U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
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-HRT-17-059 Date: August 2018 |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-17-059 Date: August 2018 |
PDF Version (5.80 MB)
PDF files can be viewed with the Acrobat® Reader®
This report presents findings from an analysis of Long-Term Pavement Performance program data. This analysis was undertaken to verify and propose enhancements to the existing overlay design procedure using the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) rehabilitation design methodology.(1,2)
Deflection data are used to characterize the structural condition of flexible pavements and provide a benchmark in determining the in-place damage of asphalt concrete (AC) layers for use with the MEPDG.(1,2) In-place damage is defined by the ratio of the backcalculated elastic layer modulus and laboratory-measured dynamic modulus of AC layers. This procedure, however, was not verified as part of the MEPDG approach.
The purpose of this report is to document the results from comparing the amount of fatigue cracking to the in-place damage estimated through a modulus ratio between backcalculated elastic modulus values and laboratory-measured dynamic modulus values. The audience for this report includes pavement researchers as well as practicing engineers using AASHTOWare® Pavement ME Design software for rehabilitation design.(3,4)
Cheryl Allen Richter, Ph.D., P.E.
Director, Office of Infrastructure
Research and Development
Notice
This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document.
The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the 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-HRT-17-059 |
2. Government Accession No.
|
3 Recipient's Catalog No.
|
||
| 4. Title and Subtitle
Characterizing Existing Asphalt Concrete Layer Damage for Mechanistic Pavement Rehabilitation Design |
5. Report Date
August 2018 |
|||
| 6. Performing Organization Code
|
||||
| 7. Author(s)
Dinesh Ayyala, Hyung Lee, and Mr. Harold L. Von Quintus |
8. Performing Organization Report No.
|
|||
| 9. Performing Organization Name and Address
Applied Research Associates, Inc. |
10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)
|
|||
| 11. Contract or Grant No.
DTFH61-14-C-00024 |
||||
| 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address
U.S. Department of Transportation |
13. Type of Report and Period Covered
Draft Final Report; September 2014–July 2016 |
|||
| 14. Sponsoring Agency Code
|
||||
| 15. Supplementary Notes
The Contracting Officer’s Representative was Mr. Larry Wiser (HRDI-30). |
||||
| 16. Abstract
Designing rehabilitation strategies for flexible pavements exhibiting various types and levels of distress is a challenge. An important factor related to the design of a rehabilitation strategy is the use of a reliable procedure to evaluate the One of the critical steps for evaluating the in-place structural condition of existing pavement layers is deflection-basin testing. Deflection basins are used to backcalculate the elasticlayer modulus of existing asphalt concrete (AC) layers, which is considered input level 1 for rehabilitation designs in accordance with the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide.(1) Most agencies measure deflection basins as part of their pavement evaluation programs, but few actually use the data to determine the in-place condition of the AC layers. Deflection data are used to establish analysis sections and/or estimate the resilient modulus of the subgrade soils. However, more recently, agencies have started to use the backcalculated elastic layer modulus to determine the amount of in-place fatigue damage in the existing AC layers. This report evaluates the use of deflection-basin data to determine the in-place structural condition of AC layers for rehabilitation design in accordance with the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide—A Manual of Practice.(2) A common use of deflection data is to backcalculate in-place layered elastic modulus values. |
||||
| 17. Key Words
Asphalt concrete, Fatigue damage, Backcalculation, Deflection data, Elastic modulus, Falling weight deflectometer, Long-Term Pavement Performance, Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide, Pavement evaluation |
18. Distribution Statement
No restrictions. This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161 |
|||
| 19. Security Classification (of this report) Unclassified |
20. Security Classification (of this page) Unclassified |
21. No. of Pages
197 |
22. Price
|
|
| Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) | Reproduction of completed page authorized |
