Principles of bituminous pavement design and the recent trends

The concept of rational pavement design for design of bituminous pavement was conceived during the 1960s (Dorman 1962, Monismith et al. 1961). Its upgraded version is known as Mechanistic-Empirical (M-E) pavement design, and is at present popularly being used for design of bituminous pavements in various countries. A number of pavement design guidelines (Austroads 2004, French 1997, IRC:37 2001, MS-1 1999, NCHRP 2005, Theyse et al. 1996, Shell 1978) have adopted the M-E pavement design approach. However, experience based empirical pavement design approaches are also in vogue in various other guidelines (AASHTO 1993, Manual 1989, RN-29 1970, RstO 2000)