FINAL YEAR PROJECT

Project Title: To Study the Effect of Heat Flow on the Performance of Rigid
Pavement Using Enhanced Integrated Climatic Modeling

Project Supervisor: Sir. Dr. Imran Hafeez

Group Members:
1. Adeel Mehmood (12-CE-23)
2. Omamah Saeed (12-CE-75)
3. Obaid Shahid Mir (12-CE-103)

Summary
The main theme of this project is to study the heat flow effects on the rigid pavements. We
have to analyze all the heat effects on the rigid pavements which include the behavior of the
pavement under different loads. We have to study these effects by using Enhanced Integrated
Climatic modeling. The Enhanced Integrated Climatic Model (EICM) is a one-dimensional
coupled heat and moisture flow program that simulates changes in pavement and subgrade
characteristics and behavior in conjunction with environmental conditions over numerous
years of service. It simulates the upper boundary conditions of a pavement-soil system by
generating patterns of rainfall, solar radiation, cloud cover, wind speed, and air temperature.
The EICM predicts temperature, resilient modulus adjustment factors, pore water pressure,
water content, frost and thaw depths, and frost heave throughout the complete pavement and
subgrade profile for the entire design life of the pavement structure.

Objectives
1. Evaluation of Hot climate modeling on the rigid pavements using the Enhanced
Integrated Climatic Modeling.
2. Evaluate the modeling of thermal behavior in concrete and composite pavements by
the Enhanced Integrated Climatic Model (EICM).
3. Investigate benefits of thin AC overlays on thermal characteristics of PCC slabs using
MnROAD Data.
4. Validate EICM predictions of thermal gradients through PCC slabs.
5. Investigate the effect of MEPDG user inputs for thermal conductivity of the PCC.

Approach to Our Project

We have to analyze Rigid Pavement through EICM, we selected Arkansas State to run the
model as its climatic conditions are very similar to ours.

Portland Cement Concrete Properties

Parameters

Range

Our Selection

Remarks

Thickness of the

6-12

11.5

Normal thickness in

layer (inches)
Number of Elements

10-60

30

our areas
Average of upper and

Thermal

0.44-0.81

0.63

lower limits
Average of upper and

Conductivity PCC
(BTU/hr-ft-F)
Heat Capacty of PCC
(BTU/lb-F)
Total Unit Weight of

lower limits
0.22-0.40
145-150

PCC (pcf)

0.31

Average of upper and

148

lower limits
Average of upper and
lower limits

Initialization of Model
Key Parameters

Range

Our Selection

Year to be modeled

Depends on User

2015

First Month in analysis

Depends on User

December

period

First day of month in

Depends on User

analysis period
Length of analysis period

1-365

365

(days)
Time increment for output

Depends on User

(hours)
Time increment for

Depends on User

0.1

calculation(hours)
Enter Latitude

36.01

(degrees.minutes)
Enter Longitude

Site Specific
Site Specific

(degrees.minutes)
Elevation (ft) (Optional)
Input hourly climatic data

-94.1

Site Specific
Inserting data from an

1247

external database OR

Using the internal database

Using the internal database

Input Details
Thermal Properties
Key Parameters
Surface Short-wave
absorptivity
Time of day when

Range

Our Selection

Remarks

0.80-0.90

0.85

Average of Upper
and lower limits

Site Specific

minimum
temperature occurs
Time of day when

Site Specific

15

maximum

temperature occurs
Upper temperature

Average

limit of freezing

0-32

32

range (F)
Lower temperature
limit of freezing

Temperature During
Winter Nights
Minimum

-1.1-30

range (F)

30

Temperature
recorded during
winters

TTI Infiltration and Drainage model

Moisture Boundary

Either ME-PDG

Condition

Thornthwaite
Moisture Index

Linear Length

Its simple as

Base

TTI Infiltration and

compared to ME-

Course Moisture

Drainage model

PDG Thornthwaite

OR

Moisture Index Base

TTI Infiltration

Course Moisture

and Drainage

Model

model
0-100

100

Cracks/Joints on one

We Chose Maximum
Limit

side pavement (ft)

Total length surveyed

90-300

100

for cracks and joints

we chose 100ft for

(ft)
Types of fines added

Inert Filler (Clay,

to base course
Percentage of fines

Silt )
0-5

added to base course

Percentage of gravel

It depends on user,

50-87

Silt

convenience
It resists percolation

2.5

of water
Average of upper

70

and lower limits

Average of upper

in base course
Percentage of sand in

13-30

21.5

and lower limits

Average of upper

base course
One side width of

15-30

22.5

and lower limits

Average of upper

base (ft)
Slope ratio /base
tangent value

and lower limits

-

1.5

(percent)
The flux boundary
condition assumes
Internal Boundary
condition

Flux or Suction

Flux

that water may enter

the subgrade through
a saturated subbase

Insert the initial temperature for each node and select nodes to model
The easiest way to insert the initial temperature profile is to insert the mean annual air
temperature at the top and bottom of the soil profile, then selecting generate and
temperature. The program will automatically interpolate between these two values. It is

important to select each node as an output node. This will allow the user to observe the results
for each depth of the pavement profile. This can be done automatically by clicking generate,
then output nodes, and all nodes.

Execute the model

1. Execute the model by selecting the run command from the file menu.
The program will then run, and will tell the number of days left in the analysis. The model
typically requires about 5 minutes to run. After running, the output results can be viewed by
clicking view and output files.

Output
Viewing the output files is perhaps one of the bigger challenges of the EICM, but is
straightforward after practice. The first step is to select whether the nodal or profile data is to
be evaluated. The nodal data shows the variation in a parameter at a certain depth over the
course of a certain time. The profile data shows the variation in a parameter with depth for a
given time. To obtain a nodal plot, click nodal, then click a parameter (temperature, water
content or pore water pressure, then click different depths (holding the control button to select
multiple depths), then clicking multiple times (holding the shift button to select a range of
dates). Then click add, then tables only. This will cause a file to be created in the output
files directory. This directory may be difficult to find. It is often easiest to search the
computer for *.tem, as this is one of the output files. To obtain a profile plot, click
profile, then one or more of the parameters, then specific dates.
The output data can be viewed in either graphic form or raw data form. The results will be
discussed in the form of plots and tables derived from the raw data. The raw data is obtained
by selecting Tables Only from the output data window. This selection opens a folder where
each output file is placed and the user can choose what data should be viewed. Plots are
formed for this report by executing the following: open the data in Microsofts Excel;
highlight the column of data; select Data-Text to Columns; choose option fixed width;
and click at locations of the data to create a break. After this is done, a column is inserted for
cumulative time elapsed. Next plots are inserted and data selected to model a representative
amount of nodes. A representative amount of nodes contained in this report include a
minimum of the upper node, lowest node, and intermediate node of each layer. Also the
minimum amount of time series in each plot has been determined to be 10 data sets equally

spaced throughout the year. Creating these plots may require a large processing speed due to
the large file size.