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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations

Report
This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information
Publication Number: FHWA-RD-01-168
Date: July 2006

Rehabilitation of Asphalt Concrete Pavements: Initial Evaluation of The SPS-5 Experiment-Final Report

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Foreword

This report documents a detailed review of the Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) Special Pavements Study—5 (SPS-5) experiment. The purpose of the review was to determine the adequacy of the data provided by the experiment. The SPS-5 experiment, entitled Rehabilitation of Asphalt Concrete Pavements, is one of the key experiments of the LTPP program. Its goal is to develop improved methodologies and strategies for the rehabilitation of flexible pavements. The review concentrated on the core experimental test sections, with secondary emphasis on the supplemental test sections that were built by individual agencies for each SPS-5 project.

As a result of this work, the data availability and completeness for the SPS-5 experiment were found to be good overall with two exceptions. The two critical elements or parameters found to have significant deficiencies were the traffic and materials test data. These data deficiencies need to be addressed before a comprehensive analysis of the SPS-5 experiment is conducted. The majority of the SPS-5 data that were collected were at level E.

This report will be of interest to highway agency engineers involved in the collection, processing, and analysis of data that shed light on ways to improve on the design procedures and standards for rehabilitating hot mix asphalt-surfaced pavements.

Gary L. Henderson
Director, Office of Infrastructure
Research and Development

NOTICE

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.

The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein only because they are considered essential to the objective of this document.

QUALITY ASSURANCE STATEMENT

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.

Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No.

FHWA-RD-01-168

2. Government Accession No.

3. Recipient’s Catalog No.

4. Title and Subtitle

REHABILITATION OF ASPHALT CONCRETE PAVEMENTS: INITIAL EVALUATION OF THE SPS-5 EXPERIMENT—FINAL REPORT

5. Report Date

July 2006

6. Performing Organization Code

7. Author(s)

Harold L. Von Quintus, Amy L. Simpson, Ahmed A. Eltahan

8. Performing Organization Report No.

9. Performing Organization Name and Address

Fugro-BRE, Inc.
8613 Cross Park Drive
Austin, TX 78754

10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)

C6B

11. Contract or Grant No.

DTFH61-96-C-00003

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

Office of Engineering Research and Development
Federal Highway Administration
6300 Georgetown Pike
McLean, VA 22101-2296

13. Type of Report and Period Covered

Final Report
Oct 1999 to April 2000

14. Sponsoring Agency’s Code

15. Supplementary Notes

Work was conducted as part of the LTPP Data Analysis Technical Support Contract.
Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR): Cheryl Allen Richter, HRDI-13

16. Abstract

The SPS-5 experiment, entitled Rehabilitation of Asphalt Concrete Pavements, is one of the key experiments of the TPP program. The objective of this experiment is to determine the relative influence and long-term effectiveness of different rehabilitation techniques (including overlay thickness, material, and surface preparation) and site conditions (traffic, pre-existing pavement condition, and climatic factors) on performance. This report documents the first comprehensive review and evaluation of data completeness and availability from the SPS-5 experiment. Eighteen SPS-5 projects have been identified. At each site there are nine core test sections. Some SPS-5 projects also have various supplemental sections. 210 test sections are included in the SPS-5 experiment.

The data availability and completeness were good overall for the SPS-5 experiment with two exceptions: traffic and materials test data. These data deficiencies need to be addressed before a comprehensive analysis of the SPS-5 experiment is conducted. Both of these data elements must be collected in order for the SPS-5 experiment to meet the expectations for calibrating and validating mechanistic models. The majority of the SPS-5 data that were collected were at level E.

Required experiment design factors were compared with the actual experiment design for the large majority of the design factors and can be characterized as good to excellent when comparing designed versus constructed. One project had yet to be constructed and materials testing and data processing still needed to be completed.

17. Key Words

Design factors, experimental design, HMAC, LTPP, performance trends, SPS-5, overlay

18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions. This document is available to the public through
the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia
22161.

19. Security Classification (of this report)

Unclassified

20. Security Classification (of this page)

Unclassified

21. No. of Pages

209

22. Price

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized

SI (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF EXPERIMENT
  3. PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
  4. EXPERIMENT ASSESSMENT—DATA AVAILABILITY AND COMPLETENESS
  5. ANALYSIS OF EARLY PERFORMANCE OBSERVATIONS
  6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

APPENDIX A. PROJECT SUMMARIES

APPENDIX B. CONSTRUCTION DATA SUMMARY

REFERENCES

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

ABBREVIATIONS

AC asphalt concrete
ANOVA analysis of variance
AGG aggregate bases (identical to dense graded aggregate base materials)
ATB automatic vehicle classification (or automated vehicle classifiers)
AVC asphalt-treated base mixtures
AWS automated weather station
COV coefficient of variance
CTB cement-treated base
DGAB dense-graded aggregate base
DOT Department of Transportation
ESAL equivalent single axle load
FHWA Federal Highway Administration
FWD falling weight deflectometer
GPS General Pavement Studies
HMA hot mix asphalt
IMS Information Management System
IRI International Roughness Index
LTB lime-treated base
LTS lime-treated subgrade
LTPP Long-Term Pavement Performance
NAA National Aggregate Association
NCDC National Climatic Data Center
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
OGFC open graded friction course
p probability value
PFC porous friction course
QC/QA quality control/quality assurance
RAP Recycled Asphalt Pavement
RCO Regional Coordination Office
RIMS Regional Information Management System
SAMI stress absorbing membrane interlayer
SHA State Highway Authority
SHRP Strategic Highway Research Program
SPS Special Pavement Studies
WIM weigh in motion

SPS-5 Project Name Abbreviations

AB—Alberta, Canada
AL—Alabama
AZ—Arizona
CA—California
CO—Colorado
FL—Florida
GA—Georgia
MB—Manitoba, Canada
MD—Maryland
ME—Maine
MN—Minnesota
MO—Missouri
MS—Mississippi
MT—Montana
NJ—New Jersey
NM—New Mexico
OK—Oklahoma
TX—Texas

 

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