Robust design approach for flexible pavements to minimize the influence of material property uncertainty

This paper presents a new pavement design approach based on the concept of robust design. Robust pavement design is capable of minimizing the influence of various uncertainties (such as uncertain material properties) on the designed pavement rutting life and fatigue life through a rational adjustment of the design parameters. In this new approach, the signal-to-noise ratio is used to quantify the design robustness, and a genetic algorithm is employed to determine the Pareto front. Using a marginal utility function, the knee point on the Pareto front is selected and is recommended as the optimal design that simultaneously best meets the requirements of safety, robustness and cost. A case study is performed to illustrate this new design approach.