Development of methodology for detection of defect locations in pavement profile

Abstract

Pavement smoothness has become a standard measure of pavement quality. Transportation agencies strive to build and maintain smoother pavements. Smooth roads provide comfort while riding, minimize vehicular wear and tear and increase pavement life. A user perceives smoothness of a pavement based on the ride quality, which is severely affected by presence of defects on pavement surface. Defects identified after construction are corrected as per smoothness specifications prescribed by respective transportation agencies. The effectiveness of any method used to determine defect locations depends on the decrease in roughness obtained on correction of defects. Following the above line of thought a method that detects defects by comparing original profile to a smoothened profile will be more effective in identifying defect locations that cause roughness in pavements. This research report proposes a methodology to detect defect locations on pavement surface using profile data collected on pavements. The approach presents a method of obtaining a smoothened profile from the original profile to help identify defect locations based on deviations of the original profile from the smoothened one. Defect areas will have a higher deviation from the smoothened profile as compared to smooth areas. The verification of the defects identified by this approach is carried out by determining the decrease in roughness after removal of the identified defects from profile. A roughness statistic is used to do the same. The approach is illustrated using profile data collected on in-service pavement sections.