PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT/EVALUATION CONCEPTS

INTRODUCTION
Those responsible for roads are constantly being challenged to do more work with fewer resources. There are no temporary solutions.Road maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction must be considered on ongoing programs. It is the economically responsible way to keep our Nation's infrastructure intact.

Comparison of Growth in Volume and Loading for the Interstate System

 Highway pavement design and construction technology has made huge strides in the effort to manage this increase. Improvements in equipment, materials, construction techniques and Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) mixture design have been instrumental in converting thousands of miles of rough, portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements into smooth, quiet and less costly HMA pavements by properly preparing distressed PCC pavement and overlaying with HMA.

 HMA overlays improve service to the user in many ways.

They strengthen existing pavements Reduce maintenance costs Increase pavement life Provide superior ride quality Reduce safety hazards by improving surface skid resistance.

In addition, HMA overlays in conjunction with full-depth widening and other geometric improvements can be used to increase roadway capacity and further improve safety.

 HMA overlays provide major economic advantages to both user and agency.
Agencies can provide more road miles of quality pavement because deteriorated roads can be improved and placed back into service in a shorter time and for less cost than new roads can be built. For users, both automobiles and commercial vehicles are more fuel-efficient and have less wear and tear when operated on smooth pavements. Also, roads can remain in use while being rehabilitated.

This Course Will cover!

Techniques for evaluating and improving the serviceability of both HMA and PCC pavements with HMA overlays. Techniques for designing structural overlays Techniques to strengthen weak or deteriorated pavements for present use Techniques to accommodate future traffic growth. The evaluation and design techniques presented are for providing input into pavement management systems; but where such systems are not in use, the techniques are equally applicable towards making judgments and design decisions on an individual project basis.

 It is important to distinguish between the terminology rehabilitation and maintenance. The terms can vary from one agency to another. In some jurisdictions, for example, overlays with a thickness of less than 38 mm (1.5 in.) are considered maintenance, and those of greater thickness are considered capital improvements.
The Asphalt Institute defines maintenance as-routine work to keep a pavement as close to its designed level of serviceability as possible.

 Maintenance includes
Preservation of existing pavement surfaces Resurfacing of less than the nominal overlay thickness Resurfacing a short length of pavement Patching and repair of minor failures Under-sealing of concrete slabs

 Rehabilitation The extension of the pavement structure's life when maintenance techniques are no longer viable to maintain adequate serviceability. It requires: Structural evaluation Corrective action A nominal HMA overlay

 A nominal overlay has a thickness of three times the nominal maximum aggregate size. The relationship between layer thickness and nominal maximum aggregate size plays a fundamental role in aggregate orientation during the compaction process. There must be consideration for the nominal maximum aggregate size (one sieve size larger than the first sieve to retain more than 10% of the aggregate test specimen) in the gradation of aggregates when determining overlay thickness. Since many agencies specify 12.5-mm (O.5-in.) nominal maximum size aggregate for their interstate highway surface mixtures, their minimum HMA overlay thickness (over HMA pavements) should be at least 38 mm (1.5 in.).

Planning for Improvements/Pavement Management Systems

The key to good management is:
Careful planning and programming of the work to be done Evaluating the condition of the road, both geometrically and structurally, is the essential first step in planning the improvement If the road is found adequate for present service it should be reevaluated periodically to determine trends that will affect its future adequacy

Such a program provides a continuous inventory of data so that developing problems can be detected and proper corrective action can be efficiently and effectively implemented.

 These evaluations should extend to all roads in the system. Road evaluation includes:
Consideration of geometric adequacy of road Consideration of surface condition of the road Consideration of structural adequacy for current and future use.

Geometric adequacy may be evaluated by studying the construction plans, field inspection, photographic inventory techniques or all of these methods.

 Surface condition is usually evaluated by field inspection; however, the photographic inventory method can also be used to record surface condition. Structural adequacy may be evaluated by studying both surface condition and pavement components or by measuring pavement deflection. To determine if a road is presently serviceable or will serve adequately for a projected period of time, each area-surface condition, structural adequacy, and geometric adequacy-may need to be evaluated. When a judgment is made as to what kind of corrective action is needed, the most economical improvements can be planned and carried out.

Pavement Management System Flow Chart

Pavement Management System
Planning Design Maintenance Evaluation

Construction

Pavement Management System

A pavement management system has a broad, all encompassing structure that allows for considerable variation of details within several major phases or classes of activities. These phases-planning, design, construction, maintenance, and evaluation are discussed in the following slides.

 Planning It includes:
Acquisition of traffic information Assessment of deficiencies on a network basis Establishment of priorities Development of a schedule for carrying out the needed work Determination to acquire any extra property It is in this phase that basic investment decisions are made.

 Design It Includes: Several major activities starting with the acquisition of a variety of information on
Materials Traffic Costs, etc

Development of alternative designs.

These alternatives are then analyzed and compared with respect to their costs and benefits. The most appropriate design is selected for construction.

 Construction

It Consists of:
Work scheduling Actual construction operations Quality control Data processing

 Maintenance
It Involves:
Establishment of a maintenance program Includes a schedule of work based largely on budgetary considerations Maintenance operations (crack filling, patching, etc.) Data acquisition and processing

 Evaluation It Includes:
Establishment of control sections Periodic measurement of such factors as:
Pavement structural capacity, Roughness Condition Skid resistance Traffic, etc.

It also includes the analysis of the data for use in the other phases of the pavement management system.

Data processing plays a crucial role in the pavement management system. A high degree of project efficiency requires the ability to access the database. This comprehensive data center should be centrally located to facilitate the compilation and communication of project data.

Strategies for Future Improvements

A good pavement management system should have an adequate plan for:
Maintenance Rehabilitation Reconstruction Data processing

It must include estimates of the current and future costs of the pavement system chosen. Consideration must also be given to both routine and major maintenance activities.

 Although many maintenance programs require that certain physical maintenance activities, such as pavement repairs, be deferred. The economic consequences of such actions are undesirable. Pavement structures usually deteriorate at an accelerated rate when defects go uncorrected; with accumulated repair costs increasing over time. In such conditions, the deferment decision represents added cost rather than savings to the highway agency. This result is compounded by added user costs and the inflationary effects of delay on repair costs.

Rehabilitation Alternatives
Many alternatives to overlays can be considered while developing strategies for future improvements. The asphalt Institute Manual, Asphalt in Pavement Maintenance (MS-16) discusses a number of alternatives. These alternatives along with brief description of problems are summarized in forthcoming slides.

Problems
Alligator Cracking - Interconnected cracks forming a series of small blocks resembling an alligators skin.

 Edge Joint Cracks - Longitudinal cracks, 30cm (1 ft) or so from the edge of the pavement with or without transverse cracks branching to the shoulder.

 Reflective Cracks - Cracks in asphalt overlays that reflect the crack pattern in the pavement structure underneath.

 Shrinkage Cracks - Interconnected cracks forming a series of large blocks, 1 to 3 meters (3 to 10 ft) across, usually with sharp corners or angles.

 Slippage Cracks - Crescent shaped cracks resulting from horizontal forces induced by traffic.

 Rutting - Channelized depressions in the wheel tracks of the pavement surface.

 Corrugations - A form of plastic movement typified by ripples across the asphalt pavement surface.

 Depressions - Localized low areas of limited size that may or may not be accompanied by cracking.

 Upheaval or Swell - Localized upward displacement of a pavement due to swelling of the subgrade or some portion of the pavement structure.

 Potholes - Bowl-shaped holes resulting from localized disintegration.

 Raveling The progressive separation of aggregate particles in a pavement from the surface downward or from the edges inward.

 Bleeding - The upward movement of asphalt in an asphalt pavement resulting in the formation of a film of asphalt on the surface.

 Polished Aggregate - Aggregate particles in a pavement surface with edges that have been rounded and surfaces polished smooth by traffic.

 Loss of Cover Aggregate Whipping-off the aggregates by traffic from a surface-treated pavement.

Alternatives in HMA Pavement Maintenance and Rehabilitation