This paper traces the development of a proposed rating system reviewed by a subcommittee of the virginia department of transportation for use in evaluating the service condition of virginia's portlandcement concrete pavements. The service condition is assessed in terms of distress roughness, that is, that portion of a pavement's poorride characteristics directly attributable to the occurrence of certain key distress types. The key distresses identified for jointed concrete pavements are permanent patching, lane and shoulder separation, transverse-joint faulting, transverse-joint seal damage, and scaling, map cracking, or crazing. For continuously reinforced pavements, spacing of transverse cracks, lane and shoulder separation, and scaling, map cracking, or crazing were identified. Field surveys of the occurrence of these distresses provide the necessary data for estimating distress roughness through the use of prediction equations that have been established from the standard statistical analysis of pavement section distress data and roughness measurements. The use of distress roughness to reflect a pavement's service condition provides a common basis for coparison of pavement sections. This, in turn, enables managers to set priorities for pavement rehabilitation. These rating procedures and a comprehensive system for managing portland cement concrete pavements will be implemented in a subsequent project. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1272, Pavement management and rehabilitation 1990.
Abstract