Comparison of Roadway Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement Thickness Design Methods Common in the United States

While much research in the United States (U.S.) has focused on the development, enhancement, and sensitivity of the AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design (previously known and MEPDG and DARWin-ME) method, little work has focused on comparing the results from this design method to other design methods already regularly used in practice. This investigation compares required thickness results for new jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP) obtained from the AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design software, the AASHTO 93 design method via the ACPA WinPAS software, and the ACPA StreetPave software across an array of key design variables such as traffic, concrete flexural strength and modulus of elasticity, reliability, edge support condition, and k-value.