01553799

Component

The objective of this paper is to investigate the factors that affect pavement roughness measured using the international Roughness Index (IRI) over time. The broader scope of the research is to understand how IRI can be integrated into the assessment of pavement use-phase emissions. Previous studies have shown that pavement roughness, among various other factors, directly impact rolling resistance, which in tum impacts vehicle fuel efficiency. This paper describes an analysis method to mine IRI data in the Federal Highways Long Tenn Pavement Performance (LTPP) database, in order to identify significant statistical trends, if any, in IRI degradation over time when classified by region, traffic loading, and base preparation. The insights from the analysis will directly apply to estimating greenhouse gas emissions of pavements during the use phase. The most important contribution of this research is to draw attention to the need for context specific analysis of pavement performance when estimating pavement life cycle emissions, particularly given the inaccuracies and wide variability in the available datasets. It is critical to use caution when analyzing the data and/or generalizing outcomes from studies involving limited datasets.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFD90 Surface Properties - Vehicle Interaction.

01550057

15-4529

English

16p

2015

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Data analysis; Environmental impacts; Greenhouse gases; Life cycle analysis; Pavement performance; Rolling resistance; Roughness

International Roughness Index; Long-Term Pavement Performance Program

Energy; Environment; Highways; Pavements; I15: Environment; I23: Properties of Road Surfaces

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-4529

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 1:29PM