Graphical Applications and BIM Software for Parametric Design of Road Pavements

Pavement design is one of the most important tasks when a road project is developed. The top layers are the most singular because they bear to a larger degree the loads of the axles, they are the contact between tires and road, and they protect the lower layers of the linear structure from weather conditions. However, pavement engineering has not undergone the same development reached by other fields involved in the road design, as the road layout or the design of bridges and drainage frameworks, areas in which the BIM methodology has performed a revolution. This paper presents the main studies which attempt to advance in the field of road surfaces design through BIM approximation. Besides, the main requirements of the pavement engineering are discussed in order to highlight the main challenges that should be overcome to achieve a proper model that includes the mechanical and functional behavior of road pavements that could be applied to road construction projects through BIM applications.