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Evaluation of Vehicle Speed Effect on Continuous Pavement Surface Deflection Measurements

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International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Pavement structural condition assessment is an integral part of pavement evaluation and rehabilitation strategies. For years, the falling weight deflectometer (FWD) has been the preferred device to assess pavement structural condition to optimize treatment options at the project level. However, the use of FWD is inefficient for network-level applications because of its limitations, such as traffic disruption, safety issues, and low rate of data collections. Recently, continuous deflection testing devices, such as the traffic speed deflectometer (TSD) have been gaining worldwide consideration for structural evaluation of in-service pavement sections at the network level. The data collection rate of continuous measurement testing devices is significantly higher than traditional stationary devices and is collected at or close to traffic speed. Hence, highway agencies have shown significant interest in the use of these devices at the network level to identify structurally marginal pavement sections. However, the procedure is less than clear cut. One of the missing links is that the pavement responses under moving loads are speed-dependent due to the viscoelastic behavior of asphalt layers. Therefore, the continuous pavement measurements have to be adjusted for the vehicle speeds to assess consistent and comparable measurements over the pavement sections. In this study, a database of 1512 dynamic viscoelastic analyses of various pavement structures under different TSD loading speeds was developed to investigate the effect of vehicle speeds on measured surface deflections. A speed adjustment model for the surface curvature index (SCITSD), the most commonly used TSD index, is proposed to facilitate the use of TSD measurements for structural assessment of pavement sections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, 84156-83111, Iran

    Mahdi Nasimifar & Mehdi Shojaee

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  1. Mahdi Nasimifar
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  2. Mehdi Shojaee
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Correspondence to Mahdi Nasimifar.

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Nasimifar, M., Shojaee, M. Evaluation of Vehicle Speed Effect on Continuous Pavement Surface Deflection Measurements. Int. J. Pavement Res. Technol. 15, 184–195 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42947-021-00017-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42947-021-00017-1

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