Submission ID 103361
| Session Title | AM - Cost-Effective Asset Condition Data Collection and Monitoring |
|---|---|
| Title | Comparing FWD Backcalculations using Manual and Automated Pavement Temperature Data |
| Abstract or description | Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors (the Department) collects Falling Weight Deflection (FWD) data each year for the purposes of pavement design and pavement management. Currently the pavement temperature data is captured manually at test sites, which requires drilling holes into the pavement surface and measuring temperatures using thermometers. The process is labour-intensive and is not preferrable in terms of both safety and efficiency. To explore ways to automate this process, the Department initiated a study using FWD tests on selected project sites to derive pavement temperature data using the BELLS (also known as BELLS3) method based on ASTM Standard D7228. Ten flexible pavement sections from various regions in Alberta were selected for the study. More than 700 FWD tests were carried out from July to September 2023. Two sets of pavement temperature data were acquired through different methods:
The study compares the differences between these two sets of pavement temperatures and investigates their impacts on key outputs of the backcalculation analysis. This study used backcalculation methodology from the AASHTO 1993 Guide for Design of Pavement Structures, which utilizes measured deflections, manually measured or calculated pavement temperatures, site-specific historical construction records, and traffic loading data from the Department’s pavement management system. It was observed that the pavement temperatures derived from the BELLS equation were approximately 10% lower than those from the manual measurements, which led to lower pavement moduli and slightly higher calculated overlay thickness requirements. The preliminary findings and conclusions are summarized for clarity. Keywords: Falling Weight Deflectometer, Manual and Automated Pavement Temperature Data Acquisition, Backcalculation. |
| Presentation Description (for Conference App) | This study looks at the impacts of pavement temperatures on FWD backcalculations using manually measured temperatures vs. calculated temperatures based on ASTM D7228 (BELLS). The presentation covers key results such as pavement moduli and overlay thickness requirements, based on more than 700 FWD tests from 2023 in Alberta. |
| Presenter and/or Author Information | Wei He, Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors
Anand Singh, Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors Aravinth Sivajeyan, University of Alberta |
