Utilization of Falling Weight Deflectometer for Project Sectionalization

This paper demonstrates the usefulness of Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) testing for sectionalizing projects. Sectionalization involves dividing the project area (i.e., roadway, airfield, etc.) into sections, where each section has a fairly uniform pavement condition. This process facilitates identification of the weaker pavement sections of a project and thus helps to optimize rehabilitation efforts. In the project described herein, FWD testing was performed before and after a SUPERPAVE resurfacing program (involving 50 mm (2 in.) of milling and 100 mm (4 in.) of asphalt concrete resurfacing) to evaluate the effectiveness of the resurfacing effort. The project area consisted of a 12 mile segment of eastbound Interstate 78 in New Jersey. The FWD test results indicated that the median effective structural number of the pavement (SN_eff) for the entire project length had increased by 1.6 (resulting in an average remaining service life of 16 years) after milling and resurfacing of the pavement. These results, however, also indicated that a few sections of the roadway had higher deflections, lower SN_eff values, and a remaining service life as low as 8 years. These weaker sections were thus in need of a more extensive rehabilitation effort to provide a more uniform service life throughout the project length.