Study of In Situ Pavement Material Properties Determined from FWD Testing
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 9
Abstract
The Vermont Agency of Transportation (Agency) developed pavement design procedures patterned after the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) pavement design model described in the AASHTO 1993 pavement design guide (guide). A consequence of using the structural number approach to pavement design is the need for structural layer coefficients to characterize the component materials of the pavement structure. The agency has developed and tested a method for determining layer coefficients using a falling weight deflectometer (FWD), and the resulting layer coefficients are representative of the in situ behavior of the pavement materials. The agency found layer coefficients determined for unbound subbases to be reasonable, while layer coefficients estimated for asphalt cement concrete materials were generally 25–35% higher than AASHTO’s implied maximum of 0.44. However, a statistical analysis indicates considerable support for the predictive qualities of FWD derived layer coefficients to approximate layer coefficients simulated from the in situ conditions expected to prevail in the final pavement structure.
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Acknowledgments
Funding for this research was provided by the Federal Highway Administration and the Vermont Agency of Transportation. This research would not have been possible without the persistent hard work of Duane Stevens and Jim Raymond, of the Agency’s Pavement Management Section, for FWD data collection and of the Agency’s Pavement Design Committee, particularly Chris Benda, Jim Bush, Mike Hedges, Alec Portalupi, and Roger Lyon-Surrey, for advice and review of the findings.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 9 • September 2006
Pages: 742 - 750
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 7, 2005
Accepted: Jul 14, 2005
Published online: Sep 1, 2006
Published in print: Sep 2006
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