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We look forward to keeping you up to date on Pavement ME Design (PMED) news, and we encourage you to send us suggestions for articles to be included in upcoming editions of the newsletter. We plan to publish a newsletter each quarter. Enjoy!
As the world seems to be moving back to something closer to normal I’m finding many things to look forward to. One of my hopes is that we can all meet at the upcoming User Group meeting (schedule pending) to exchange knowledge and experience.
Four webinars will be held each fiscal year. The webinar topics were selected based on feedback from the user group meetings, and commonly asked questions. Two webinars were delivered in December 2020 and a third in February 2021. All three webinars were well attended, and we thank all of you who were able to attend. The 4th and final webinar, Rehabilitation Design of Fractured JPCP and an Asphalt Overlay, is scheduled for next Tuesday.
The task force has approved two enhancement activities for FY 2022:
- Integrating the results from NCHRP 1-51 on the bonding and interaction between the PCC slab and base layer and
- Updating the global calibration for the PCC pavements. No update to the global calibration for PCC pavements has been completed for some time. The task force requested that the PCC pavement be recalibrated with the integration of the product from NCHRP 1-51.
The NCHRP 1-51 model integration and recalibrated PCC distress and performance models will be included in the Web Technology Application, so please stay tuned for updates on this topic in future e-Newsletters.
The Pavement ME Design team has delivered multiple demonstrations/webinars to different agencies in North America over the past couple of years. If your agency is interested in hosting a virtual demonstration in using the software for design, you are encouraged to contact Mr. Ryan Fragapane, rfragapane@aashto.org | 202.624.3632
David Holmgren from the Utah Department of Transportation will complete his term on the Pavement ME Design Task Force at the end of June 2021. We would like to thank David for his valued contributions to the Task Force and development of the Pavement ME Design software.
The development work for the next generation of the AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design software is progressing at a steady pace. During the last few months, the development team and Task Force members have met with the Technical Review Team (TRT) every two weeks to provide progress updates on the web application development. The TRT members provide valuable feedback on how they use the PMED on a day-to-day basis. Their feedback and suggestions are used to improve the user experience and functionality of Pavement ME Design. The TRT members represent DOT engineers, consultants, and academia.
Please send any questions or issues related to using the software to the ME Design website and/or contact the Help Desk Manager, Shobhit Mundra at http://me-design.com/MEDesign/Report.aspx, via email at pavementmedesign@ara.com, or phone 1-217-356-4500.
As a friendly reminder, the Pavement ME Design Task Force is continually taking action to improve the software and welcomes suggestions from users. Suggestions are reviewed and prioritized at each Pavement ME Design Task Force meeting. Submit suggestions to Ryan Fragapane or any Pavement ME Design Task Force member. Feature ideas may now also be submitted through the Pavement ME Design website at: http://me-design.com/MEDesign/Report.aspx.
We want to remind you that there are many resources related to all aspects of Pavement ME Design. The MEPDG Clearinghouse is a great resource to see what research has been done by state highway agencies for implementing the Pavement ME Design. Some topics include, local calibration, input characterization, laboratory testing, traffic input collection and many, many, more. Please visit the ME Clearing house website to learn about the research that has been completed in recent years.
As a reminder, a new discussion forum location for PMED has been established at www.engineering.stackexchange.com. The software maintenance team has moved the existing Q&A over to the new site. If you have questions, please post them on the new site with the “pavement” tag.
Shobhit Mundra
- pavementmedesign@ara.com
- Phone: (217) 356-4500
Other ARA Staff:
- Harold Von Quintus, P.E., | ARA Project Manager |
- Chadwick Becker, | ARA Co-Project Manager |
- Wouter Brink, Ph.D., | ARA Engineering Support |
Service units are available for purchase through AASHTO for implementing and using the Pavement ME Design software package. Many state agencies have already purchased several service units, and these agencies can contact AASHTO to redeem them for implementation support.
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