Use of Rolling Wheel Deflectometer Deflection Data in Pavement Management Systems for Flexible Pavement

摘要

This paper proposes a protocol for a new PMS which uses both the pavement surfacedistress and deflection indices for the selection of pavement treatments. First, adeflection based PMS is explored and its advantages and limitations discussed. Then, thePMS is combined with pavement surface distress based PMS and the corresponding PMSprotocol suggested. This new system can use either pavement surface distress indices asthe primary index and deflection index as the second index or vice versa, and willconsider both the functional and structural characteristics of asphalt concrete (AC)pavements. The selection of these two types of indices is based on the current knowledgeand experience, and their threshold targets can be further modified when moreunderstanding and experience one are available. The example of such PMS isdemonstrated using the RWD and current PMS data from District 5 of Louisiana and isrecommended for implementation in the district on a trial basis. The new PMS shouldbetter reflect the real world situation when recommending the treatments for ACpavement preservation and rehabilitation, but need more field data to validate andmodify. Also, the proposed new PMS and analysis are based on the pavement segment of0.1 mile as the basic unit and a typical pavement rehabilitation and preservation projectwill have many pavement segments of 0.1 miles with different structural and surfacedistress conditions. Therefore, agencies’ experience and policies are needed for choosingthe representative index values for pavement treatment recommendations. The averageSN based approach can also be used as the new PMS can also have a function ofestimating pavement SN for a pavement preservation and rehabilitation project.