Performance Evaluation of Long-Life Pavements Using the Mechanistic-Empirical Asphalt Pavement Analysis (MEAPA) Web Application

The long-life pavements that last longer than 50 years without major structural rehabilitation and require only periodic surface renewal due to surficial distresses are known to have relatively low life cycle cost. The enhanced performances of such pavements (also known as perpetual pavements) are due to many factors such as improved structural design, better materials and construction practices. In Michigan, several long-life pavement sections were constructed in response to the Public Act 175 (2015) and the Roads Innovation Task Force (RITF) Report. The objective of this study was to evaluate the fatigue performance of one of the long-life pilot projects sections (US-131) and compare it with a standard design in Michigan. A new mechanistic-empirical analysis software (MEAPA) was used to predict the long-term performance of the pavements included in the study. The critical strains for bottom-up and top-down cracking, fatigue life (i.e., number of cycles to failure (Nf)) and predicted magnitudes of bottom-up and top-down cracking were compared. Even though it was observed that the long-life structure is expected to perform better than the standard section in terms of fatigue cracking, both sections are expected to perform well over 30-year design life.