01550213

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2524-08

The AASHTO Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) and accompanying Pavement ME Design software emphasize the influence of climate on pavement performance. Several hundred weather history files from ground-based operating weather stations (OWSs) are provided with the MEPDG software. An alternate climate data source, the Modern Era Retrospective–Analysis for Research and Application (MERRA) product from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is evaluated here. MERRA is a global climate reanalysis procedure that combines computed model fields with ocean-, airborne-, and satellite-based observations. MERRA has the advantage of uniform worldwide spatial coverage at an approximately 0.5° by 0.67° (latitude and longitude) horizontal resolution, continuous hourly time series from 1979 to the present, and a high level of data quality control. Comprehensive statistical comparisons between MERRA climate data and those from various conventional ground-based sources are presented. Comparisons of MEPDG performance predictions with MEPDG OWS and MERRA climate data for 20 locations distributed across the contiguous United States are also summarized. The statistical and performance prediction comparisons support the conclusion that MERRA is an acceptable and advantageous source for climate data that can be used in place of conventional ground-based OWSs.

01593959

15-3078

English

pp 83–91

2015

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309369534

Print

Figures (6) ; References (22) ; Tables (2)

Climate; Flexible pavements; Mechanistic-empirical pavement design; Pavement performance; Weather conditions; Weather stations

Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide; Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA)

Data sources

United States

Design; Highways; Pavements

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 1:02PM

• Achieving Safer Roads Through the Use of System Dynamics and Porous Friction Courses
• Calibration of National Rigid Pavement Performance Models for the Pavement Mechanistic–Empirical Design Guide
• Characterization of Load Transfer Behavior for Bonded Concrete Overlays on Asphalt
• Comparison of Full-Depth Reclamation with Portland Cement and Full-Depth Reclamation with No Stabilizer in Accelerated Loading Test
• Comprehensive Model for Fatigue Analysis of Flexible Pavements Considering Effects of Dynamic Axle Loads
• Development of Predictive Models for Initiation and Propagation of Field Transverse Cracking
• Effects of Binder, Curing Time, Temperature, and Trafficking on Moduli of Stabilized and Unstabilized Full-Depth Reclamation Materials
• Evaluation and Implementation of PG 76-22 Asphalt Rubber Binder in Florida
• Evaluation of Effects of Variations in Aggregate Base Layer Properties on Flexible Pavement Performance
• Initial Performance of Virginia’s Interstate 81 In-Place Pavement Recycling Project
• Investigation of Different Methods for Obtaining Asphalt Mixture Creep Compliance for Use in Pavement Mechanistic–Empirical Design Software
• Life-Cycle Cost–Based Decision Framework for Failed Portland Cement Concrete Pavement Materials in Indiana
• Mechanism of Transverse Crack Development in Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement at Early Ages
• State Design Procedure for Rigid Pavements Based on the AASHTO Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide