Understanding the effects of structural factors and traffic loading on flexible pavement performance

Abstract

Pavement damage increases rapidly with vehicle loads. The deterioration in pavements over time is caused by various factors but traffic loading plays a significant role in the consumption of pavement life. heavy vehicle loads, in addition to the insufficient structural capacity of pavements, are a major contributor to poor road conditions. Alligator cracking, rutting, and roughness are among the various types of distresses that are performance measures of road conditions and are the primary focus of this study. Thus, in order to improve the understanding of pavement deterioration in terms of these distresses, this paper assesses the effect of different structural factors, traffic loading and environmental conditions on pavement performance. In this study, the base type, hot mix asphalt concrete (HMAC) layer thickness, base layer thickness, traffic loading, age, and environmental conditions (precipitation and temperature) are chosen as major contributing factors for the analysis of pavement performance. Generalized linear models (GLM), binary logistic regression (BLR), and random forest (RF) approaches are employed to evaluate the data from the Long-Term Pavement Performance Program (LTPP). Cross validation technique is used to compare the efficacy of regression models (GLM, BLR) with RF. Numerous performance indicators demonstrated that RF surpasses other models in terms of accuracy and identification of influencing variables. The result from the study shows that the important design parameters that have considerable effects on rutting, roughness, and alligator cracking are the base thickness and base type. Traffic loading, pavement age and environmental factors (precipitation and temperature) are critical factors and have a significant impact on pavement performance. This study brings a new idea of using statistical methods to analyze the effects of structural factors and loading on flexible pavements.

Keywords

• Pavement performance
• Pavement structure
• Traffic loading
• Rutting
• Roughness
• Cracking