NCAT Report 15-05
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The Asphalt Pavement Alliance defines a Perpetual Pavement as "an asphalt pavement designed and built to last longer than 50 years without requiring major structural rehabilitation or reconstruction, and needing only periodic surface renewal in response to distresses confined to the top of the pavement." For pavement design professionals, the objective of perpetual pavement design is to optimize pavement thickness to withstand unlimited heavy wheel loads without being too conservative.
This past fall, the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) released a new report, NCAT Report 15-05, entitled "Refined Limiting Strain Criteria and Approximate Ranges of Maximum Thicknesses for Designing Long-Life Asphalt Pavements." The report establishes approximate ranges of maximum pavement thickness and provides recommendations for implementing pavement design thresholds. These guidelines will help agencies improve the cost-effectiveness of long-life pavements.
