The current Corps of Engineers design procedures for rigid airfield pavements is based on the Westergaard free edge stress slab theory, and a proposed procedure is based on the multilayer elastic theory. These two design procedures have been expanded to airfield pavement designs expressed in probabilistic and reliability terms. Further developments were required in these procedures to make the analysis more practicable. Two major investigations were conducted: (a) Evaluation and use of the composite modulus of elasticity for layers beneath the rigid pavement, and (b) Evaluation of the maximum tensile stress at the bottom of the slab for different aircraft types. Derivations obtained from the investigation of the composite modulus and maximum tensile stress are reported and are included in computer programs for probabilistic/reliability analysis of rigid pavements. The approximate closed form (Taylor series expansion) is utilized. Example runs of the computer program are presented.

The paper was organized to present the various factors which influence the current design criteria with a brief explanation of how the numerical values of each was derived.