Pavement structural condition and rate of deterioration are needed at the network level to plan optimal structural rehabilitation actions, to develop future budget needs and to assess meaningful progress under a performance-based program. Historically, however, State Highway Agencies (SHAs) Pavement Management Systems (PMS) have been based primarily on surface condition data and lack an effective measure of pavement structural condition mainly due to a lack of devices that were able to collect such information efficiently and with little or no traffic interruption at the network level. Recent developments of traffic speed deflection devices (TSDD), such as the Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD) by Greenwood Engineering and Rapid Pavement Tester (RAPTOR) by Dynatest, have now made network level pavement structural evaluation practical. This new technology has been evaluated across the world and the devices have been incorporated in to routine testing in many countries. Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center has led a number of research efforts focused on evaluation of the technology, demonstration of the technology to State DOTs and currently is participating in the implementation of the technology through a Transportation Pooled Fund (TPF) study. In continuation of this effort, this project will develop effective analysis methodologies for implementing structural condition data collected with TSDDs within SHA’s pavement management decision-making process. The analysis methodologies should be customizable to meet individual participant SHA’s pavement management requirements. The project will utilize pavement structural condition data collected as part of the TPF study along with the SHA’s PMS data. The study will involve getting insight into SHA’s PMS, its data flow and decision-making process, data analysis, and use of numerical modelling approaches and tools such as 3D-Move and ViscoWave to analyze the complex problem of moving load on a layered system of non-linear, visco-elastoplastic materials. The outcome of this study will be the development of a structured approach to incorporate pavement structural condition into State DOT’s PMS for better-informed decisions, and more cost-effective pavement rehabilitation and preservation strategies.

References:

Katicha, S., Flintsch, G., Shrestha, S., and Thyagarajan, S. (2017). Demonstration of Network Level Pavement Structural Evaluation with Traffic Speed Deflectometer: Final Report, Transportation Pooled Fund Program, TPF 5(282), https://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/518.

Rada. G., Nazarian. S., Visintine. B., Siddharthan. R. & Sivaneswaran. N. 2015 “Use of High-Speed Deflection Devices in Network-Level PMS Applications: Are We Ready?” 9th International Conference on Managing Pavement Assets, Washington, D.C.

Thyagarajan. S., Sivaneswaran. N., and Petros. K. 2015 “Incorporating Traffic Speed Pavement Deflection Data in Pavement Management Decision Making for Flexible Pavements” 9th International Conference on Managing Pavement Assets, Washington, D.C.

Pavement Structural Evaluation at the Network Level, FHWA-PROJ-12-0016, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/tfhrc/projects/projectsdb/projectdetails.cfm?projectid=FHWA-PROJ-12-0016

Pavement Structural Evaluation with Traffic Speed Deflection Devices (TSDDs), Transportation Pooled Fund Program, TPF-5(385) https://www.pooledfund.org/Details/Study/637

key words

Pavement management system; structural evaluation; traffic speed deflection devices; pavement performance; numerical modeling

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens, permanent residents and non-U.S. citizens

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral and Senior applicants