This paper reports the permanent deformation response of simulative (laboratory-scale) inverted pavements with various thickness combinations through the use of two laboratory devices. A new analytical methodology is implemented to predict rutting based on the linear-viscous approach, which replaces the material’s elastic modulus with viscosities in a multi-layer linear analysis that calculates strain rates in pavement layers by using KENLAYER, to ultimately estimate rutting. The application of the newly developed methodology results in predicting pavement rutting within a range of ± 22% of the measured values and represents a step forward in predicting rutting in actual/real inverted pavements.