One particular challenge in pavement design is comparing the results of the different design methods. Some methods, such as the AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) Flexible design method and the AASHTO Rigid method were developed in the US, and use US units, as well as typical design loads and specifications. The same can be said for the Florida Cracking method. Other methods, such as the Swedish PMS-Object use SI units and different design axle load. This thesis describes the development of a MATLAB based unified Graphical design interface, called MULTI-PAVE, which implements all the aforementioned design methods using a unified input, to achieve comparable design pavement thicknesses. The program is validated by comparing its output against independently written modules.

This thesis implements the empirical pavement design procedures for flexible as well as rigid pavement by American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) into two MATLAB modules of MULTI-PAVE. MULTI-PAVE was developed as a teaching tool that performs pavement thickness design for multiple design procedures using a common input file and a common output format. The AASHTO components were developed in accordance with the 1993 AASHTO Pavement Design Guide, and verified against the original design method. The thicknesses of the Asphalt Concrete, Base Course and Sub-base Course are the design outputs for flexible pavement. For rigid pavement, the thickness of slab is determined for various types of concrete pavements. The modules will be included in a MULTI-PAVE framework to compare the design outputs with other design methods.