Using the asphalt pavement layer condition assessment program - Case studies

The Asphalt Pavement Layer Condition Assessment Program (APLCAP) is developed in this research to help highway agencies assess layer conditions of asphalt pavements. APLCAP implements a new integrated procedure for condition assessment from failing-weight deflectometer (FWD) deflections. The main components of this procedure include screening of FWD raw deflections, predictions of condition indicators from FWD measurements, structural adjustments for the predicted condition indicators, and layer condition evaluation based on the adjusted condition indicators. This procedure was developed on the basis of dynamic nonlinear finite element analysis and calibrated using field measurements. The three case studies presented show that the APLCAP algorithms can predict the asphalt concrete modulus, pavement critical strains, and strengths of the base and subgrade quite well, but not the compressive strain in the aggregate base layer. Although the APLCAP procedure includes the complicated dynamic effect of FWD loading and nonlinear behavior of unbound materials, the time to obtain results from this procedure is insignificant and therefore suitable for real-time evaluation of pavement conditions.