Development and Application of a Computer Program for Structural Design of Rigid Highway Pavements

Abstract

In this study the thickness of rigid pavement was determined using manual computations by applying two design approaches namely American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Method (AASHTO) and Portland cement Association Method (PCA). There are four types of rigid pavements; but this study focuses on Jointed Plan Concrete Pavement (JPCP) and Jointed Reinforced Concrete Pavement (JRCP).A computer program with Visual Basic software was developed, entitled GalalM-RP program, to determine the rigid pavement design thickness in accordance with PCA method. Al-Ilaifoun urbanrural highway was selected as a case study, the thickness of the rigid pavement was computed using manual method to verify the results obtained from GalalM-RP program. Comparison of the results showed that the difference between manual design and GalalM-RP software did not exceed 5%.The computer program GalalM-RP can be used reliably as design thickness program for rigid pavements with doweled joints and without concrete shoulders.