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This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-08-057
Date: November 2008

Long-Term Pavement Performance Computed Parameter: Frost Penetration

CHAPTER 6. LTPP DATA USED FOR FROST DETERMINATION

During Phase I of the project, the research team assessed the availability of the LTPP data needed to support the enhanced algorithm for evaluation of frost penetration. This assessment included data utilized by the existing FROST procedure and the LTPP data that will be utilized by the enhanced FROST procedure. The results of the assessment are summarized in this section.

DATA REQUIRED FOR E-FROST ANALYSIS

The following LTPP database tables containing subsurface temperature, electrical resistivity, and moisture data were used to determine frost penetration under bound pavement layers:

Data from 1993 to 2001 were used to reinterpret previous frost estimates, and data from 2001 to 2004 were used to develop new frost estimates.

DATA REQUIRED FOR EICM ANALYSIS

In applying the EICM, the project team used section-specific data where they were available and pertinent to subsurface temperature prediction. The actual climatic measurements, layer, and material information collected at the site were used as inputs to the EICM. These measurements are included in the following tables:

Default or assumed values were used for some of the required data elements that were not included in the LTPP database. The climatic data from the National Climatic Data Center for a specified longitude and latitude were used where section-specific weather data were not available. These climatic data are integrated in the EICM program. EICM inputs are provided in appendix B.

ANALYSIS DATABASE SUMMARY

The data from the LTPP tables discussed above were assembled in the analysis database. All records were organized by LTPP site, date, and measurement depth. For each analysis site and date, up to 35 records containing ER, temperature, and moisture data were prepared—one for each analysis depth.

One of the issues in processing electrical resistivity, moisture, and soil temperature data was that these data elements are measured at different depths. Therefore, data manipulation was required to correlate various electrical resistivity, soil temperature, and moisture values. To preserve the same interpretation depths as were used in the previous LTPP frost studies,(3) linear interpolation was used to obtain soil temperature and moisture values at the ER interpretation depth. In the previous LTPP frost studies, ER interpretation depth was defined as a middepth between two neighboring electrodes, resulting in 35 analysis depths for 36 electrodes included in the resistivity probe.

Only dates that had either ER or temperature data were included in the analysis database. Records for the months with the minimum monthly temperature above +1 °C and with no ER data were not included in the analysis database because no freeze conditions are possible when temperatures are above +1 °C.

EICM-predicted temperatures were added to the database to fill in the gaps in measured temperature data. EICM predictions were provided only for the sites that had sufficient site-specific EICM inputs. Only gaps of less than one month were filled with EICM predicted temperature values. Source of temperature data was specified in the analysis database to differentiate between measured and predicted temperature data.

Table 5 summarizes the number of records that were assembled in the analysis database for each of the 41 LTPP SMP sites included in the frost study. As can be seen, measured temperature data were the most complete data element, corresponding to the largest number of records in the analysis database.

Table 5. Summary of data assembled for frost penetration analysis.
State code SHRP ID Years with data Days with data Minimum date Maximum date Number of ER data records Number of measured temperature records Number of EICM- modeled temperature records Number of volumetric moisture records
4 (AZ) 1024 4 22 9/14/1995 11/19/1998 770 490 0 561
8 (CO) 1053 5 285 7/1/1993 9/26/1997 1,320 9,286 0 587
9 (CT) 1803 5 277 8/19/1993 10/16/1997 1,375 9,102 0 1,042
16 (ID) 1010 5 355 10/1/1993 6/26/1997 1,235 10,596 1,157 1,031
18 (IN) 3002 4 250 9/8/1995 9/28/1998 412 8,273 0 280
20 (KS) 4054 4 117 8/25/1995 11/19/1998 694 3,671 0 477
23 (ME) 1026 5 466 9/16/1993 10/21/1997 1,324 15,801 0 888
24 (MD) 1634 4 142 5/12/1995 4/8/1998 978 4,445 0 823
25 (MA) 1002 2 83 9/1/1993 10/26/1994 490 2,625 0 227
27 (MN) 1018 7 568 8/24/1993 9/8/1997 1,569 19,022 0 628
27 (MN) 1028 5 835 9/9/1993 9/10/1997 1,352 28,844 0 691
27 (MN) 4040 5 629 9/22/1993 9/9/1997 1,420 20,448 1,088 767
27 (MN) 6251 10 1,486 9/15/1993 10/8/2003 2,110 50,401 774 1,128
30 (MT) 0114 5 896 7/16/2000 9/22/2004 7,876 30,038 0 26,000
30 (MT) 8129 6 326 8/12/1992 10/1/1997 1,728 10,194 0 498
31 (NE) 0114 7 441 8/8/1995 7/11/2002 1,203 13,382 0 637
31 (NE) 3018 9 724 8/11/1995 12/31/2003 1,446 22,852 1,922 825
32 (NV) 0101 6 355 11/6/1996 3/19/2003 4,267 10,399 0 4,889
32 (NV) 0204 2 67 12/1/1996 9/9/1997 239 2,234 0 196
33 (NH) 1001 5 417 10/14/1993 10/22/1997 1,219 14,078 0 652
34 (NJ) 0504 3 170 2/11/2002 3/13/2004 1,915 3,924 0 0
34 (NJ) 0505 3 186 2/11/2002 4/7/2004 2,695 3,925 0 0
34 (NJ) 0506 3 179 2/1/2002 4/7/2004 1,610 2,579 1,285 0
34 (NJ) 0507 3 174 2/2/2002 4/7/2004 1,295 3,913 0 0
34 (NJ) 0902 3 147 3/26/2002 4/7/2004 2,415 3,363 87 0
36 (NY) 0801 10 913 8/23/1995 3/31/2004 15,408 29,258 1,713 11,141
36 (NY) 4018 5 442 10/28/1993 10/14/1997 1,252 14,961 0 707
39 (OH) 0204 2 45 3/18/1998 10/14/1999 504 1,290 0 282
39 (OH) 0901 6 720 1/1/1998 10/16/2003 1,218 22,360 2,354 562
42 (PA) 1606 8 656 8/10/1995 10/15/2003 1,715 21,950 0 1,410
46 (SD) 0804 9 1,113 7/15/1994 12/16/2003 22,741 36,826 0 15,384
46 (SD) 9187 4 344 7/19/1994 9/23/1997 827 9,759 1,928 629
49 (UT) 1001 5 143 10/14/1993 9/24/1997 1,155 3,999 0 894
49 (UT) 3011 5 281 8/3/1993 9/22/1997 1,338 9,367 0 765
50 (VT) 1002 10 1,270 10/7/1993 11/30/2003 12,278 42,387 941 11,498
56 (WY) 1007 5 393 8/11/1993 9/30/1997 1,285 13,147 0 989
83 (MB) 1801 11 2,116 10/13/1993 11/10/2003 27,051 60,475 0 20,476
83 (MB) 3802 6 458 10/15/1993 11/5/1998 1,150 13,268 0 643
87 (ON) 1622 5 469 9/23/1993 10/30/1997 1,393 15,864 0 947
89 (QC) 3015 9 1,605 9/30/1993 6/6/2001 1,635 55,570 0 1,044
90 (SK) 6405 6 755 10/6/1993 5/31/1999 1,255 25,815 0 1,031
Total Records 135,162 680,181 13,249 111,229
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