ME Design Process

A key difference a user may notice when transitioning from empirical or classical ME design method to the new ME design method is that designing pavements using the new ME design method has changed from an non-iterative process into an iterative process in which trial designs are adjusted repeatedly, usually manually, until an optimal design is reached.

In other words, unlike empirical or classical ME design methods, the core output of the new ME methods is not layer thicknesses. Rather, the new ME methods outputs predicted pavement performances for a given set of layer thicknesses with respect to the individual distress mechanisms such as surface cracking and rutting.

It is nevertheless possible to build tools on top of the new ME design method to automatically find the layer thicknesses that satisfy the design requirements.