In the current mechanistic-empirical (M-E) design procedures for flexible pavements, the primary transfer functions are those that relate (a) maximum tensile strain in the hot-mix asphalt (HMA) surface layer to fatigue cracking and (b) compressive strain at the top of the subgrade layer to rutting at the surface. These functions, called fatigue and rutting equations, are usually derived from statistically based correlations of pavement condition with observed laboratory specimen performance, full-scale road test experiments or by both methods. Hot-mix asphalt fatigue behavior is an important component of a M-E design procedure; unfortunately, most of the existing models do not reflect field fatigue behavior. This is manifested in the fact that HMA fatigue failure is achieved much faster under a laboratory setting than in a field environment. This difference has been typically accounted for by the use of a single shift factor based mainly on engineering experience. The flexible pavement portion of the Virginia Smart Road includes 12 different flexible pavement designs. Each section is approximately 100m long. The sections are instrumented with pressure cells, strain gages, time-domain reflectometry probes, thermocouples, and frost probes. The instruments were embedded as layers were built. Laboratory fatigue tests of field cores and field-mixed laboratory-compacted specimens along with measured response from the instrumented pavement sections at the Virginia Smart Road were used to quantify the differences between laboratory and field environments. Four shift factors were identified to correlate field and lab fatigue behavior: stress-state, material difference, traffic wander, and healing. Field-measured critical strains and strain energy exerted during truck loading were both used to determine the stress state shift factor. Strain measurements of truck loading distribution (wander) were used to determine the wander shift factor. Finally, results from laboratory fatigue tests on cores and laboratory compacted specimens were used to evaluated a shift factor to account for the difference in compaction procedures. While the derived shift factors utilize the measured stresses and strains at the Virginia Smart Road, calculated strains and stresses, based on appropriate pavement and loading modeling, may also be used. / Ph. D.

The most common use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is in the lower layers of a pavement structure, where it has been proven as a valid substitute for virgin materials. Instead, the use of RAP in surface mixes is more limited, with a major concern being that the high RAP mixes may not perform as well as traditional mixes. To reduce risks of compromised performance, the use of RAP has commonly been controlled by specifications that limit the allowed amount of recycled material in the mixes. However, significant cost and environmental savings can be achieved if more RAP is included in the surface layer. This dissertation develops an approach that can be followed to incorporate more RAP in the surface mix while maintaining good performance. The approach is based on the results from three studies that looked at how to optimize the design of the mix, in terms of rutting and fatigue resistance, when more RAP is used. In the first study, a high RAP control mix and an optimized mix designed using different design compaction energy (65 and 50 gyrations respectively) were compared. The optimization process consisted in the definition of an alternative mix composition that supported the higher binder content allowed by the lower design compaction energy. Using Accelerated Pavement Testing and laboratory characterization it was possible to assess the potential of mix optimization with the objective of improving rutting resistance. The testing showed no indication that the optimized mixes would have rutting problems, supporting the implementation of the reduction of the design compaction energy level. The optimized mix exhibited a similar or superior rutting resistance in the full-scale setting, in the laboratory, and in the forensic investigation. The second part focused on the production of highly recycled surface mixes capable of performing well. To produce the mixes, a balanced mix design (BMD) methodology was used and a comparison with traditional mixes, prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) volumetric mix design, was performed. Through the BMD procedure, which featured the indirect tensile cracking test for evaluating the cracking resistance and the Asphalt Pavement Analyzer for evaluating rutting resistance, it was possible to optimize the selection of the optimum asphalt content. Also, it was possible to obtain a highly recycled mix (45% RAP) capable of achieving better overall performances than traditional mixes while carrying a large reduction in production cost. The final part evaluated the laboratory performance of four different highly recycled surface mixes to support their possible implementation in the state of Virginia. The mixes featured either 30% or 45% RAP, different asphalt contents, the use of a WMA additive, and a rejuvenator. To analyze the mixes' performance in great depth, a three-level (base, intermediate, and advanced) testing framework was defined. Each level was characterized by an increasing degree of complexity and included tests to characterize both the cracking resistance and the rutting resistance. The study aimed at investigating the features of the various laboratory tests. Through the review of the theoretical background, the evaluation of the test procedures, and statistical analysis of the results, it was possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each test and to provide guidelines to develop appropriate quality assessment criteria and mix design methodology. In summary, throughout this research, it was possible to observe that the respect of Superpave mix design requirements alone, with particular reference to gradation limits and volumetric properties, was not guarantee of satisfactory performance in terms of both cracking and rutting resistance. To increase the confidence in the RAP properties, increase the current recycling levels, and introduce more appropriate mix design specifications, BMD could be used (even with simple laboratory tests) to check performance-based criteria. / Doctor of Philosophy / Nowadays, transportation agencies are expected to perform a large number of pavement rehabilitation projects, while facing major limitations in budgetary funds. In order to have safe, efficient, and cost-effective roadways, the economic advantage of recycling is boosting an effort to increase the amount of RAP in asphalt mixtures. In addition, over the past decades, the environmental awareness of the transportation agencies and public increased significantly, pushing even more towards the use of new green technologies. The use of RAP became noticeable in the 1970s and its popularity increased significantly since that time. However, there are still many open questions which prevent larger uses of recycled materials, mainly related to the design methodology and the field performances of recycled mixtures. Therefore, today there is a large untapped potential that would grow even more the magnitude of pavement recycling and of the associated benefits. New design procedures, based on the support of laboratory tests to characterize the mixtures, and full-scale experiments are the tools that pavement engineers can use in order to enrich the knowledge of highly recycled road materials and grow the confidence of public agencies and contractors towards these new more sustainable solutions. Throughout this dissertation it was possible to evaluate new innovative ways of incorporating more RAP in the asphalt mixtures through the analysis of current state of the art and the proposition of new procedures.

Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are responsible for keeping their road network in a state of good repair while also aiming to reduce congestion through the implementation of different traffic control and demand management strategies. These strategies can result in changes in traffic volume distributions, which in turn affect the level of pavement deterioration due to traffic loading. To address this issue, this dissertation introduces an integrated simulation-optimization framework that accounts for the combined effects of pavement conditions and traffic management decision-making strategies. The research focuses on exploring the range of possible performance outcomes resulting from this integrated modeling approach. The research also applied the developed framework to a particular traffic demand management strategy and assessed the impact of dynamic tolls around the specific site of I-66 inside the beltway. The integrated traffic-management/pavement-treatment framework was applied to address both the operational and pavement performance of the network. Aimsun hybrid macro/meso dynamic user equilibrium experiments were used to simulate the network with a modified cost function taking care of the dynamic pricing along the I-66 tolled facility. Furthermore, the framework was expanded to include the development of a systematic and comprehensive methodology to optimize the allocation of networkwide pavement treatment work zones over space and time. The proposed methodology also contributed to the development of a surrogate function that reduces the optimization computation burden so that researchers would be able to conduct work zone allocation optimization without having to run expensive simulation work. Finally, in this dissertation, a user-friendly decision-support tool was developed to assist in the pavement treatment and project selection planning process. We use machine learning models to encapsulate the simulation optimization process. / Doctor of Philosophy / Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are responsible for keeping their road network in a state of good repair. Improvement in pavement rehabilitation plans can lead to savings in the order of tens of millions of dollars. Pavement rehabilitation plans result in work zone schedules on the transportation network. Limited roadway capacities due to work zones affect traffic assignments and routing on the roads, which impacts the selection of optimal operation strategies to manage the resulting traffic. On the other hand, the choice of any particular operation and routing strategy will result in different distributions of traffic volumes on the roads and affect the pavement deterioration levels due to traffic loading, leading to other optimal rehabilitation plans and corresponding work zones. While there have been several research efforts on infrastructure condition assessment and other research efforts on traffic control and demand management strategies, there is a wide gap in the nexus of the two fields. To address this issue, this dissertation introduces an integrated simulation-optimization framework that accounts for the combined effects of pavement conditions and traffic management decision-making strategies. The research focuses on exploring the range of possible performance outcomes resulting from this integrated modeling approach. The research also applied the developed framework to a particular traffic demand management strategy and assessed the impact of dynamic tolls around the specific site of I-66 inside the beltway. The integrated traffic-management/pavement-treatment framework was applied to address both the operational and pavement performance of the network. Furthermore, the framework was expanded to include the development of a systematic and comprehensive methodology to optimize the allocation of networkwide pavement treatment work zones over space and time. The proposed methodology also contributed to the development of a surrogate function that reduces the optimization computation burden so that researchers would be able to conduct work zone allocation optimization without having to run expensive simulation work. Finally, in this dissertation, a user-friendly decision-support tool was developed to assist in the pavement treatment and project selection planning process. We use machine learning models to encapsulate the simulation optimization process.

In most road infrastructure networks, the two prevalent types of pavements considered during the pavement type selection (PTS) process are flexible and rigid. Thus, these two structures are the most commonly constructed in the road industry. A consideration of a different pavement alternative is proposed in this study. Composite pavements, which are in essence a combination of a rigid base overlaid with a hot-mix asphalt (HMA) surface course, have the potential to meet the technical and economic requirements that are sought in the PTS process. For that reason, technical and economic evaluations were performed to justify the consideration of composite pavement systems in the PTS process. At the technical level, composite pavement design guidelines from various transportation agencies were obtained and followed to design their respective composite pavement structures. A mechanistic analysis based on the multi-layer linear elastic theory was performed on different composite structures to understand the behavior they present when compared to traditional pavements. In addition, distresses affecting composite pavements such as fatigue (bottom-up and top-down) cracking, rutting, and reflective cracking were modeled and investigated using sensitivity analyses. At the economic level, a deterministic life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) based on Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) guidelines was performed. This LCCA compared two proposed composite pavements (one with a cement-treated base [CTB] and the other with a continuously reinforced concrete pavement [CRCP] base) to traditional flexible and rigid pavement structures. Furthermore, sensitivity analyses involving discount rates and traffic volumes were performed to investigate their effect on the present worth (PW) computation of the four pavement alternatives. Results from this study suggest that composite pavements have both the technical and economic potential to be considered during the PTS process. / Master of Science

Sustainability is increasingly becoming a significant part of strategic asset management worldwide. Road agencies are providing guidelines to assess the relative sustainability of road projects. Unfortunately, environmental features of a road project are still considered as stand-alone evaluations, an added value. Very little has been done to integrate environmental impacts as a part of pavement management systems and other decision support tools to choose between different strategies. In this way, being awarded with a "green" certificate for a specific road project could result in the belief that recognition would correspond to the optimal strategy. Furthermore, a road project awarded with a "green" rating during the construction phase does not mean that the project results "green" if a life cycle approach is considered. Indeed, the most environmental friendly strategies may not be the ones with the highest performance. Using "greener" materials or performing recycle-related practices may lead to a lower performance over the life cycle and therefore produce an increase in maintenance needed, which could in turn result into more congestion due to work zones and higher total emissions. Therefore, construction and maintenance strategies should be analyzed according to three main parameters: cost, performance or effectiveness, and environmental impacts. The cost analysis part takes into account outflows over the service life of the pavement according to the well-known Life Cycle Cost Analysis methodology. The cheapest maintenance technique over the analysis period was expounded and sensitivity analyses to involved factors were conducted. Performance assessment was developed according to experimental on site data gathered and analyzed over several years to develop deterioration pavement models. Effectiveness of maintenance treatments is further provided and compared to the volume of traffic. In addition, environmental impacts related to maintenance and rehabilitation strategies were analyzed. Emissions were computed over the life cycle of the pavement from the manufacture of raw materials for the initial construction, placement, and maintenance phase. Finally, an optimization procedure was developed for including environmental impacts into a Pavement Management System. A methodology to set a multi-attribute approach system, computing costs, performance, and eco-efficiency over the life cycle of the pavement, is therefore proposed. / Ph. D.

Irregularities in pavement profiles that exceed standard thresholds are usually rectified using a Diamond Grinding Process. Diamond Grinding is a method of Concrete Pavement Rehabilitation that involves the use of grinding wheels mounted on a machine that scraps off the top surface of the pavement to smooth irregularities. Profile Analysis Software like ProVAL© offers simulation modules that allow users to investigate various grinding strategies and prepare a corrective action plan for the pavement. The major drawback with the current Smoothness Assurance Module© (SAM) in ProVAL© is that it provides numerous grind locations which are both redundant and not feasible in the field. This problem can be overcome by providing a constrained grinding model in which a cost function is minimized; the resulting grinding strategy satisfies requirements at the least possible cost. Another drawback with SAM exists in the built-in grinder models that do not factor in the effect of speed and depth of cut on the grinding head. High speeds or deep cuts will result in the grinding head riding out the cut and likely worsening the roughness. A constrained grinding strategy algorithm with grinder models that factor in speed and depth of cut that results in cost effective grinding with better prediction of post grind surfaces through simulation is developed in this work. The outcome of the developed algorithm is compared to ProVAL's© SAM results. / Master of Science

Both the identification and validation of expedient portland cement concrete (PCC) repair technologies have been the focus of the pavements research community for decades due to ever decreasing construction timelines. Precast concrete panel technology offers a potential repair alternative to conventional cast-in-place PCC because the panel is fully cured and has gained full strength prior to its use. This repaired surface may be trafficked immediately, thus eliminating the need for long curing durations required for conventional PCC. The literature reveals a number of precast PCC panel investigations in the past 50 years; however precast technology has only recently gained acceptance and increased use in the US for highway pavements. Furthermore, only limited information regarding performance of airfield applications is available. Following a review of the available technologies, an existing panel prototype was redesigned to allow for both single- and multiple-panel repairs. A series of various sized repairs were conducted in a full-scale airfield PCC test section. Results of accelerated testing indicated that precast panels were suitable for airfield repairs, withstanding between 5,000 and 10,000 passes of C-17 aircraft traffic prior to failure. Failure was due to spalling of the transverse doweled joints. The load transfer characteristics of the transverse joint were studied to determine if the joint load test could be used to predict failure. Results showed that the load transfer efficiency calculations from the joint load test data were not useful for predicting failure; however differential deflections could possibly be applied. Additionally, the practice of filling the joints with rapid-setting grout may have resulted in higher measurements of load transfer efficiency. To determine the stresses generated in the doweled joint, three-dimensional finite element analyses were conducted. Results indicated that the dowel diameter should be increased to reduce stresses and to improve repair performance. Finally, the precast repair technology was compared to other expedient repair techniques in terms of repair speed, performance, and cost. Compared to other methods, the precast panel repair alternative provided similar return-to-service timelines and traffic performance at a slightly higher cost. Costs can be minimized through modification to the panel design and by fabricating panels in a precast facility. Modifications to the system design and placement procedures are also recommended to improve the field performance of the panels. / Ph. D.

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / Porous concrete pavements have been used in the eastern United States to effectively manage storm water when used as an alternative to impervious surfaces. This paper reviewed a wide body of available literature and research to examine their potential to reduce runoff at the University of Arizona. This study found that their unique structural properties enable them to infiltrate and detain large volumes of water in a stone sub-base below the slab, filtering out many street related contaminants without the need to install additional infrastructure. Porous concrete surfaces may support green development in the southwest where water is both a sensitive and valuable resource. However, long-term structural durability, clogging potential due to dust, and maintenance requirements have yet to be fully understood in this region. This paper then summarizes critical factors that affect the performance of porous concrete and proposes a framework for future study to be conducted by the University of Arizona in a way that would reduce runoff to major campus roads, contribute to a better understanding of sustainable storm water management in the southwest, and demonstrate leadership in environmental stewardship.

O gerenciamento de uma malha rodoviária engloba avaliações constantes das condições estruturais e, principalmente, funcionais. Assim sendo, uma forma de coleta automatizada, realizada em velocidades de tráfego, em que a influência humana possa ser desconsiderada, está em desenvolvimento na engenharia rodoviária brasileira, assim como é visto internacionalmente. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo a contribuição para o processo de avaliação funcional de pavimentos através do estudo sobre a aplicabilidade do processo de inventário funcional de pavimentos rígidos com o emprego do equipamento Pavement Scanner. Para tanto, após a revisão bibliográfica sobre a sistemática de inventário de pavimentos rígidos e também sobre o equipamento Pavement Scanner, seções testes foram definidas e avaliadas de acordo com o método tradicional de levantamento da superfície do pavimento (ICP - DNIT 062/PRO, DNIT 060/PRO), o método volumétrico tradicional de mancha de areia para avaliação de macrotextura (ASTM E 965/96), através de imageamento com análise de imagens obtidas no trecho e sob a utilização do equipamento Pavement Scanner. Com os resultados foi realizada uma análise estatística destas técnicas utilizadas, demonstrando a viabilidade de utilização do equipamento e do procedimento de análise adotado. / The management of a road network encompasses constant assessments of structural conditions and, above all, functional conditions. Thus, a form of automated survey, carried out at traffic speeds, in which human influence can be unconsidered, is under development in Brazilian road engineering, as it is seen internationally. This present work aims to contribute to the process of functional assessment of pavements through the study of applicability of the functional inventory process of rigid pavements with the use of Pavement Scanner equipment. In order to do so, after the literature review of rigid pavement inventory and Pavement Scanner equipment, test sections were defined and evaluated according to the traditional method of surface survey (ICP - DNIT 062 / PRO, DNIT 060 / PRO), the traditional sand patch volumetric method for the evaluation of macrotexture (ASTM E 965/96), through imaging analysis from the test sections and under the use of Pavement Scanner equipment. With the results, a statistical analysis of these techniques were performed, demonstrating the feasibility of using the equipment and the analysis procedure adopted.

Motivado pela alteração do sistema construtivo de pavimentos de concreto de cimento Portland, na qual foi abolida a utilização da manta plástica entre placas e bases cimentadas, com conseqüente emprego de imprimação da base com emulsão asfáltica, este trabalho buscou responder algumas indagações surgidas durante este processo. Em laboratório, através de uma metodologia de ensaio especialmente adaptada para o estudo da resistência ao cisalhamento entre concreto de cimento Portland (CCP) e concreto compactado com rolo (CCR), inferiu-se, para diferentes tratamentos de interface, elevados níveis de resistência ao cisalhamento em interfaces sem emulsão asfáltica que potencializam o emprego de estruturas monolíticas de pavimentos. Quanto àquelas que continham material asfáltico, foram obtidos resultados muito inferiores aos anteriores, com caracterização de ruptura dúctil, por efeito de fluência do material betuminoso. Duas pistas experimentais instrumentadas, uma em whitetopping ultradelgado e outra em pavimento simples de concreto executado segundo a nova prática construtiva, capazes de mensurar as deformações específicas do CCP durante a execução de provas de carga dinâmica, associadas às modelagens por elementos finitos (MEF), realizadas com auxílio do programa ISLAB2000, propiciaram importantes inferências sobre o comportamento mecânico destes dois tipos de pavimentos de concreto. Verificou-se o trabalho mecânico composto (monolítico) das estruturas de whitetopping ultradelgado, com boas correlações entre as tensões medidas e numericamente calculadas; e entre os rebaixamentos da linha neutra (LN) determinados analítica, numérica e experimentalmente. No tocante ao pavimento simples de concreto sobreposto à base cimentada imprimada, apesar das ótimas correlações entre tensões medidas e determinadas numericamente, não se pode obter conclusões definitivas a despeito do trabalho mecânico desta estrutura, apesar da existência de indícios de comportamento não-monolítico. / This thesis intended to answer some inquiries, which arose during the alteration of the concrete pavement constructive process. This process substituted the plastic blanket by the asphalt emulsion, between the concrete slabs and the cemented bases. A laboratorial test methodology, specially adapted for the study of shear strength between the Portland cement concrete and the rolled concrete, inferred, for different types of interlayer treatments, high levels of shear strength, at the interfaces without asphalt emulsion. These shear strength levels enable the monolithic behavior of the pavement structure. When the asphalt emulsion was presented at the interlayer, the shear strength was much smaller than the former, with ductile rupture due to creep of the bituminous material. Two instrumented road tests, the first section in ultra-thin whitetopping pavement and de second one, in jointed plain concrete pavement (built according to new constructive process), and the finite element analyses led to important conclusions about the mechanical behavior of these pavement structures. This was possible because the strain-gages measured the specific concrete deformations during the dynamic load tests. The monolithic behavior of the ultra-thin whitetopping pavement was verified. There were good correlations between the measured stresses and theoretical stresses, which were calculated by the finite element method; and between the neutral axle displacements, estimated by analytical, numerical and experimental methods. With regard to the jointed plain concrete pavement, which was built over the cemented base (covered by the asphalt emulsion), great correlations between measured and simulated stresses were found, as well as it was found for ultra-thin whitetopping. However, it was not possible to conclude, definitively, concerning the mechanical behavior of this pavement structure, although there are clues that ndicated a non-monolithic behavior, that is, concrete slabs are unbounded up with the cemented base.