Elmod 6 Guide

for
Elmod 5 Users

1. Table of Contents
1. Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... 2
2. List of Changes and News ............................................................................................ 3
3. Installation .................................................................................................................... 4
4. Databases....................................................................................................................... 4
5. Menus ............................................................................................................................ 5
5.1 Navigation ........................................................................................................................... 5
5.2 Menu Structure .................................................................................................................. 6

6. Settings .......................................................................................................................... 7
7. Temperature Handling ................................................................................................. 8
8. Merge, Split and Rename File Options ...................................................................... 11
9. Structure...................................................................................................................... 12
10. Backcalculation......................................................................................................... 13
11. Design ........................................................................................................................ 14
11.1 Overlay Design ............................................................................................................... 14
11.2 New Design...................................................................................................................... 15
11.3 Traffic.............................................................................................................................. 17

12. Plots ........................................................................................................................... 18

13. Parameters................................................................................................................. 19
13.1 Material Types................................................................................................................ 20
13.1.1 Fatigue Cracking and Permanent Deformation tabs .......................................................... 21
13.1.2 Temperature Dependency .................................................................................................... 22
13.1.3 Seasonal Temperatures......................................................................................................... 24

13.2 Vehicles and Wheels....................................................................................................... 25

13.3 Seasons ............................................................................................................................ 28

2. List of Changes and News

Windows and Menus
New Menu- and submenusystem with icons and click free navigation
Navigation in menus from keyboard
New backgrounds with color graduation
Restructuring of menu items to be more logic

Raw Data
Facilities for graphical view of all 3 temperatures.
Possibility to see effect of Bell's equation
Possibility to enter complete structure including materials in Structure window
Possibility to view section structures graphically
Automatic handling of section definitions from GPR data
Possibility to merge, split and rename imported files
GPS data are transferred to Elmod6 database
Facilities for graphical view of all 3 temperatures.

Parameters
Redesign of Parameter Setup to be more logic and understandable
Selection of criteria from pre-defined list of possibilities
New criteria can be named and saved to standard list
Graphical view of criteria
Graphical view of temperature correction function
Graphical view of Seasonal variations
Better and easier setup of design loads

Backcalculation and Design

Better guidance regarding temperature used for modulus correction
Calculation of moduli at reference conditions, and to view these in Plots
All traffic related information has moved to design window.
Possibility to do design based on existing unbound layers or subgrade.
Possibility to do design of new structure. Option for using Monte Carlo Simulation
Design supports now single wheel dual axle and single wheel tridem axle
Up to 24 load types (vehicles or aircrafts) with up 100 wheel setups can be included
in one analysis

Graphics and Exports

Plot of Normalized deflections
Separation of deflections for center and joint
Plot of surface moduli per point, including new functionalities
Word Reports
Export of all data to Excel in one operation

Other
Vista compatibility
Possibility for Time-limited licenses
Does not require Elmod 5 to be uninstalled

Minor
Sorting of files in open file window
Graphics during moduli estimation
Automatic Link to Weather information site
Graphical view of steps and offset for iteration process
User-specified background colors
Import of Temperature table from Excel

3. Installation
The installation procedure is the same as for Elmod5.
It is no longer required to uninstall previous version, which makes it possible to
run Elmod 5 and Elmod 6 at the same time on the same computer. This can be
useful for testing the beta version. They will require separate license files. The
default installation folder will be C:\Program Files\Dynatest\Elmod6\
Certain files that were previously installed in the Elmod program folder, will now
be installed in a separate folder C:\Dynatest\Elmod6\
This change was necessary to make Elmod6 compatible with Windows Vista.
The license file aDelmod.prd is one of these, and its important to notice that for
Elmod 6 this file must be copied to the path as indicated. The template database
(EmptyElmod6.mdb) and the Aircraft database (Aircrafts2007.mdb) will also go
into this new folder. Files in this folder will not be overwritten if new releases are
installed.

4. Databases
The structure of the database has changed to accommodate the new facilities in
Elmod 6. Elmod 5 databases cannot be used with Elmod 6. Elmod 6 is instead
equipped with an upgrade utility that can convert an Elmod5 database to Elmod 6
database format.
If you open an Elmod 5 database in Elmod 6, the program will tell it is an Elmod 5
database, and ask if you want to create a copy to be used with Elmod 6. If you
select Yes, you can then specify name and location of the new database, and
Elmod will transfer all data to the new database. This will usually only take few
seconds. The new database will then be opened, and you can continue to open a
file from the database. All parameter setups are transferred as well.

Also the Aircraft database is new, and Elmod 6 will not be able to read the old
one. If you have defined and added new aircraft types with Elmod 5, you have to
add them again with Elmod 6 (or even better, to supply me with the information,
so I can add them as defaults, then the information becomes accessable for all
users).

5. Menus
As you will see the menu system is new, with an icons connected to each menu
item. I have replaced the standard Windows layout, with a home made layout to
make it look a bit more modern and fancy, and to allow certain activities that
were not possible with the standard menu system.

5.1 Navigation
With Mouse
When moving the mouse cursor over a menu item (label or related icon), you will
automatically see the submenu if there is one, and you can continue the mouse
move to the submenu item you want to go to. Submenu items can have a new
submenu level. In the manner you can reach any menu item or submenu item
without clicking the mouse. First when you have highlighted the desired item, you
need to click to activate the item.
The advantages are that you can move fast around in the menus and save a lot
of mouse clicks. The drawback is that you need to be a bit more careful with the
mouse movements, because a selected submenu window will disappear if you
move the cursor outside the submenu window. I have reduced this drawback a
bit by making the submenu items larger, which also allows more space for the
related icons.
From keyboard.
The whole menu system can be controlled without using the mouse. Instead the
key with the first letter of the menu label can be pressed (not case sensitive).
To open a database you would then press: pdo and <Enter>
(p for Project, d for Database, o for Open and <Enter> to activate)
You will see the mouse cursor is following your choices, so its easy at any time
in the process to let the mouse take over.

If more items have the same first letter, the first one will be selected, and you
have to press the same key again to select next item.

5.2 Menu Structure

Some menu options from Elmod 5 have found new locations in Elmod 6:
-

Units and language options have moved from Options to Settings

window.

Em factor has moved from Options to Settings

Fix layer moduli (minimum and maximum values) from Options in Elmod
5, are now values specified in the parameter setup for each material type.
In Settings it can be defined if they should be respected during
backcalculation,

View Bowl from Review data window has moved to a new facility in the
PLOT features (Surface Modulus plot and click point in graph to activate).

The Traffic options and distribution on defined load types have moved
from Parameter Setup to Design window.

Distress Reduction Factors have move from Structures to Settings.

Selection of Load Transfer method has move from Structures to

Settings.

The Calibrate options have been removed, as better options are possible
using the Fem/Let/Met module.

6. Settings

Units
This can only be change, when no database is open. After opening a database it
shows the selected unit system for the database.
Weather Report Site
This tells which Internet site to open, when you click the Link button located in
the Moduli window (Next to average temperature, using Bells).
Automatic insertion of seed values
With this activated, Elmod 6 will automatically insert a materials reference
modulus in the Structure window as seed value, when you select a material.
Use moduli restrictions
In the parameter Setup for materials you can set a minimum and a maximum
value for the modulus. If you check to use moduli restrictions, then the
backcalculation procedures will now allow the layer modulus to exceed this
range.

On the tab Colors you can change the background colors for windows, frames
and buttons. The factory settings are what you see here. For windows the colors
can be graduated from top to bottom. Its possible to change to something very
awful, so the possibility to change back to factory settings is useful.
Level 1, 2 and 3 refers to main window, sub windows and sub sub windows.

7. Temperature Handling
This has traditionally been handled a bit confusing in earlier versions of Elmod.
The problems were mainly:
-

Air temperatures have never been read by Elmod.

If asphalt temperatures have not been measured, the surface
temperatures were automatically transferred and reported as the asphalt
temperatures. This could lead to confusions whether it was necessary to
use Bells equation for estimating asphalt temperature.
It has not been possible to view the results of calculating asphalt
temperatures using Bells equation.

From Review Data its now possible to get an overview of all temperatures,
including the predicted temperature using Bells equation.
In the table, you will see values for the measured temperatures. Please notice
that asphalt temperature is reported as read from the data files. It often happens
that values are present, even this temperatures has not been measured,
because the operator has left a default value during the FWD testing.
If you click the button Temperature graphs, you can see the temperature
curves.

In the example to additional curves have been added:

-

The asphalt temperature as calculated using Bells equation, based on the

input as seen in the lower right corner.
Interpolated asphalt temperatures, based on the input from manually
recorded asphalt temperatures during testing. This curve is generated by
clicking the Interpolate button, and is useful because often asphalt
temperatures are only measured at the beginning and at the end of an
FWD test section. Clicking the Transfer button, will send these
temperatures to the table in Review data window, from where they can be
saved permanently.

When later doing backcalculation you can decide which temperature to use for
the asphalt. In the Moduli window you will see:

The temperature status box, gives the information about which temperatures that
are available, and in the Asphalt temperatures box you can select which asphalt
temperature that should be used.
Notice that the asphalt temperature is normally not used in the backcalculation
procedure, but will generate the asphalt temperature to be used with design,
where moduli at testing temperature will be modified to moduli at seasonal
design temperature.
If materials types have been filled in before backcalculation, then the
temperatures will be used to calculate the moduli at reference temperature.
These can be seen in PLOT after backcalculation. Select Backcalculation Emoduli and go to Graph options and check Adjusted to reference conditions.
The temperatures will also be used in the backcalculation in case a temperature
sensitive material has been fixed to a specific modulus at a specific temperature.
This layers moduli will then be calculated at testing temperature from the above
input.

10

8. Merge, Split and Rename File Options

Merging
Its possible to merge two imported files, if they have same test setup (geophone
distances, plate radius) and same number of drops per point.
After import of the 2 files, open the first file (this will be the name of the combined
file). From menu select: Project Datafile Merge files. Select then the file
you want to merge into the one you opened.

Splitting
To handle huge files covering long sections, it can be conviniant to split the file
into two or more files. If you need to subdivide into more than 20 sections, it will
be necessary to split file.
The option is available from the Review data window.
By right click in the chainage column, you get options for marking points to be
transferred to a new file. When the selection of points is ready, you can click the
Split File button, and you will have to give a name for the new file.
Renaming
Open the file, and from menu select : Project Datafile Rename file. Enter
the new name for the file.

11

9. Structure
The window for entering pavement structure and sections has been redesigned
and the possibility to enter layer materials has been added.

Its not required to enter material type information, but if the information has been
entered it will allow the backcalculation procedure also to calculate the moduli at
reference conditions, and further you wont have to enter the information again
when later doing design.

12

In the example two sections have been defined. Clicking the View structure
button will give a graphical overview of all sections with the entered pavement
information.

Moving the mouse cursor over the layers will display a message box with the
pavement information details for the layer and section.
If using GPR data information and entered data with inconsistent number of
layers, then this symbol will be blinking
to right of the To field. Click it to let
the program automatically subdivide the section according to the GPR data
information.

10. Backcalculation
The Moduli window for starting backcalculations is mainly same as before. The
temperature information is described in chapter 7.
The button Reference moduli will calculate the moduli at reference temperature
from the estimated moduli, if pavement layer materials types have been entered.
Its mainly there to be used if moduli has been estimated using the Fem/Let/Met
module which does not calculate them automatically.
If using the Deflection bassin fit method, they will be calculated automatically,
and there is no reason to use this option.
The effects of changing Offset and Steps for the iteration process is now
illustrated with a coloured bar. Offset defines how wide a range of moduli that will
be included in next iteration loop, and steps defines how many points inside
that range that will be calculated.

13

11. Design
There has been added several new facilities to the design part of Elmod 6. When
you select design from menu, you can now select between Overlay design and
New design.
Overlay design is used when design is based on existing results from the
backcalculations. This can be on top of existing pavement or it can be with one or
more layers removed before designed new overlay.
New design will not use any existing pavement information. It will calculate
required thickness of top layer, based on input of the other layers in the structure.
A Monte Carlo simulation can be used, by entering standard deviation factors for
the layer moduli.

11.1 Overlay Design

14

The example shows input to Overlay design similar to what was possible with
Elmod 5. In the upper left corner design on existing pavement is selected, and
the overlay material is define in the Add new layers box. Its now possible to
change the design modulus (at reference temperature) to some other value.
If you wish to base design on existing unbound materials a possible input could
be like this:

In the grid you will notice that the layers removed are grayed out. In the example
2 new layers are added, and the design will calculate the required thickness of
the AC layer.
Please notice you can only add new layers up to a total of 6 for the whole
pavement structure including subgrade and design layer, and the total number of
bound layer can maximum be 3.
When a design calculation has finished, you can select View Plot for going
directly to the graphing of the results in the PLOT program.

11.2 New Design

To do new design its not required to have any data file open, because no FWD
data are used for the purpose.
Its only possible to do design of the top layer, based on the information you
enter of the layers below in terms of thicknesses and design modules. The
design procedure will use the Parameter Setups like for normal overlay design,
as well as the trafic input is handled the same way.
An example of input is given in next in following figure:

15

The results of the design will be shown in the Results frame, but you can also go
to Plot program and view all results as usual.
If you check to use Monte Carlo simulations the input screen will look like this:

16

For each layer you can enter a standard deviation factor according to a
logarithmic normal distribuation. For each run in the simulation, the design will
calculate a random set of moduli according to the defined logarithmic normal
distribuation using the entered E-modulus as mean value. The mean value and
standard deviation for the overlay calculations will be displayed in the Reults
frame. If you go to the PLOT program you will be able to see the results
generated for each run in the simulation.

11.3 Traffic
The distribution on load types, and the traffic conversion facilities has moved
from parameter setup to the design window, because this information is usually
project related. In the example you see input for an Airport with 6 aircrafts
defined in the parameter setup.

The traffic calculation functions work as before. A transfer button has been added
to send the results to the design traffic window.

17

12. Plots
Some additional facilities have been added to the Plot program.
General
For a file which is sectioned, it is now possible to have all graph types showing
the results for all the sections together. This can be selected from Graph
Options.

Deflections
For PCC measurements its now possible to select only center tests or tests at
joints from the Graph Options.
Its now possible to show normalized deflections at a specific stress level. This
can be selected from Graph Options.
E Moduli
If materials have been defined before backcalculations, it is possilbe to view Emoduli also at reference conditions. This option can be selected from Graph
Options.

Design
When viewing graphics for design results, the materials used can now be viewed
in Graph options. For Seasonal values now also the values for the design
materials can be plotted

Reports and Export

All reports will now be created in Microsoft Word. A possibility to Export to Excel
has beed added. All test data and results can be exported in one operation.

18

13. Parameters
The windows and structure for defining the parameter setups have changed
significantly to make this similar to the way it works in PERS. This goes specially
for defining design loads. Various graphics option have been added to make it
possible to view the effect of the chosen settings and constants.
When selecting Parameters from main mneu you will get a list of avaible
parameter setups. If no database is open the list comes from the defaults,
otherwise its generates from the list in the project database. Select a name in
the list and a tab with all information belonging to this setups will be displayed:

You can edit everything on all tabs, nothing will be saved before you decide by
clicking on of the buttons to the right. Save as Permanent Setup will save the
setup as a new default setup avaible with all new created databases. You cannot
overwrite the existing default setups. Save Setup will save your changes to the
setup, and Save as new Setup will save the parameters to a new name.

19

13.1 Material Types

To the left you can select which material you want to look at, and you will have all
the properties to the right. You can create a new material, and the new material
will have a copy of the current materials properties per default.
Material Type and Temperature Dependent.
These are new fields. The temperature dependence should be set to activate the
tab Temperature dependency for selecting method.

Fatigue Cracking and Permanent Deformations

These can be clicked on/off as you like, and defines the criterias that should be
active for the material. The related tabs below will be activated when you click
them on.
Hatch
You can click this field for a choice of patterns to represent the material in various
graphics in Elmod 6.
Min. Modulus and Max Modulus
These fields can be used to restrict the backcalculation to values within that
range. If you want to do this, you also have to indicate in Settings, that the
restriction must be followed.
20

13.1.1 Fatigue Cracking and Permanent Deformation tabs

Because fatigue cracking has been clicked on, as seen on the previous picture
you have access to set the criteria from the tab. It is now possible to select from
a list of named criterias. When selecting from the dropdown box, the related
constants will be inserted in the equation. A list of criterias is provided as default
with the installation, but you can add new as you like. If you change the
constants so the equation no longer fits any from list, the program will tell you its
an Unknown criteria. You can then give it a name by typing in the colored field
and add it to the list by clicking Add to list.
The criterias are associated with the choice of fatigue/permanent and the choice
of stress/strain related. This means a criteria you have entered for fatigue
cracking will not show up in the list you see when looking at permanent
deformation criterias.
If you click View, you will see a graphing of the selected criteria:

Its possible to compare various criteris on the graph, be unchecking the Clear
option. After unchecking close the graph window, and select another criteria,

21

then click View again. In next example 3 criterias are compared by repeating the
procedure:

The Graph button is there to refresh the graph when changing the E-value for a
criteria which is moduli dependent.

13.1.2 Temperature Dependency

The methods for correcting E-moduli according to the material temperature
contains the same options as for Elmod 5.
Its now possible to have a graphical view of the chosen method, by pressing the
View button (see examples next page).
You can compare different methods in the graphics, by unchecking the Clear
button, closing the graph window, and select another method. Example of this is
shown on next page.

22

23

13.1.3 Seasonal Temperatures

This is where you define the seasonal design temperatures,by either setting them
manually for each season, or by calculate them according to a sinousoidial
temperature curve over the year.
You can view the effects graphically by clicking the View button. In following
example 4 seasons have been defined (from Seasons tab), and showing the
effects of calculating temperatures from the sinousiodial equation:

The blue line shows the defined equation. At the top you see the 4 seasons
definedd (S1 to S4), and the little blue squares indicate the characteristic week in
the season. The design temperature used for each season is then showed by the
light blue lines at the graph. The design temperature for season 2 is in the
examples calculated as 17o C.
You can change the characteristic week, by moving the little blue boxes to the
left or the the right, using dragging with the mouse. You will see the effect that
the blue line moves up or down. This is an alternative to enter the characteristic
week number from the Seasons tab.
If you select to define temperatures manually the graph will look like this for the
defined 4 seasons, based on the manually entered design temperatures:
24

13.2 Vehicles and Wheels

The way of defining the loads used for the design has changed to something
more similar to how it is handled in PERS. A load is now defined as a Vehicle
with a number of related wheel configurations.
A vehicle can then be a truck, an aircraft or an equivalent standard axle. In the
design all defined vehicles in the parameter setup will be used with their related
wheel information. There may be wheels defined in the list of wheel that do not
belong to any of the defined vehicles. These will not be used in the design.
Notice that the defined wheels usually consist of 2 sets symmetrical around the
centerline of the vehicle. The load information on the Vehicle tab must reflect
this. It means for trucks and and equivalent axle setup, the load percentage must
be set as the axle load. For aircraft wing gears its the total for left and right, and
for nose wheels and body gears, it must indicated on the Wheels tab that it is a
centerline wheel type.
25

On the Vehicle tab it can selected whether the pass to coverage method or the
normal distribution function should be used in the design. This setting counts for
all defined vehicles in the parameter setup.
If normal distribution is used, then the pass to coverage input fields are grayed
out on the Wheels tab. Instead the Tread field is available, giving the distance
between the two pair of wheels. Further the standard deviation must be entered
on the Vehicle tab. The tread will be used to calculate the postions of the loaded
lines in the traffic distribution for each wheel, while the postion of the line where
responses are calculated is given by the input field Testline offset on the design
window
If pass to coverage method is used, you can enter pass to coverage ratios on the
Wheels tab. Please notice following:
- For roads you usually assume that all traffic loads or the equivalent loads
apply to the same line, which means the pass to coverage values should
be set to 1.
- If using this method for aircraft loads the pass to coverage ratios are
usually calculated for the critical gear. The pass to coverage ratio for the
other gears (normally nose) must then be left blank (or you can select not
to include them for the vehicle).
As standard deviation and tread input fields are not relevant with this method,
they will be grayed out on the tabs.
Below is shown some examples of load efinitions

26

Above setup of an equivalent axle as a vehicle. Following is the belonging Wheel

tab information:

For a setup to be used for airfield evaluations a Vehicle setup could look like this:

27

And the belonging wheels tab like this:

For aircrafts you can define a new vehicle by importing all necessary information
from the Aircraft database supplied with Elmod 6.
From the Vehicle tab, check the option Aircraft list and click Create new
vehicle. This opens a window for selecting an aircraft type, and clicking OK will
import all necessary information and add to both Vehicle tab and Wheel tab. You
can following make changes if necessary before saving the setup.

13.3 Seasons
The information entered is like in Elmod 5. If you have made changes you can
use the Even Distrbution button to insert the percentual values, that will equal
traffic/day over the year.

28