Use of Precipitation Records in Drainage Design of Porous Asphalt Surface Layer

Precipitation, including rain and snow, in general has a negative effect on road system efficiency and safety. Porous asphalt (PA) layer, with its high permeability and its capacity to drain water from the surface, can largely mitigate this impact. The performance of PA surface layer should meet drainage requirements that depend on the local weather type and design targets of safety/efficiency levels. This paper proposed a method for incorporating local weather records into PA layer design. As hydrologic constructions are based on intensity duration frequency (IDF) curves, this paper discusses the use of the same method for designing PA layers. As the exposure time of pavement to wet weather may be more directly related to road accidents and efficiency, the method of wet exposure is introduced as well. An IDF versus wet exposure plot shows these two parameters are not correlated; thus the two parameters cannot be used interchangeably. The IDF curves were developed based on extreme weather experienced across a number of years. However, no evidence shows the extreme weather is the prevalent concern of pavement design. The design based on IDF criteria leads to a low invest/outcome ratio. For pavement, the total time of exposure to adverse precipitation appears to be more important. The wet exposure method can be improved to provide exposure times for the different designs and fulfill PA thickness design requirements based on local weather and safety/efficiency expectation.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFD60 Flexible Pavement Design.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Tang, Lijie
  • Flintsch, Gerardo W
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2013-1-13 to 2013-1-17
• Date: 2013

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 12p
• Monograph Title: TRB 92nd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crashes; Drainage; Pavement design; Porous materials; Precipitation (Meteorology); Wet weather
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology; Pavements; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways; I26: Water Run-off - Freeze-thaw;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01473059
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 13-2720
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 19 2013 3:03PM