• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 2015

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to analyze the service life of expressway pavement based on both traffic volumes and use of deicing chemicals. METHODS : A database was built using expressway rehabilitation history information from over the last decade. In order to estimate the service life of expressway pavement, various analysis methods were considered, and a decision was made to perform analysis using a method based on an accumulated rehabilitation ratio. The service life of expressway pavement was then analyzed by classifying the scale of traffic volume and extent of de-icing chemicals used. RESULTS : The service life of PMA and SMA ranged from 7.8 to 10.6 years and from 9.9 to 12.0 years, respectively. The service life of JCP ranged from 16.0 to 22.2 years, and the service life of CRCP was 33.5 years on average. Results of assessing service life according to traffic volumes and de-icing chemicals showed that the lower the traffic volumes were, the greater the service life of PMA and JCP, and the less that de-icing chemicals were applied, the greater the service life of JCP. CONCLUSIONS : The dependence of expressway pavement service life on traffic volumes and de-icing chemicals makes it possible to apply LCCA for regional maintenance plans and cost-effective selection of expressway pavement type.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.57-65
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• 2018

PURPOSES : The study aims to predict the service life of national highway asphalt pavements through deep learning methods by using maintenance history data of the National Highway Pavement Management System. METHODS : For the configuration of a deep learning network, this study used Tensorflow 1.5, an open source program which has excellent usability among deep learning frameworks. For the analysis, nine variables of cumulative annual average daily traffic, cumulative equivalent single axle loads, maintenance layer, surface, base, subbase, anti-frost layer, structural number of pavement, and region were selected as input data, while service life was chosen to construct the input layer and output layers as output data. Additionally, for scenario analysis, in this study, a model was formed with four different numbers of 1, 2, 4, and 8 hidden layers and a simulation analysis was performed according to the applicability of the over fitting resolution algorithm. RESULTS : The results of the analysis have shown that regardless of the number of hidden layers, when an over fitting resolution algorithm, such as dropout, is applied, the prediction capability is improved as the coefficient of determination ($R^2$) of the test data increases. Furthermore, the result of the sensitivity analysis of the applicability of region variables demonstrates that estimating service life requires sufficient consideration of regional characteristics as $R^2$ had a maximum of between 0.73 and 0.84, when regional variables where taken into consideration. CONCLUSIONS : As a result, this study proposes that it is possible to precisely predict the service life of national highway pavement sections with the consideration of traffic, pavement thickness, and regional factors and concludes that the use of the prediction of service life is fundamental data in decision making within pavement management systems.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.201-212
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• 2018

Decrease in availability of suitable subbase and base course materials for highway construction leads to a search for economic method of converting locally available troublesome soil to suitable one for highway construction. Present study insights on evaluation of benefits of stabilization of subgrade soils in term of extension in service life (TBR) and layer thickness reduction (LTR). Laboratory investigation consisting of Atterberg limit, Compaction, California Bearing Ratio, unconfined compressive strength and triaxial shear strength tests were carried out on two types of soil for varying percentages of stabilizers. Vertical compressive strains at the top of unstabilized and stabilized subgrade soils were found out by elastoplastic finite element analysis using commercial software ANSYS. The values of vertical compressive strains at the top of unstabilized and stabilized subgrade, were further used to estimate layer thickness reduction or extension in service life of the pavement due to stabilization. Finite element modeling of the flexible pavement layered structure provides modern technology and sophisticated characterization of materials that can be accommodated in the analysis and enhances the reliability for the prediction of pavement response for improved design methodology. If the pavement section is kept same for unstabilized and stabilized subgrade soils, pavement resting on lime, fly ash and fiber stabilized subgrade soil B will have service life 2.84, 1.84 and 1.67 times than that of unstabilized pavement respectively. The flexible pavement resting on stabilized subgrade is beneficial in reducing the construction material. Actual savings would depend on the option exercised by the designer for reducing the thickness of an individual layer.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.1-8
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• 2014

PURPOSES : Analysis and design of asphalt concrete (AC) and continuously reinforced concrete (CRC) composite pavements. METHODS : In this study, the service life of the AC/CRC composite pavements was determined based on the probabilistic method in the mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide(MEPDG). Typical pavement design was provided with respect to heavy truck traffic volume of highways. RESULTS : The service life of the composite pavements based on IRI was shorter than that based on rutting at lower traffic volume, but this trend was switched at higher traffic volume. CONCLUSIONS : It is concluded that the main distress affecting the service life of the composite pavements was longitudinal roughness and rutting. Roughness became lower, but rut depth became greater as the stiffness of the CRC increased.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.513-521
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• 2023

Temperature is one of the most critical elements that influence the rutting and fatigue resistance of flexible pavements. Particularly in extreme hot regions in Saudi Arabia, high temperature would significantly reduce the rutting resistance of flexible pavements leading to reduction of pavement service life. Due to the impacts of global warming, average temperature in Saudi Arabia is expected to further increase by about 4℃ by the end of the 21st century. The substantial increase in average temperature will elevate the expected pavement maintenance and rehabilitation cost. This paper analyzes the structural effects of temperature on pavement using layered elastic analysis based on finite element techniques. The research team calculated the potential loss of pavement service life due to the projected temperature increase and climate change. The paper also analyzed potential impact of using carbon waste in asphalt concrete to tackle the derogatory impacts of temperature rise.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.69-76
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• 2015

PURPOSES : Performance evaluation of four types of asphalt concrete overlays for deteriorated national highways. METHODS : Pavement distress surveys for crack rate and rut depth have been conducted annually using an automated pavement survey vehicle since 2007. Linear and non-linear performance prediction models of the asphalt concrete overlays were developed for 43 sections. The service life of the asphalt overlays was defined as the number of years after which a crack rate of 30% or rut depth of 15mm is observed. RESULTS : The service life of the asphalt overlays was estimated as 17.4 years on an average. In 90.7% of the sections, the service life of the overlays was 15 years or more which is 1.5 times the life of conventional asphalt concrete overlays used in national highways. The performance of the overlays was dependent on the type of asphalt mixture, traffic volume levels, and environmental conditions. CONCLUSIONS : The usage of stone mastic asphalt (SMA) and polymer-modified asphalt (PMA) for the overlays provided good resistance to cracking and rutting development. It is recommended that appropriate asphalt concrete overlays must be applied depending on the type of existing pavement distress.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.1-11
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• 2017

PURPOSES : This study is aimed at development of a stochastic pavement deterioration forecasting model using National Highway Pavement Condition Index (NHPCI) to support infrastructure asset management. Using this model, the deterioration process regarding life expectancy, deterioration speed change, and reliability were estimated. METHODS : Eight years of Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) data fused with traffic loads (Equivalent Single Axle Loads; ESAL) and structural capacity (Structural Number of Pavement; SNP) were used for the deterioration modeling. As an ideal stochastic model for asset management, Bayesian Markov multi-state exponential hazard model was introduced. RESULTS:The interval of NHPCI was empirically distributed from 8 to 2, and the estimation functions of individual condition indices (crack, rutting, and IRI) in conjunction with the NHPCI index were suggested. The derived deterioration curve shows that life expectancies for the preventive maintenance level was 8.34 years. The general life expectancy was 12.77 years and located in the statistical interval of 11.10-15.58 years at a 95.5% reliability level. CONCLUSIONS : This study originates and contributes to suggesting a simple way to develop a pavement deterioration model using the total condition index that considers road user satisfaction. A definition for level of service system and the corresponding life expectancies are useful for building long-term maintenance plan, especially in Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) work.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.4 no.3 s.13
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• pp.25-33
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• 2002

Most national highways are paved with asphalt. Since increased traffic volume and high temperature have reduced the service life of pavements, modified asphalt pavements or stone mastic asphalt (SMA) have gradually been adopted. However, pavement engineers have difficulty to select pavement types due to lack of standard specifications for these new pavement types. In this study, service lives of general asphalt pavements based on traffic volume were analyzed using the inventory data of pavement management system (PMS) collected for last 10 years. The results showed 9.5 and 5.6 year average service lives for new constructed pavements and overlays, respectively. The traffic volumes for the design life of 10 years was presented based on confidence levels using service life distributions of current pavements. For the confidence level of 90%, 2,300 ESAL was obtained; 1,500 ESAL for the confidence level of 80%. This indicates that modified asphalt pavements should be considered for sections with the higher traffic volume.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.19-28
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• 2016

PURPOSES : Long-life asphalt pavements are used widely in developed countries. In order to be able to devise an effective maintenance strategy for such pavements, in this study, we evaluated the performance of the long-life asphalt pavements constructed along the national highways in South Korea. Further, an economic evaluation of the long-life asphalt pavements was performed based on a life-cycle cost analysis. We aimed to devise a model for evaluating the performance of long-life asphalt pavements using the national highway pavement management system (PMS) database as well as for analyzing the economic feasibility of such pavements, in order to promote their use in South Korea. METHODS : The maintenance history and pavement performance data were obtained from the national highway PMS database. The pavement performances for a total of 292 sections of 10 lanes (5 northbound lanes and 5 eastbound lanes) of national highways were used in this study. Models to predict the performances of hot mix asphalt (HMA) and long-life asphalt pavements under two distinct traffic conditions were developed using a simple regression method. Further, the economic feasibility of long-life asphalt pavements was evaluated using the Korea Pavement Management System (KoPMS). RESULTS : We developed service-life prediction models based on the traffic volume and the equivalent of single-axle load and found that long-life asphalt pavements have service lives 50% longer than those of HMA pavements. Further, the results of the economic analysis showed that long-life asphalt pavements are superior in terms of various economic indexes, including user cost, delay cost, total cost, and user benefits, even though their maintenance cost is higher than that of HMA pavements. A comparison of the economic feasibilities of the various groups showed that group A is superior to HMA pavements in all aspects except in terms of the maintenance criterion (crack 20% or higher) as per the NPV index. However, the long-life asphalt pavements in group B were superior in terms of the maintenance criterion (crack 25% or higher) regardless of the economic feasibility. CONCLUSIONS : The service life of long-life asphalt pavements was found to be approximately 50% longer than that of HMA pavements, regardless of the traffic volume characteristics. The economic feasibility of long-life asphalt pavements was evaluated based on the KoPMS. The results of the economic analysis were the following: long-life asphalt pavements are exceptional in terms of almost all factors, such as user cost, delay cost, total cost, and user benefit; however, the exception is the maintenance cost. Further, the economic feasibility of the long-life asphalt pavements in group B was found to be better than that of the HMA pavements (crack 25% or higher).

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.115-120
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• 2014

PURPOSES : This research describes how to predict the life cycles of fatigue cracking based on NCHRP Report 704 as well as modified harmony search (MHS) algorithm. METHODS : The fatigue cracking regression model of NCHRP Report 704 was used in order to calculate the ESAL (Equivalent Single Axle Load) numbers up to pavement failure, based on using material parameters, composite modulus, and surface pavement thickness. Furthermore, the MHS algorithm was implemented to find appropriate material parameters and other structural conditions given the number of ESALs, which is related to pavement service life. RESULTS : The case studies show that the material and structural parameters can be obtained, resulting in satisfying the failure endurance of asphalt concrete structure, given the number of ESALs. For example, the required ESALs such as one or two millions are targeted to satisfy the service performance of asphalt concrete pavements in this study. CONCLUSIONS : According to the case studies, It can be concluded that the MHS algorithm provides a good tool of optimization problems in terms of minimizing the difference between the required service cycles, which is a given value, and the calculated service cycles, which is obtained from the fatigue cracking regression model.