Browsing by Author "Hicks, R. Gary"

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    Factors Affecting the Performance of Pavement Preservation Treatments
    Visintine, Beth A.; Hicks, R. Gary; Cheng, DingXin; Elkins, Gary E. (2015-06-04)
    Pavement preservation has become a very important tool box for agencies to maintain their roadway system. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) funded the project titled "Factors Affecting the Performance of Pavement Preservation Treatments." The objective of this project was to determine how the uncertainty in the output of a model (such as the performance of a preservation treatment or the costs) can be apportioned to the different sources of uncertainty in the inputs (such as pavement condition, construction quality, quality of materials, traffic, and climate). The project evaluated the use of existing databases to determine the sensitivity of the factors on the performance of pavement preservation treatments. Unfortunately, these databases were determined not to be robust enough to answer the questions posed. An alternate approach was used by surveying experts in the field of pavement preservation treatments. This latter approach proved more successful. The impacts on the effect on performance were evaluated using sensitivity analysis and a life cycle cost (LCC) approach. The major factors that control the performance of many pavement preservation treatments that were considered in this study were: Pretreatment Pavement Condition, Materials Selection and Quality, Construction and Workmanship, Mix and Structural Design, Traffic Level, and Climate during and immediately after Construction. This paper focuses on the results of the sensitivity analysis and life cycle cost analysis which show that the variation from good conditions can have a dramatic effect on the life of the pavement preservation treatments as well as the associated costs to the agencies.
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    Use of Emerging Technologies in support of Pavement Preservation Decision Making
    Rada, Gonzalo R.; Visintine, Beth A.; Hicks, R. Gary; Cheng, DingXin; Van, Thomas P. (2015-06-04)
    Pavement preservation represents a proactive approach to maintaining and extending the lives of existing highways. Not surprisingly, pavement performance is at the heart of the preservation decision-making process. Traditionally, non-structural factors, such as distress and ride quality, have been used as the primary indicators for pavement preservation strategy selection and timing. However, these factors do not address structural condition, which is of great significance since the concept of preservation is predicated upon applying treatments to structurally sound pavements. Accordingly, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) undertook a study to identify emerging technologies to better characterize pavement conditions, predict future deterioration and demonstrate their applicability in the selection and timing of preservation strategies. As part of this study, a literature review and expert interviews were conducted to build a foundation for identifying and evaluating technologies. The evaluation process resulted in four technologies being recommended based on their potential application for pavement evaluation and forecasting. Case study reviews of these technologies were prepared, which highlighted the benefits provided by implementation of the technologies by agencies as well as some of the challenges faced during implementation. This paper focuses on the use of the recommended technologies within the pavement preservation operations of highway agencies. To accomplish this, relevant information extracted from the case study reviews as well as implementation considerations developed during the study are presented in the paper.