Amin Keshavarz

Optimisation-based backcalculation problem in order to extract pavement moduli and thickness have been drastically developed nowadays. It not only serves a feasible cost-effective technique but also shapes a special class of non-destructive tests. The historical course of evolution in this field has caused the emergence of a variety of detector criteria. In this regard, the conventional deformationbased variation criterion (CVC), calculates the discrepancies between the deflection of the pavement surface and the deflection computed by the numerical simulation engine. Indeed, the CVC suffers from the lack of knowledge in relevance with the deformation pattern of the pavement surface. To tackle this dim spot, the present research work aims to propose a versatile criterion called ‘deformation-pattern-based variation criterion (PVC)’ to estimate both moduli and thickness of pavement using the IAS metaheuristic optimisation algorithm. Remarkably, the proposed criterion, PVC, not only efforts to find the deflection points of the pavement surface but also strives to adjust a consistent deformation with the variation pattern of the pavement surface. To investigate the efficiency and robustness of the proposed technique, it is implemented on a hypothetical three-layer pavement and a four-layer field pavement. The obtained results confirmed the outperforming of the PVC compared with the CVC in terms of the pavement modulus and thickness estimation.