Combining more than 40 years in materials and science engineering and pavement design research, Dr. Dallas Little with the Texas A&M University College of Engineering’s Zachry Department of Civil Engineering and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), has produced a novel text dealing with research techniques in pavement analysis, modeling and installation titled “Modeling and Design of Flexible Pavements and Materials.”
“This book is a culmination of my research,” said Little, Snead Chair Professor and Regents Professor in the department. “The computational portion of the book is relatively intense as it does take someone through that process in a step-by-step approach rather than just throwing them in with no background. For that reason, I don't think there's any book out there that approaches the computational portion in this manner.”
The book is intended as a reference book or as a textbook for the computational modeling of flexible material pavements like asphalt. Little’s research has provided industry practitioners and consultants with working knowledge to model pavement design or access pavement damage with different techniques.
“Myself and my co-authors, Dr. David Allen, senior researcher at TTI, and Dr. Amit Bhassim, associate professor at The University of Texas at Austin, felt that this comprehensive knowledge didn’t exist in an easily accessible form,” Little said. “There are a lot of books on continuing mechanics, but not applied to asphalt pavements, specifically flexible pavements.”
Little and others will be using concepts highlighted in the book to teach a short course in April at the Mays Business School in Houston, where they will emphasize how the principles in the book can be applied to create longer lasting and more cost-effective pavements.
“I think we’re already seeing researchers and consultants find this computational work valuable in building better roadways for the future,” Little said.