Validation Of A New Method For Determining The Remaining Service Life Of Rigid Pavements

Abstract

About a half of the Austrian highways are rigid pavement constructions, and increasingly more money has to be invested in their renovation and redevelopment. However, there are different approaches for the evaluation of the condition assessment of concrete pavements. The aim of the research presented in this paper is a concept for assessing the condition of a road section in rigid pavement. This consists of a structural and a visual assessment scheme for selecting appropriate maintenance actions. For the verification of this new method of assessment of the structural condition of concrete pavements, several field tests were examined. Furthermore, a case study was carried out to examine the level of influence of several input parameter. This analysis shows that the influence of the layer thickness is very high, while the influence of the modulus of elasticity of the existing concrete is significant lower. The FWD measurements were carried out radial (instead of linear) for the first time. The results show possible inhomogeneities in the subgrade or in the bedding, which would not be recognized by the standard linear measurements. With the results from the already mentioned measurements, the remaining service life of the test tracks could be calculated.