الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Four main categories were planned in order to achieve the specified targets. They are the field survey phase, the experimental phase, the analytical phase and finally the economic analysis. The framework is divided into four main phases. The first phase is the field survey phase, which includes the site inspection based on the lateral placement characteristics of vehicles across the pavement width. This is to quantify the percentage of traffic moving on/nearby the pavement edge. The second phase is the experimental phase, which includes the selection and characterization of materials. Also, tests such as the compaction test, CBR test, plate load tests, uniaxial and triaxial tests were conducted. The third phase is the analytical phase which includes the use of finite element method (FEM) through the ANSYS Computer Code to predict the pressure distribution within the different layers for unconfined and laterally confined flexible pavements. Finally, the application phase includes the quantification of lateral confinement provided by different types of shoulders. Simultaneously, a procedure was adopted to incorporate the lateral confinement provided by a plain concrete vertical diaphragm under the pavement edge as an additional tool for design. And subsequently, design charts were developed. In addition the economic evaluation is carried out as an integral part of the proposed design methodology, which found a reduction in construction cost about 46520 Pound /Km for 7.0 m road width with using a plain concrete vertical diaphragm with dimensions 45×10 cm in both side of road.