Fatigue Performance Prediction of Asphalt Pavements with FlexPAVE TM , the S-VECD Model, and D R Failure Criterion

Reliable predictions of asphalt materials and pavement performance are important elements in mixture design, mechanistic-empirical pavement design, and performance-related specifications. This paper presents FlexPAVE™, a pavement performance prediction program. FlexPAVE™ is a three-dimensional finite element program that is capable of moving load analysis under realistic climatic conditions. It utilizes the simplified viscoelastic continuum damage (S-VECD) model to predict asphalt pavement fatigue life. This S-VECD model currently incorporates the so-called G R failure criterion to define the failure of asphalt mixtures. In this study, a new failure criterion for the S-VECD model, designated as the D R criterion, has been developed to remedy some of the shortcomings of the G R failure criterion. This D R criterion has been implemented successfully in FlexPAVE TM . In this paper, FlexPAVE TM is used to simulate the fatigue performance of field test sections. These test sections include various pavement structures, such as perpetual pavements and accelerated load facility test pavements in the United States, South Korea, and China, as well as various materials, such as warm-mix asphalt, reclaimed asphalt pavement, and mixtures with modified binders. The D R -based FlexPAVE TM predictions have yielded good agreement with the field measurements and show more reasonable trends compared to predictions obtained using the G R failure criterion.