Enhancing Flexible Pavement System 23 (FPS23) by Incorporating a Top-Down Cracking Model in Texas Mechanistic-Empirical Flexible Pavement Design System (TxME)

Several Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) districts have reported early top-down cracking issues linked to the use of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) materials, which can make the surface layer excessively stiff. Unlike bottom-up fatigue cracking—where distress originates at the bottom of the hot mix asphalt (HMA) layer—top-down cracking begins at the surface and propagates downward. While bottom-up fatigue cracking and the negative effects of RAP in lower asphalt layers have been well addressed, top-down cracking remains unaccounted for in Texas Mechanistic-Empirical Flexible Pavement Design System (TxME). As a result, premature top-down cracking cannot currently be predicted at the design stage. With growing economic and environmental incentives for RAP use—and current specifications allowing it in surface layers—integrating a top-down cracking model into FPS23/TxME is essential to assess its impact properly. The research team will: (1) Evaluate and develop an appropriate mechanistic-empirical (ME) top-down cracking model, (2) Implement it in TxME, and (3) Calibrate/validate the model. The research team will review the literature, identify the ME model, integrate it into TxME, and collect test section data—including mixture properties, structure, and field performance—for calibration and validation.

• Record URL:
  • https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/Presto/project=0-7246

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $413,819.00
• Contract Numbers:

  0-7246

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Texas Department of Transportation

  125 E. 11th Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-2483
• Managing Organizations:

  Texas Department of Transportation

  125 E. 11th Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-2483
• Project Managers:

  Kasberg, Katelyn

• Performing Organizations:

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute

  Texas A&M University System
  3135 TAMU
  College Station, TX  United States  77843-3135
• Principal Investigators:

  Hu, Sheng

• Start Date: 20260101
• Expected Completion Date: 20280430
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asphalt pavements; Calibration; Flexible pavements; Mechanistic-empirical pavement design; Pavement cracking; Pavement performance; Reclaimed asphalt pavements; Validation
• Identifier Terms: Texas Department of Transportation
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Materials; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01967531
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Texas Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 0-7246
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 29 2025 4:12PM