Pavement System Design

This comprehensive course covers the full lifecycle of pavement system design, including geotechnical inputs, material behavior, mix design, and structural analysis. Participants will explore both traditional and modern design methods, including AASHTO and MEPDG, through real-world examples and lab-based insights. With instruction from leading experts, attendees will gain the technical depth needed to optimize pavement performance and make informed design decisions.

• Civil and geotechnical engineers involved in pavement design, construction, or evaluation.
• Contractors, estimators, and technical staff supplying paving materials and equipment.
• Public works professionals, inspectors, and facility managers responsible for road infrastructure planning and maintenance.

Day 1

Part 1 – Soils and Roads

Introduction to Roads and Pavements

• Course introduction and objectives
• Damage mechanisms
• traffic loads
• freeze-thaw cycling
• wet-dry cycling
• Structural numbers

James M. Tinjum, PE, PhD
Program Director
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Soil and Geotechnical Inputs for Roads and Pavement Design

• AASHTO soil classification
• Strength parameters
• California bearing ratio
• unconfined compressive strength
• resilient modulus
• r-value
• AASHTO and MEPDG Geotechnical inputs

James M. Tinjum, PE, PhD

Field Investigation Scope, Laboratory Testing Program, and Construction QA/QC

• Soils Field Investigation
• number and depth of investigation points
• exploration techniques
• boring logs
• Geotechnical reporting
• Correlations for soil properties
• Field QA/QC
• falling weight deflectometer
• dynamic cone
• proctor compaction curves, density testing

James M. Tinjum, PE, PhD

Unpaved Roads, Working Platforms, and Haul Roads

• Army Corps of Engineers method
• Giroud-Noiray and Giroud-Han methods
• Working platforms

James M. Tinjum, PE, PhD

Soil and Subbase Improvement

• Chemical stabilization
• lime, fly ash, Portland cement
• Geosynthetics
• geotextiles, geogrids, geosynthetic drains
• Recycled Material as subbase and base
• recycled concrete aggregate (RCA)
• recycled pavement material (RPM)
• recycled asphalt pavement (RAP)
• foundry slag/sand
• bottom ash

James M. Tinjum, PE, PhD

Unpaved Roads, Haul Roads, and Construction Access

• Army Corps of Engineers method
• Giroud-Noiray and Giroud-Han methods

James M. Tinjum, PE, PhD

Part 2 – Materials for Pavements

Hot-Mix Asphalt (HMA)

• Asphalt cement
• source, production, and grades
• test methods
• effect on pavement performance
• visco-elastic and failure properties
• Liquid asphalts
• emulsions, cutbacks, and grades
• production methods
• surface treatments
• Gradation and properties of aggregates
• gradation requirements
• physical properties
• test methods
• superpave design requirements
• Portland cement (PC) types and properties
• PC production and cement properties
• modulus, strength, and durability
• water cement ratio, curing, and volume changes
• aggregate requirements and admixtures

Hussain U. Bahia, PhD
Professor
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Day 2

Asphalt Mixture Design and Testing

• Stresses/Strains in flexible pavements
• Visco-elastic systems and moving loads
• Mixture design methodologies
• Marshall, Hveem, superpave
• Thermal properties and durability

Hussain U. Bahia, PhD

Part 3 – Pavement Design

Flexible Pavement Design

• Design charts
• Asphalt institute method
• AASHTO method

Rigid Pavement Design

• Design charts
• Portland Cement Association (PCA) Method
• AASHTO Method

Hussain U. Bahia, PhD

Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design

Guide (MEPDG) – Introduction and Geotechnical Inputs

• Empirical methods
• Introduction to MEPDG
• Geotechnical inputs

James M. Tinjum, PE, PhD

Pavement Design with MEPDG

• Flexible pavement design
• Rigid pavement design

Hussain U. Bahia, PhD

Portland Cement Concrete Construction

• Slip from construction and reinforcement placement
• Joint dowels
• Curling practices and finishing

Hussain U. Bahia, PhD

Pavement Performance

• Distress mechanisms
• Serviceability concept
• Design of overlays

Hussain U. Bahia, PhD

"We rate this course overall…excellent! All topics were great for our jobs, the speakers were masters of their topics, and the presentations were very helpful."
—Kenneth Miner, Chief Engineering Inspector, City of Edmond, Edmond, Oklahoma
—Pete Reining, Engineering Inspector, City of Edmond, Edmond, Oklahoma

"The content and presentations were excellent, and the speakers knowledgeable and kept you interested."
—Kevin Haddix, Project Manager, H2M Railroad Consulting, Talking Rock, Georgia

Hussain Bahia

Hussain U. Bahia, PhD is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin—Madison where he directs the Modified Asphalt Research Center. His current research and teaching focuses on pavement material and design, particularly on modified asphalts and asphalt mixes. Bahia has been the Technical Director of the Wisconsin Highway Research Program.

James Tinjum

James M. Tinjum, PE, PhD, F.ASCE, is an Associate Professor and outgoing Director of the Geological Engineering Program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Dr. Tinjum has 35 years of solid waste experience, beginning in 1990. Prior to his engagement as a faculty member at UW–Madison in 2008, he worked for 15 years in industry for prominent engineer-procure-construct firms and a Fortune 50 company. He has specialized technical knowledge in geoenvironmental and remediation engineering for landfills with industrial waste (lime kiln dust, cement kiln dust, foundry residuals, paper mill sludge, coal combustion residuals), municipal solid waste (particularly landfill liner and cover systems and the monitoring, recovery, and value-added use of landfill gases), and hazardous waste. He conducts research in waste geotechnics and waste containment systems; the beneficial reuse of industrial byproducts (e.g., for subgrade improvement and cementitious stabilization of pavement layers); life cycle environmental analysis of geo systems; remediation of contaminated sites; and fate and transport of landfill gas emissions. Dr. Tinjum developed these interests not only through industry practice and applied research, but also through discussions and interactions with practitioners participating in his nationally/internationally attended engineering short course programs. In applied practice, Dr. Tinjum has participated in nearly 100 solid waste projects.