The Optimal Design of Road and Industrial Pavements Using Microcomputers

Abstract

The construction of roads and industrial pavements consistently represents one of the major areas of expenditure in Civil Engineering. Despite this the methods used routinely in pavement design are often crude and unsophisticated and rely more on precedent than on objective analysis for their successful implementation. This reflects two factors. The first is that pavement failures are seldom catastrophic and, therefore, escape public scrutiny even though their economic consequences may be of major importance. Secondly, the design and analysis of pavements poses a number of seemingly intractable problems which often require a level of design effort which is disproportionate to the professional risks and liabilities involved. For these reasons pavement design methodology has tended to lag behind the substantial progress made in such fields as structural engineering.