PURPOSES : This research describes how to predict the life cycles of fatigue cracking based on NCHRP Report 704 as well as modified harmony search (MHS) algorithm. METHODS : The fatigue cracking regression model of NCHRP Report 704 was used in order to calculate the ESAL (Equivalent Single Axle Load) numbers up to pavement failure, based on using material parameters, composite modulus, and surface pavement thickness. Furthermore, the MHS algorithm was implemented to find appropriate material parameters and other structural conditions given the number of ESALs, which is related to pavement service life. RESULTS: The case studies show that the material and structural parameters can be obtained, resulting in satisfying the failure endurance of asphalt concrete structure, given the number of ESALs. For example, the required ESALs such as one or two millions are targeted to satisfy the service performance of asphalt concrete pavements in this study. CONCLUSIONS : According to the case studies, It can be concluded that the MHS algorithm provides a good tool of optimization problems in terms of minimizing the difference between the required service cycles, which is a given value, and the calculated service cycles, which is obtained from the fatigue cracking regression model.
PURPOSES: This study focuses on conducting pavement rehabilitation for more deteriorated roads given a limited government budget. METHODS: Therefore, we apply a optimization programming model of the permutation algorithm used for rehabilitating more deteriorated pavement areas, which is subjected to the limited budget. RESULTS: The permutation algorithm was evaluated in terms of determining the maximized rehabilitation of deteriorated pavement areas, using the newly developed performance models such as fatigue cracking, rutting, international roughness index(IRI) through the surveying data from 2006 to 2012. When compared with a traditional model of the so-called worst-first sequence(WFS) method, the permutation algorithm worked better than the WFS method, resulting in covering more deteriorated pavement areas given the limited government budget. CONCLUSIONS : Through a case study, it could be concluded that the permutation algorithm provides more reliable results in terms of rehabilitating more deteriorated pavement areas given the limited budget.