01373259

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2305-11

http://scholar.google.com...beck&publication_year=2012

Open-graded friction courses (OGFCs) are noted for their contributions to driving safety and noise reduction on flexible pavements. The inclusion of OGFCs in pavement thickness design has varied across the United States. Some states equate OGFC with dense-graded materials, whereas other states give no structural value. The demand for more economical pavement cross sections fuels the need to quantify the structural value of OGFC to ensure optimized pavement thicknesses. Two full-scale pavement sections—one with OGFC as the surfacing material and one without—are evaluated to determine the structural coefficient of the OGFC layer. The sections were built with the same total thickness at the National Center for Asphalt Technology Test Track in 2009 and were subjected to more than 9 million equivalent single-axle loads. Deflection data from extensive falling weight deflectometer testing were used to find the OGFC structural coefficient (α sub OGFC) equal to 0.15. This coefficient translated into a required 12% thickness increase to achieve the same pavement structural number as the control section. To confirm this finding, direct strain was measured in each section to compute the pavement thickness required to achieve equivalent strain levels. The increase in thickness was within 0.05 in. of that predicted through the α sub OGFC approach. Performance monitoring indicated similar performance levels in terms of fatigue cracking (none) and rutting (approximately 5 mm). Additional monitoring and research is needed to validate the OGFC structural coefficient further and develop standards for incorporating OGFC into mechanistic–empirical pavement design.

01470561

12-0812

English

pp 102–110

2012

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309263139

Print

Figures; References

Fatigue cracking; Flexible pavements; Friction course; Mechanistic-empirical pavement design; Open graded aggregates; Pavement design; Rutting; Thickness

Structural coefficient

Design; Pavements; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 8 2012 4:57PM

• Calibrating "Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide" for North Carolina: Genetic Algorithm and Generalized Reduced Gradient Optimization Methods
• Comparison of Design Thicknesses for Flexible Airfield Pavement Based on Agency Limiting Subgrade Strain Criteria
• Concrete Pavement Joint Diagnostics with Ultrasonic Tomography
• Development of Mechanistic–Empirical Design Procedure for Fully Permeable Pavement Under Heavy Traffic
• Establishing Effective Linear Temperature Gradients for Ultrathin Bonded Concrete Overlays on Asphalt Pavements
• Evaluating the Effect of Concrete Slab Curling on Joint Load Transfer Responses
• Evaluation of Representative Loading Frequency for Linear Elastic Analysis of Asphalt Pavements
• Improved Mechanistic–Empirical Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement Design Approach with Modified Punchout Model
• Induction Healing of Porous Asphalt
• Joint Load Transfer and Support Considerations for Jointed Precast Concrete Pavements
• Load and Resistance Factors and Design Parameter Offsets for "Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide"
• Method for Evaluating Implications of Climate Change for Design and Performance of Flexible Pavements
• Modification of "Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide" Procedure for Two-Lift Composite Concrete Pavements
• New Warping and Differential Drying Shrinkage Models for Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements Derived with Nonlinear Shrinkage Distribution
• Rational Use of Terminal Anchorages in Portland Cement Concrete Pavement
• Reliability-Based Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design with Statistical Methods
• Streamlining Use of "Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide"