ARRB research has powered an Austroads report investigating more cost-effective ways of assessing the strength of existing pavements based on surface deflection measurements.
The project had two parts, according to ARRB Principal Professional Leader Didier Bodin, part of ARRB's Future Transport Infrastructure Team.
The first was to assess the feasibility of using traffic speed deflectometer data to improve pavement rehabilitation treatment design, and the second was to improve the back-calculation algorithm that determines the pavement layer moduli from pavement surface deflection.
The relationship between falling weight deflectometer data and traffic speed deflectometer data was evaluated using databases provided by road agencies, and a linear regression analysis method was developed.
The findings allowed a deflection standardisation factor to be developed to predict the falling weight deflectometer maximum deflection from the traffic speed deflectometer data.
“These findings promote innovation and will help standardise processes for estimating the strength of the existing road assets,” Dr Bodin said.
“Overall, better design methods will improve durability and quality of pavement rehabilitation treatments, helping save road agencies time and money.”
Find out more, and download the Austroads report, here
