Development of the DBCONPAS Computer Program for Estimation of Concrete Pavement Parameters from FWD Data

One of the major problems in the evaluation of concrete pavement systems is the accurate determination of pavement parameters such as elastic modulus of concrete, subgrade modulus, and edge and joint stiffnesses. One of the ways to determine these parameters is by matching a measured deflection basin caused by a falling weight deflectometer (FWD) to an analytical deflection basin computed by using a set of estimated parameters. This could be a very time-consuming and costly process. In response to this need, the user-friendly and flexible computer program DBCONPAS (Data Base for CONcrete PAvement Systems) was developed. The DBCONPAS program uses a data base of analytical results generated by the FEACONS (Finite Element Analysis of CONcrete Slabs) program. The data base can be expanded and updated easily. The program is adaptable to computers of various sizes, such as micro, mini, and mainframe computers. This paper describes the program structure, the program algorithm, the basic information in the data base, and the prediction equations used. DBCONPAS was used also to analyze FWD data obtained from several concrete pavement test sites in Florida. DBCONPAS was demonstrated to be an effective tool for analysis of concrete pavements.