Predicting Pavement Deterioration Modes Using Waveband Analysis

Abstract

Road roughness is the result of a chain of distress mechanisms, and it combines the effects of various modes of pavement deterioration. The common measure of roughness is the international roughness index (IRI). The IRI represents the functional performance of road pavements and serves as an indicator of the structural performance. However, the use of the IRI in setting priorities for maintenance and rehabilitation programs has some flaws. The IRI cannot detect the mode and rate of pavement deterioration that contribute to the surface roughness. In addition, the IRI may be a poor measure of truck ride and the dynamic wheel loads generated by the interaction of heavy vehicles and rough road surfaces. Roughness spectrum can be divided into certain wavebands, with each waveband corresponding to a certain mode of pavement deterioration. The power spectral density analysis of road profiles is used to view the distribution of the various wavelengths within the profile and to show the contribution of each waveband to roughness. Waveband analysis can help overcome the shortcomings of the IRI, and it provides information that helps road authorities in planning rehabilitation programs and managing the road network.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Dynamic Interaction of Heavy Vehicles with Roads and Bridges, Dynamic Interaction of Vehicle and Infrastructure Experiment (DIVINE Project). Pre-publication final report of OECD IR6 project. Proc., Asia-Pacific Concluding Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 1997.

Bullen

, and Wallace

K. B.

. The Behavior of Low Cost Roads on Deep Cracking, Expansive Clay Subgrades. Proc., 7th International Conference on Expansive Soils, Dallas, Tex., 1992, Vol. 1, pp. 465–470.

Paterson

W. D. O.

Road Deterioration and Maintenance Effects. The World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1987.

Jordan

, and Cooper

. Road Profile Deterioration as an Indicator of Structural Condition. Research Report 183. Transportation Road Research Laboratory, United Kingdom, 1989.

Road Surface Characteristics: Their Interaction and Their Optimisation. Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Paris, France, 1984.

Sayers

M. W.

, Gillespie

T. D.

, and Queiroz

C. A. V.

. The International Road Roughness Experiment—Establishing Correlation and a Calibration Standard for Measurements. Technical Paper 45. The World Bank, Washington D.C., 1986.

Gillespie

T. D.

, Karamihas

S. M.

, Sayers

M. A.

, Hansen

, Ehsan

, and Cebon

. NCHRP Report 353: Effects of Heavy Vehicle Characteristics on Pavement Response and Performance. TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1993.

Mann

, and McManus

K. J.

. The Choice of Barrier Locations. Annual Postgraduate Seminar Series, School of Engineering and Building, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, 1997.

Janoff

M. S.

, Nick

J. B.

, P. S. Davit Kerton Inc., and G. F. Hayhoe D&S Consulting. NCHRP Report 275: Pavement Roughness and Rideability Field Evaluation. TRB, National Research Council, Washington D.C., 1985.

10.

Sayers

M. W.

, and Karamihas

S. M.

. The Little Book of Profiling, Basic Information About Measuring and Interpreting Road Profiles. Transportation Research Institute, The University of Michigan, 1996.

11.

Uzan

, Frydman

, and Wiseman

. Roughness of Airfield Pavement on Expansive Clay. Proc., 5th International Conference on Expansive Soils, Adelaide, South Australia, 1984, pp. 286–291.

12.

Velsco

M. O.

, and Lytton

R. L.

. Pavement Roughness on Expansive Clays. In Transportation Research Record 790, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1981, pp. 78–87.

13.

Lytton

R. L.

, Bogess

R. L.

, and Spotts

J. W.

. Characteristics of Expansive Clay Roughness of Pavements. In Transportation Research Record 568, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1976, pp. 9–23.

14.

Surface Characteristics. Technical Committee Report No. 1. Permanent International Association of Road Congresses—World Road Association (PIARC), Brussels, Belgium, 1987.

15.

Gillespie

T. D.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the IRI, But Were Afraid To Ask. Presented at 4th Annual Road Profile Users Group Meeting, Lincoln, Nebr., 1992.

16.

Prem

Road Roughness Influence on Suspension Performance. Proc., Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Suspension Characteristics, Truck Designers Sprung? ( Sweatman

P. F.

, Glynn

, and George

R. M.

, eds.), Canberra, Australia, 1987, pp. 365–389.

17.

Heywood

R. J.

, Ramsay

E. D.

, McLean

J. R.

, and Karagania

R. M.

. Road Roughness-Infrastructure Damage Based Standards. Proc., Combined 18th ARRB Transport Research Conference, Transit NZ Land Transport Symposium, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1996, Part 4, pp. 307–321.

18.

De Pont

Road Profile Characterisation. Research Report 29, Transit New Zealand, 1994.

19.

McLean

, and Ramsay

. Interpretation of Road Profile-Roughness Data: Review and Research Needs. ARR 295, Australian Road Research Board, 1996.

20.

Papagiannakis

A. T.

, and Gujarathi

M. S.

. Roughness Model Describing Heavy Vehicle-Pavement Interaction. In Transportation Research Record 1501, TRB, National Research Council, Washington D.C., 1995, pp. 50–59.

21.

McManus

K. J.

, and Hassan

. The Effect of Long Wavelength Roughness on User’s Costs, Safety and Comfort (Heavy Vehicles). School of Engineering and Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, 1997.

22.

Cebon

Assessment of the Dynamic Wheel Forces Generated by Heavy Road Vehicles. Proc., Symposium on Heavy Vehicle Suspension Characteristics, Truck Designers Sprung? ( Sweatman

P. F.

, Glynn

, and George

R. M.

, eds.), Canberra, Australia, 1987, pp. 143–162.

23.

Mann

, McManus

K. J.

, and Evans

R. P.

. The Use of Power Spectral Analysis to Determine Deterioration Modes in Pavement Structures. Proc., 9th REAAA Conference, Wellington, New Zealand, 1998.