Air temperature based climate zones for flexible pavement designs

Xu Yang, Zhanping You, Jacob Hiller, David Watkins

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference PaperOther

Abstract

Climate zones are regions with homogeneous climatic conditions. In mechanistic- empirical pavement design, climate is an important factor affecting pavement performance, so distress predictions are expected to be consistent across an identified geographic area. This study aims to develop climate zones specifically for flexible pavement design for the State of Michigan. In detail, annual mean air temperature, mean air temperature in hot months, and mean air temperature in cold months were used to identify climate zones. The critical threshold to determine a climate zone in this study was to keep the temperature within the zone less than 2.8°F (1.6°C), a change which results in a relative distress difference of about 10%. Nine climate zones were developed for Michigan taking into account both the air temperatures and pavement distresses. The developed climate zones are expected to be helpful for future flexible pavement designs in Michigan.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCEW 2016 - Functional Pavement Design - Chinese-European Workshop on Functional Pavement Design
EditorsSandra Erkens, Xueyan Liu, Kumar Anupam, Yiqiu Tan
PublisherCRC Press
Pages977-983
Number of pages7
ISBN (Print)9781315643274
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes
EventChinese-European Workshop on Functional Pavement Design 2016 - Delft, Netherlands
Duration: 29 Jun 20161 Jul 2016
Conference number: 4th

Publication series

NameCEW 2016 - Functional Pavement Design - Chinese-European Workshop on Functional Pavement Design

Conference

ConferenceChinese-European Workshop on Functional Pavement Design 2016
Abbreviated titleCEW 2016
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityDelft
Period29/06/161/07/16

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