ABSTRACT
A Reliability-Based Specification (RBS) for the quality control of longitudinal cracking in high volume traffic asphalt pavements is proposed in this paper. The criteria for the RBS are established using inputs such as asphalt layer thickness, base modulus, hourly traffic volume and dissipated creep strain energy limit. For this purpose, several high traffic volume sections were analysed using the mechanics-based design framework for variability conditions that are representative of high-volume traffic roads. A two-component reliability analysis methodology is used to compute reliability and to formulate partial safety factors, which are used to compute acceptable variation of the design inputs. Variation in asphalt layer thickness and dissipated creep strain energy limit is observed to influence design target reliability significantly. The developed reliability based specification can supplement existing specifications for the quality control of longitudinal cracking in high volume traffic pavements.
