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Measurement Measurement Techniques: Fracture. This Could Be in The Form of Cracking (In

This document discusses methods for evaluating surface distress on pavements. It defines surface distress as signs of poor pavement performance or impending failure, which can be in the form of cracking, deformation, or disintegration. Measurement techniques have evolved from slow, visual surveys to high-speed video imaging of pavement surfaces. The video is then analyzed manually or using automated software to assess different types and severities of distresses. This provides more accurate, complete, and efficient data collection compared to older visual methods.

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Elliot Vance
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41 views

Measurement Measurement Techniques: Fracture. This Could Be in The Form of Cracking (In

This document discusses methods for evaluating surface distress on pavements. It defines surface distress as signs of poor pavement performance or impending failure, which can be in the form of cracking, deformation, or disintegration. Measurement techniques have evolved from slow, visual surveys to high-speed video imaging of pavement surfaces. The video is then analyzed manually or using automated software to assess different types and severities of distresses. This provides more accurate, complete, and efficient data collection compared to older visual methods.

Uploaded by

Elliot Vance
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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9.3 Pavement Evaluation - Surface Distress http://training.ce.washington.edu/wsdot/Modules/09_pavement_evaluati...

Surface distress is "Any indication of poor or unfavorable Major Topics on this Page
pavement performance or signs of impending failure; any
unsatisfactory performance of a pavement short of failure" 3.1 Measurement
(Highway Research Board, 1970). Surface distress modes 3.2 Measurement Techniques
can be broadly classified into the following three groups:

1. Fracture. This could be in the form of cracking (in flexible and rigid pavements) or spalling
resulting from such things as excessive loading, fatigue, thermal changes, moisture
damage, slippage or contraction.

2. Distortion. This is in the form of deformation (e.g., rutting, corrugation and shoving),
which can result from such things as excessive loading, creep, densification, consolidation,
swelling, or frost action.

3. Disintegration. This is in the form of stripping. raveling or spalling, which can result from
such things as loss of bonding, chemical reactivity, traffic abrasion, aggregate degradation,
poor consolidation/compaction or binder aging.

Thus, surface distress will be somewhat related to roughness (the more cracks, distortion and
disintegration - the rougher the pavement will be) as well as structural integrity (surface distress
can be a sign of impending or current structural problems).

Pavement Distress Photo Gallery


An extensive pavement distress photo gallery can be found in:

Section 9.7 for flexible pavement

Section 9.8 for rigid pavement

These galleries include all the major types of pavement damage/distress. Each distress
discussion includes (1) pictures if available, (2) a description of the distress, (3) why the
distress is a problem and (4) typical causes of the distress. The gallery is organized
alphabetically and the pictures are not included in the Module list of figures.

Measures of distress can be either subjective or objective. A simple example of a subjective


measurement may be a rating of high, medium, or low based on a brief visual inspection. Objective
measurements, which are generally more expensive to obtain, use different types of automated
distress detection equipment.

Measurement techniques are mostly visual. Older techniques, used teams of individuals who drove
across every mile of pavement to be measured. Speeds were usually quite slow (on the order of 16
km/hr (10 mph)) and measurement was done visually. More current methods record pavement

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9.3 Pavement Evaluation - Surface Distress http://training.ce.washington.edu/wsdot/Modules/09_pavement_evaluati...

surface video images at highway speed using a specially equipped van (see Figures 9.8 and 9.9) that
is outfitted with high resolution cameras. Evaluation is either done manually by playing the video
back on specially designed workstations (see Figure 9.10) while trained crews rate the recorded
road surface (see Figure 9.11) or automatically by computer software (see Figure 9.12).
Advantages of these more current methods are (Sivaneswaran and Pierce, 2001):

Safety. Data are collected at highway speed, eliminating the need for driving at slow
speeds or on the shoulder.

Accurate and complete distress data. Each distress along with its extent, severity and
location is identified and stored in a database. The system is also less prone to rating
errors.

More effective quality control. A centralized evaluation location and less subjective data
make quality control much better.

More efficient data collection. Surface distress, rut and roughness data are all collected at
the same time using the same data collecting vehicle.

Video and digital images are available for other users. They are available to bridge and
maintenance personnel and can be made available on the Internet in the future.

Figure 9.9: Inside a Pavement


Figure 9.8: Washington State DOT
Condition
Pavement Condition Rating Van
Rating Van

Figure 9.10: Pavement Condition Rating Figure 9.11: Pavement Condition Rating
Video Images Station

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Figure 9.12: Screen Shot from a Computer-Based Automatic Crack Detection System
(Image from Roadware's WiseCrax System)

Integrated analysis units can collect pavement surface distress data in the previously described
manner as well as collect data on a variety of other characteristics at highway speeds such as:

Transverse profile/rutting Panoramic right-of-way video

Grade, cross-slope Pavement video

Pavement texture Feature location

GPS coordinates

WSDOT Surface Distress Measurement Method

Visual Method - Old


WSDOT used a visual method from 1969 to 1998 consisting of four 2-person
teams that drove at 16 km/hr (10 mph) over the entire State road system
(over 8,000 miles) every year and visually rated surface distress
(Sivaneswaran and Pierce, 2001).

High-Speed Video Imaging


In 1999, WSDOT purchased a data distress collection van that records
pavement profile (ride, faulting, and rutting) and video images of the
pavement surface, ahead view, and shoulder view. Now, video images of

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pavement surface are recorded at highway speed using a specially equipped


van that uses two high resolution cameras each covering about 2 m (6 ft.) in
road width. Digital images are collected at 2 m (6 ft.) intervals along the road
and front and right shoulder views are also recorded. Trained crews then rate
these images by playing them back on specially designed workstations.

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