General information on pavement design
Dimensioning of road pavements

While in other fields, such as engineering structures, rational design methods were developed very early on, for many decades pavement design was determined empirically, based on observation of the behavior of existing pavements. It was with the AASHO (American Association of States Highway Officials) tests carried out in the United States from 1951 to 1961 that engineers first sought to provide a serious experimental basis for the choice of pavement thicknesses.

However, specialists were quick to regard the conclusions drawn from these trials as limited in scope,...