PAVEMENT ROUGHNESS STUDY

A STUDY OF PAVEMENT SURFACE ROUGHNESS WAS CONDUCTED USING THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC ROADS TYPE ROUGHOMETER DURING THE PERIOD 1964-68. AMONG THE ASPECTS OF SURFACE ROUGHNESS STUDIED WERE THE LEVEL OF ROUGHNESS OF NEWLY CONSTRUCTED PAVEMENTS AND BRIDGE DECKS, THE MEASUREMENT OF ROUGHNESS AT VARIOUS STAGES IN THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS TO EVALUATE THE BENEFITS OF BINDER AND/OR LEVELING COURSES IN REDUCING ROUGHNESS, THE EVALUATION OF THE RATE OF CHANGE OF SURFACE ROUGHNESS AT VARIOUS AGES AND TRAFFIC LEVELS, AND THE DETERMINATION OF WHETHER MEASUREMENTS OF SURFACE ROUGHNESS AND OTHER MEASUREMENTS SUCH AS PAVEMENT DEFLECTION WOULD PROVIDE AN ADEQUATE CRITERION FOR ESTABLISHING THE NEED OF RESURFACING AND STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE. THE RESULTS INDICATED A SATISFACTORY LEVEL OF SURFACE ROUGHNESS EXISTED ON NEWLY CONSTRUCTED PAVEMENTS. HOWEVER, THE SURVEY OF BRIDGE DECKS INDICATED A HIGH LEVEL OF ROUGHNESS THAT EXISTED ON CONCRETE STRUCTURES IN GENERAL, ALTHOUGH THE ROUGHNESS OF SOME BRIDGE APPROACHES WAS EXCESSIVE. STUDIES OF ROUGHNESS EXISTING DURING THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS REVEALED THAT THE ATTENTION GIVEN AND FUNDS EXPENDED IN PROVIDING A LEVELING COURSE DURING RESURFACING MAY NOT BE WARRANTED BY IMPROVED ROUGHNESS LEVELS. THE EFFECTS OF AGE AND TRAFFIC ON SURFACE ROUGHNESS INDICATE THAT THE ROUGHNESS OF A PAVEMENT SURFACE IS A FUNCTION OF AGE AS WELL AS THE ROUGHNESS LEVEL EXISTING IMMEDIATELY AFTER CONSTRUCTION, BUT THE TRAFFIC DENSITY USING THE FACILITY HAS LITTLE OR NO EFFECT ON SURFACE ROUGHNESS. NOR CORRELATION COULD BE ESTABLISHED WHICH WOULD INDICATE THAT ROUGHNESS OR DEFLECTION COULD BE USED ALONE OR IN COMBINATION AS A CRITERION FOR ESTABLISHING A NEED FOR RESURFACING OR EVALUATING THE ADEQUACY OF A PAVEMENT'S STRUCTURE. /AUTHOR/

• Corporate Authors:

  University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  203 Administration Building
  Knoxville, TN  United States  37996-0700

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Tennessee Department of Highways

  Nashville, TN  United States 
• Authors:
  • Moore, A B
• Publication Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age; Bridge decks; Concrete structures; Deflection; Leveling; Pavement layers; Pavements; Resurfacing; Road meters; Roughness; Smoothness; Surface course (Pavements); Texture
• Uncontrolled Terms: Pavement structure
• Old TRIS Terms: Leveling course; Pavement deflection; Pavement smoothness
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00206451
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Federal Highway Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: Study No 440.97
• Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 31 1972 12:00AM