A SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES FOR CONCRETE PAVEMENT REHABILITATION

To design and evaluate concrete pavement rehabilitation alternatives effectively it is necessary to consider the existing condition of pavements and to establish decision criteria for triggering the necessary pavement maintenance or rehabilitation actions. A methodology based on a systems approach to designing and evaluating cost-effective alternatives for concrete pavement rehabilitation is presented. The Pavement Rehabilitation Design System (PRDS-1) computer program incorporates this methodology. The program uses mechanistic analysis to generate numerous rehabilitation design alternatives and perform economic evaluation. The evaluation technique is sensitive to both the performance and the cost of the competing alternatives. Resurfacing alternatives include bituminous concrete, jointed portland cement concrete, and continuously reinforced concrete. The PRDS-1 program was used to evaluate typical concrete pavements for overlay thicknesses and associated life-cycle costs. A comparison of resurfacing alternatives with several restoration alternatives indicates that in certain cases restoration alternatives are more economical.