Georgia Long-Term Pavement Performance (GALTPP) Program \u2013 Maintaining Georgia\u2019s Calibration Sites and Identifying the Potential for Using MEPDG for Characterization of Non-Standard Materials and Methods (Phase 1)

2016PDFTech ReportFHWA-GA-16-1425Pavement performanceMechanistic-empirical pavement designCalibrationNondestructive testsGeorgia LTPPGALTPPGeorgia Long-Term Pavement PerformanceGeorgiaUnited StatesGeorgia. Department of Transportation. Office of ResearchWu, Yi-ChingTsai, YichangGeorgia Institute of TechnologyGeorgia. Department of Transportation. Office of ResearchUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionThe Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has initiated a Georgia Long-Term Pavement Performance (GALTPP) monitoring program 1) to provide data for calibrating the prediction models in the AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) and 2) to monitor sites for evaluating the effect of various materials and methods on pavement performance. A total of 38 flexible pavement sites (17 LTPP and 21 non-LTPP) and 23 rigid pavement sites (11 LTPP and 12 non-LTPP sites) sites were selected for the MEPDG calibration and various field and laboratory testing, including condition surveys in accordance with LTPP Distress Identification Manual, Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD), etc., were conducted on the non-LTPP sites. The detailed data collected for the calibration, is very valuable for future recalibration of the MEDPG and evaluation of the performance of different pavement designs and materials. Thus, the objectives of this project are 1) to maintain the data (e.g., distress data and FWD data) that has been collected on the sites, and 2) to identify the potential for the characterization of non-standard methods and materials using the MEPDG to provide suggestions on the implementation. In Phase 1 of this project, a GALTPP database was designed and populated with the inputs used for initial MEPDG calibration and the data (e.g., distress data, FWD, etc.) collected on the non-LTPP sites with a focus on flexible pavement sites. The site location data were corrected to ensure they can be correctly located for long-term monitoring using core data collected by GDOT\u2019s coring data collection application. A GIS (Geographic Information Systems) project, along with add-in tools, was developed to visualize the sites. In addition, the predicted distresses by the MEPDG on interstate sites were verified and the differences in the designs between the MEPDG and the 1972 AASHTO Interim Design Guide were discussed to provide suggestions on the MEPDG implementation