Although pavements are designed and constructed in accordance with structural principles, structural considerations often receive insufficient attention in decisions regarding their subsequent management. It is increasingly being recognised by some organisations that knowledge of the current structural condition and future structural performance of pavements, form critical components in their management. The STEP Procedure (Structural Testing & Evaluation of Pavements) was initially developed on work undertaken in Greece, and then extended in scope to model pavements in NSW, Australia. STEP provides an estimate of pavement configuration, and then of remaining structural life, through analysis of falling weight deflectometer (FWD) pavement deflection data. The STEP procedure was calibrated through the collection and analysis of high quality data by the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) of NSW, and was shown to be able to model most flexible pavement types, ranging from light duty sprayed seal granular to heavy duty thick asphaltic pavements. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. 0612AR242E.
Samenvatting