Various Cement and concrete organisations have launched a new online pavement design tool to eliminate the expense and burden of ordering software and updates. The free service is aimed city, county and consultant engineers as well as academia involved in the design of roadway, industrial and parking area pavements.
Called PavementDesigner, the platform integrates pavement design programs into a single website that allows professionals to design pavements immediately. Cloud storage/ retrieval provides an option to create a user ID and password to save their design work as well as retrieve projects using any digital service. In addition, the online system is automatically updated when new content or details are added. Users will not be required to download updated software or patches.
The website provides a guide through three basic stages of pavement design. Once the user selects the project type, the system then guides them through the project level details and the design of the pavement structure. Each module comes with help screens and conversions to assist with the pavement structure details. After this information has been entered and calculated, the user is presented with a summary screen where the design may be reviewed, analysed, printed or saved.
Helpful resources are available from the sidebar, such as an introductory video and another one which shows how to use the portal to design a jointed plain concrete pavement.
Eric Ferrebee, EIT, the American Concrete Pavement Association’s director of technical services, said: PavementDesigner.org represents a dramatic shift in solutions availability to designers of streets, roads, parking lots and industrial facilities. By bringing multiple programs together in one package and eliminating the cost and time to download software, updates and patches, we have removed barriers and enabled designers to select the best option for pavement designs.”
Wayne Adaska, P.E., the Portland Cement Association’s director of pavements, said: “This comprehensive but easy-to-use pavement design tool not only covers full-depth concrete, but also provides design solutions for concrete overlays and composite pavements. Further, the tool includes other cement-based materials like roller- compacted concrete, cement-treated base and full-depth reclamation with cement.”
More information is available here.
