Main stresses and dimensioning methods
Dimensioning of road pavements

Types of aggression

The main stress on pavements comes from traffic. In addition, climate-related stresses (freezing and thawing, variations in water content, temperature variations, etc.) progressively undermine the performance of materials and their interfaces, leading to a number of pavement disorders, such as those illustrated in figures 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Two categories of sizing methods

The dimensioning methods in use around the world can be divided into two categories.

• Empirical methods

  Generally based on observation of existing pavements and, more exceptionally, on full-scale experiments,...