Implementing Traffic Speed Deflection Measurements for Network Level Pavement Management in Virginia
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements
Volume 148, Issue 2
Abstract
This paper investigates the possibility of using pavement deflection measurements obtained from a traffic speed deflectometer (TSD) for network-level structural evaluation on bituminous pavements in Virginia. Virginia currently uses falling weight deflectometer (FWD) measurements for network-level pavement management decision making for their interstate roads. Two factors were deemed important to determine if FWD data can be replaced with TSD data: (1) the distribution of effective structural number (SNeff) calculated from TSD measurements compared with SNeff calculated from FWD measurements; and (2) the consistency of TSD with FWD in identifying the same weak sections. The results show that the distribution of the SNeff from the measurements from the two devices was similar and the calculated consistency in identifying weak sections between the TSD SNeff and the FWD SNeff was higher than the consistency between the SNeff from two repeated sets of FWD measurements. This suggests that the structural condition obtained from the TSD can be used to replace the structural condition obtained from the FWD currently used in the Virginia Department of Transportation Pavement Management System. The study also assessed whether the choice of the structural index calculated with TSD measurements could potentially have a significant impact on the network-level decision-making process. Very little practical difference was observed between using the SNeff or SCI300 to identify structurally weak sections from TSD measurements. Similar analysis can be performed by other states to incorporate TSD structural conditions into their pavement management decision-making process.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes used during the study were provided by a third party. Direct request for these materials may be made to the provider as indicated in the Acknowledgments.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to ARRB Group Inc. for collecting the TSD data, Infrasense for collecting the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) data, and VDOT for help in obtaining the pavement condition data. The results reported in this paper are a part of a broader study conducted for VDOT.
References
AASHTO. 1993. AASHTO guide for design of new and rehabilitated pavement structures. Washington, DC: AASHTO.
Bryce, J., G. W. Flintsch, S. W. Katicha, and B. K. Diefenderfer. 2013. Developing a network-level structural capacity index for structural evaluation of pavements. Charlottesville, VA: Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research.
Bryce, J. M., S. W. Katicha, B. K. Diefenderfer, and G. W. Flintsch. 2016. Analysis of repeated network-level testing by the falling weight deflectometer on I-81 in the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Bristol District (No. FHWA/VTRC 17-R6). Charlottesville, VA: Virginia Transportation Research Council.
Chowdhury, T. 2016. Supporting document for the development and enhancement of the pavement maintenance decision matrices used in the needs-based analysis—2016. Richmond, VA: Virginia Department of Transportation.
Elbagalati, O., M. A. Elseifi, K. Gaspard, and Z. Zhang. 2016. “Prediction of in-service pavement structural capacity based on traffic-speed deflection measurements.” J. Transp. Eng. 142 (11): 04016058. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)TE.1943-5436.0000891.
Elseifi, M. A., and O. Elbagalati. 2017. Assessment of continuous deflection measurement devices in Louisiana-rolling wheel deflectometer. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Transportation Research Center.
Elseifi, M. A., and Z. U. A. Zihan. 2018. Assessment of the traffic speed deflectometer in Louisiana for pavement structural evaluation. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Transportation Research Center.
Flintsch, G. W., S. W. Katicha, J. Bryce, B. Ferne, S. Nell, and B. Diefenderfer. 2013. Assessment of continuous pavement deflection measuring technologies. Washington, DC: The National Academies.
Gedafa, D., M. Hossain, R. Miller, and T. Van. 2010. “Estimation of remaining service life of flexible pavements from surface deflections.” J. Transp. Eng. 136 (4): 342–352. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)TE.1943-5436.0000094.
Hoffman, M. S., and M. R. Thompson. 1982. “Comparative study of selected nondestructive testing devices.” Transp. Res. Rec. 852 (Nov): 32–41.
Katicha, S. W., S. Ercisli, G. W. Flintsch, J. M. Bryce, and B. K. Diefenderfer. 2016. Development of enhanced pavement deterioration curves. Charlottesville, VA: Virginia Transportation Research Council.
Katicha, S. W., G. W. Flintsch, B. Ferne, and J. Bryce. 2014. “Limits of agreement method for comparing TSD and FWD measurements.” Int. J. Pavement Eng. 15 (6): 532–541. https://doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2013.782403.
Katicha, S. W., G. W. Flintsch, S. Shrestha, and S. Thyagarajan. 2017. Demonstration of network level pavement structural evaluation with traffic speed deflectometer. Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.
Livneh, M., and Y. Goldberg. 2001. “Quality assessment during road formation and foundation construction: Use of falling-weight deflectometer and light drop weight.” Transp. Res. Rec. 1755 (1): 69–77. https://doi.org/10.3141/1755-08.
Lukanen, E. O., R. Stubstad, and R. Briggs. 2000. Temperature predictions and adjustment factors for asphalt pavement. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration Report.
Maser, K., P. Schmalzer, W. Shaw, and A. Carmichael. 2017. “Integration of traffic speed deflectometer and ground-penetrating radar for network-level roadway structure evaluation.” Transp. Res. Rec. 2639 (1): 55–63. https://doi.org/10.3141/2639-08.
Muller, W. B. 2015. “A comparison of TSD, FWD and GPR field measurements.” In Proc., Int. Symp. Non-Destructive Testing in Civil Engineering, 713–722. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: National Asset Centre of Excellence.
Nasimifar, M., S. Chaudhari, S. Thyagarajan, and N. Sivaneswaran. 2020. “Temperature adjustment for surface curvature index from Traffic Speed Deflectometer measurements.” Int. J. Pavement Eng. 21 (11): 1408–1418. https://doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2018.1546858.
Nasimifar, M., S. Thyagarajan, S. Chaudhari, and N. Sivaneswaran. 2019. “Pavement structural capacity from traffic speed deflectometer for network level pavement management system application.” Transp. Res. Rec. 2673 (2): 456–465. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118825122.
Nasimifar, M., S. Thyagarajan, and N. Sivaneswaran. 2017. “Backcalculation of flexible pavement layer moduli from traffic speed deflectometer data.” Transp. Res. Rec. 2641 (1): 66–74. https://doi.org/10.3141/2641-09.
Noureldin, S., K. Zhu, D. Harris, and S. Li. 2005. Non-destructive estimation of pavement thickness, structural number and subgrade resilience along indot highways. Joint Transportation Research Program. Washington, DC: FHWA.
Rada, G., S. Nazarian, B. A. Visintine, R. Siddhartan, and S. Thyagarajan. 2016. Pavement structural evaluation at the network level. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration.
Rada, G. R., and S. Nazarian. 2011. The state-of-the-technology of moving pavement deflection testing. Washington, DC: USDOT.
Rohde, G. T. 1994. “Determining pavement structural number from FWD testing.” Transp. Res. Rec. 1448 (Mar): 61–68.
Shrestha, S., S. W. Katicha, and G. W. Flintsch. 2019. “Field demonstration of the traffic speed deflectometer.” In Proc., World Conf. on Pavement and Asset Management (WCPAM 2017): Pavement and Asset Management, 115. Baveno, Italy: CRC Press.
Shrestha, S., S. W. Katicha, G. W. Flintsch, and B. K. Diefenderfer. 2021. “Pavement deterioration modeling and network-level pavement management using continuous deflection measurements.” J. Infrastruct. Syst. 27 (3): 04021022. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000626.
Shrestha, S., S. W. Katicha, G. W. Flintsch, and S. Thyagarajan. 2018. “Application of traffic speed deflectometer for network-level pavement management.” Transp. Res. Rec. 2672 (40): 348–359. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118758675.
Stubstad, R., R. Carvalho, R. Briggs, and O. Selezneva. 2012. Simplified techniques for evaluation and interpretation of pavement deflections for network-level analysis: Guide for assessment of pavement structure performance for PMS applications. FHWA-HRT-12-025. Washington, DC: FHWA.
Thyagarajan, S., N. Sivaneswaran, K. Petros, G. Rada, and G. Elkins. 2019. “Optimized treatment selection using structural data for pavement management applications.” In Pavement and asset management, 635–642. London: CRC Press.
Werkmeister, S., and D. Alabaster. 2007. “Estimation of remaining pavement life of low-volume roads with falling weight deflectometer results: A practical method.” Transp. Res. Rec. 1989 (1): 261–269. https://doi.org/10.3141/1989-72.
Zaghloul, S., Z. He, N. Vitillo, and J. B. Kerr. 1998. “Project scoping using falling weight deflectometer testing: New Jersey experience.” Transp. Res. Rec. 1643 (1): 34–43. https://doi.org/10.3141/1643-06.
Zhang, Z., G. Claros, L. Manuel, and I. Damnjanovic. 2003. “Evaluation of the pavement structural condition at network level using falling weight deflectometer (FWD) data.” In Proc., 82nd Transportation Research Board meeting. Austin, TX: Texas DOT.
Zhang, Z., K. Gaspard, and M. A. Elseifi. 2016. “Evaluating pavement management treatment selection utilising continuous deflection measurements in flexible pavements.” Int. J. Pavement Eng. 17 (5): 414–422. https://doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2014.993198.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements
Volume 148 • Issue 2 • June 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 15, 2021
Accepted: Jan 21, 2022
Published online: Mar 14, 2022
Published in print: Jun 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Aug 14, 2022
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
Cited by
- Wenzhi Yuan, Qun Yang, Wenya Ye, A novel characterisation method for asphalt pavement structural performance assessment based on vehicle vibration data fusion, International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 10.1080/10298436.2024.2308178, 25, 1, (2024).
- Yuan Gao, Hongwei Zhang, Rui Zhang, Qun Yang, Yingjie Deng, Expansion method and application of initial deflection data for asphalt pavement based on the unascertained number theory: a case study, Road Materials and Pavement Design, 10.1080/14680629.2023.2238081, 25, 5, (1112-1126), (2023).
- Wenya Ye, Rui Zhang, Qun Yang, A Consistency Evaluation Method of Pavement Performance Based on K-Means Clustering and Cumulative Distribution, Applied Sciences, 10.3390/app13010106, 13, 1, (106), (2022).