Calibration of Roughness Measuring Instrument for Adopting the Performance Warranty System

Most pavement construction in Korea today is conducted by following prescriptive specifications. The construction must be done according to the standard specifications and the contractor is responsible for any defects where the pavement quality does not meet the minimum requirements written in the specification. Adopting new materials and innovative construction technologies is limited under the current system. Many European countries have adopted the performance warranty systems to improve long-term pavement performance since the 1960's. In the performance warranty system, a specification defines a certain level of pavement performance as the minimum requirement. Examples of performance indices might include: rutting, roughness, cracking, skid resistance, etc. The prescriptive specification is no longer used in the performance warranty system. Instead, the contractor must satisfy the performance specifications of each index. One of the most important performance indices is the roughness of pavement. The method for evaluating the pavement roughness is essential in order to prevent conflict where there is a disagreement for evaluating results between the contractor and the client. The primary objective of this paper is to present a guideline for the calibration of the roughness measuring instrument of pavement by semi-manual and automatic methods in the performance warranty system.