Browsing by Author "Visintine, Beth A."

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Evaluation of Accuracy and Precision of Several Highway Speed Deflection Devices
    Rada, Gonzalo R.; Visintine, Beth A.; Rocha, Sergio; Velarde, Jorge; Gallardo, Paola; Nazarian, Soheil; Siddharthan, Rajaratnam V.; Nasimifar, Seyyed (2014-09)
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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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    Pavement Remaining Service Interval: A Logical Replacement to Remaining Service Life Concept
    Sivaneswaran, Nadarajah; Visintine, Beth A.; Rada, Gonzalo R.; Elkins, Gary E.; Thyagarajan, Senthilmurugan (2015-06-04)
    The process of providing and managing a pavement network requires a plethora of decisions to be made. At the heart of those decisions is the prediction of future construction events, but many issues exist with the current remaining service life (RSL) terminology that confuse, confound, and complicate proper interpretation, interagency data exchange, and use. The major source of ambiguity with RSL is the use of the term "life" to represent different points in the construction time-line. There could be up to four different types of future construction events on which a RSL definition could be based, depending on the condition of the pavement, and it is impossible for a single number called RSL to properly describe all of these future construction events. The recommended path to consistency involves adopting terminology of time remaining until a defined construction treatment is required. RSL is replaced by "Remaining Service Interval" or "RSI" This terminology has the ability to unify the outcome of different approaches for determining needs by focusing on when and what treatments are needed, and the service interruption created. This paper explains the RSI concept and outlines the validation efforts using State Highway Agencies and the Pavement Health Track analysis tool at the national level. It also details how RSI can contribute to the requirements of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) legislation.
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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.
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    Use of High-Speed Deflection Devices in Network-Level PMS Applications: Are We Ready?
    Rada, Gonzalo R.; Nazarian, Soheil; Visintine, Beth A.; Siddharthan, Rajaratnam V.; Sivaneswaran, Nadarajah (2015-06-04)
    As highway agencies begin to consider structural adequacy as part of their routine pavement management activities by incorporating deflection testing, it is important to advance from falling weight deflectometers (FWDs) to a more viable alternative for network-level applications. The development of devices that measure pavement deflections at traffic speeds represents this viable alternative. The modern versions of the devices include the Greenwood Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD) and the Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) Rolling Wheel Deflectometer (RWD), but are these devices ready for implementation? To answer this question, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) undertook a study whose objective was to establish a reliable measure of the structural condition of pavements as it deteriorates over time under traffic and environmental loading, based on deflection measurements taken at traffic speeds. As part of the study, a literature review was conducted and questionnaires were developed for and provided to device manufacturers, owners and users, which were then followed-up by interviews. Both devices were found to be viable, so a work plan was developed and implemented to evaluate them. The work plan included field-testing and analysis activities, but it purposely did not contemplate comparisons with Falling Weight deflectometers (FWDs). This paper presents the major findings, conclusions and recommendations from the project effort to date. The only remaining activity is the development of processes for incorporating pavement structural information within pavement management system (PMS) applications.