With the growing interest in the development of maintenance management models for optimum utilisation of available resources in developing countries, to decide the most economical strategies based on flow of funds, one of the most essential inputs is development of deterioration models for structural and functional conditions of flexible pavements. This paper describes the development of deterioration models for the prediction of deflection growth, rut depth progression, crack area progression, unevenness (roughness) growth and the variation in riding comfort with increase in unevenness of the pavement surface. The deflection histories of overlaid flexible pavements have been analysed to find the appropriate stabilised deflection value which has been used as a strength parameter in the deterioration modelling. The present investigation has been presented in few key elements viz., need for flexible pavement deterioration models, performance studies on flexible pavements, strength parameter for overlaid flexible pavemets, structural condition deterioration models and functional condition deterioration models. (A)
Abstract