AN EXAMINATION OF CONCRETE PAVEMENT STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE

THIS PAPER ARGUES THAT CONCRETE PAVEMENT DETERIORATION SURVEY VARIABLES (SUCH AS BLOWUPS, SPALLS, AND CRACKS) MUST BE COMBINED IN A SINGLE INDEX IF GENERAL STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE IS TO BE DEFINED AND RELIABLY MEASURED. TO THIS END, A MATHEMATICAL DEFINITION OF PAVEMENT STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE IS DEVELOPED FROM A FACTOR ANALYSIS OF THE SURVEY VARIABLE-CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MATRIX. ALL PROJECTS ARE THEN EVALUATED USING THIS INDEX, THUS FACILITATING THE SEARCH FOR CAUSAL DETERMINANTS OF STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE. HIGHWAY PROJECTS ARE THEN CLASSIFIED BY THE ESTIMATED COARSE AGGREGATE CARBONATE CONTENT AND THE AVERAGE DAILY COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC VOLUME. THE STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE OF PROJECTS IN THESE CLASSES IS THEN COMPARED. IT IS FOUND THAT GOOD PERFORMANCE IS ASSOCIATED WITH HIGH CARBONATE CONTENT AND LOW COMMERCIAL TRAFFIC VOLUME (ADT). MOREOVER, THE RELATIONSHIP WITH TRAFFIC IS SUPPORTED BY A COMPARISON OF DIVIDED HIGHWAY TRAFFIC AND PASSING LANES. MORE INTENSIVE INVESTIGATION REVEALS THAT PERFORMANCE IS MORE CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE PERCENTAGES OF SOFT, NONDURABLE PARTICLES IN THE COARSE AGGREGATES. USING THESE FINDINGS, A MATHEMATICAL MODEL IS DEVELOPED THAT IS DESIGNED TO PERDICT STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE FOR UP TO 15 YEARS OF SERVICE USING ONLY PERCENTAGE OF SOFT, NONDURABLE PARTICLES AND COMMERCIAL ADT. IT IS FOUND THAT THE PRESENT SERVICEABILITY INDEX (PSI) IS NOT SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO EITHER STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE (AS DEFINED IN THIS STUDY) OR TO THE MATERIALS AND USAGE VARIABLES MENTIONED. THIS IS BECAUSE OF THE PSI'S DEPENDENCE ON PAVEMENT WHEEL-TRACK ROUGHNESS - A MEASURE ONLY WEAKLY RELATED TO STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE VARIABLES. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1970/311/311-005.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Paper sponsored by Committee on Pavement Condition Evaluation and presented at the 49th Annual Meeting. 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.
• Authors:
  • Holbrook, L F
• Publication Date: 1970

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: pp 55-67
• Monograph Title: Pavement slipperiness, roughness, and condition evaluation
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 311
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Average daily traffic; Carbonates; Coarse aggregates; Commercial vehicles; Concrete pavements; Factor analysis; Mathematical analysis; Mathematical models; Pavement performance; Serviceability; Structural analysis; Traffic volume
• Uncontrolled Terms: Serviceability Index
• Old TRIS Terms: Wheel path
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00207191
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Sep 28 1970 12:00AM