USES OF SURFACE PROFILE MEASUREMENTS

CONCERN FOR THE TECHNOLOGY OF PROFILE MEASUREMENTS MAY HAVE LED TO A LACK OF CONCERN FOR THE BASIC ISSUE, WHICH IS DETERMINATION OF AN OBJECTIVE MEASURE OF HOW WELL A PAVEMENT SERVES TRAFFIC. TO THIS END THERE ARE AT LEAST FOUR FUNDAMENTAL USES OF PAVEMENT SURFACE PROFILE MEASUREMENTS. FIRST, THEY CAN BE USED AS A QUALITY-CONTROL TOOL. SECOND, THEY CAN LOCATE ABNORMALITIES ALONG THE HIGHWAY. THIRD, THEY CAN ESTABLISH A SYSTEMATIC STATEWIDE BASIS FOR ALLOCATION OF PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE RESOURCES. FOURTH AND MOST IMPORTANT, THEY PROVIDE AN OBJECTIVE MEASURE FOR DETERMINING RELATIONS BETWEEN PAVEMENT PERFORMANCE AND PAVEMENT DESIGN FACTORS, INCLUDING MATERIALS, CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES, CONDITIONS OF TRAFFIC LOADING, AND CLIMATE. THIS WAS THE BASIS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF THE PAVEMENT SERVICEABILITY AND PERFORMANCE CONCEPTS DEVELOPED AT THE AASHO ROAD TEST, PRIOR TO WHICH THERE WAS NO DEFINITION OF PAVEMENT PERFORMANCE THAT COULD BE USED FOR PAVEMENT DESIGN. DURING THE TEST IT WAS DETERMINED THAT DRIVER RATINGS OF PAVEMENTS EXHIBITED EXCELLENT CONSISTENCY AND THAT SOME MEASURE OF LONGITUDINAL PROFILE WOULD PROVIDE THE STRONGEST SIMPLE PREDICTOR OF THE USERS' RATINGS OF SERVICEABILITY. COMPARISON OF PAVEMENT RATINGS OVER THE YEARS, GIVEN THE SAME OR DIFFERENT DESIGNS, TRAFFIC DENSITIES, CLIMATES, AND SOILS, PROVIDES THE NECESSARY ELEMENTS FOR A PAVEMENT STRUCTURAL DESIGN MECHANISM.

• Record URL:
  • https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/sr/sr133/133-003.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Carey Jr, W N
• Conference:
  • Workshop on Pavement Evaluation Using Road Meters
  • Location: West Lafayette Indiana, United States
  • Date: 1972-4-18 to 1972-4-20
• Publication Date: 1973

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Pagination: p. 5-7
• Monograph Title: PAVEMENT EVALUATION USING ROAD METERS
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Special Report
  • Issue Number: 133
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Drivers; Measurement; Panel studies; Pavement design; Pavement performance; Pavements; Ratings; Riding qualities
• Non-Preferred Terms: Serviceability
• Uncontrolled Terms: Profiles
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00206067
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: May 21 1973 12:00AM