Development of Pavement Structural Capacity Requirements for Innovative Pavement Decision-Making and Contracting: Phase II

016035939536930432016Final Contract 2012-2014 14PDFTech ReportFHWA/VTRC 16-R20103933Pavement maintenancePavement performanceComposite pavementsRigid pavementsIndexes (Information management)Deflection testsEvaluationStructural analysisStructural capacity indexNetwork-Level Decision MakingNon-Destructive EvaluationDeflection TestingUnited StatesVirginiaVirginia Transportation Research CouncilBryce, James M.Flintsch, Gerardo W.Katicha, Samer W.Diefenderfer, Brian K.Sarant, AlexVirginia Tech Transportation InstituteVirginia. Dept. of TransportationUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Virginia DivisionUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionThe structural capacity of a pavement has been shown to be a good indicator of the required maintenance and expected performance of pavements. However, results in the literature provide few indices for rigid and composite pavements. This study developed an index that produced promising results for use with composite pavements. The index relates deflection measurements to the performance of the pavement. Limited conclusions could be drawn from the results of rigid pavement testing due to the limited sample size and scope of the available data. The report presents steps for including the structural indices in pavement evaluation and management processes and a tool that can be used by engineers to calculate the structural indices for flexible and composite pavements based on defined input parameters. A number of recommendations for implementation are made based on the findings of this stud