Service Life of Hot Mix Asphalt Using PERMIT

Over 90% of the roads in the United States are paved with hot mix asphalt (HMA). These asphalt pavements include many mix types, such as permeable friction course (PFC), stone mastic asphalt (SMA), performance design mixes, and conventional dense graded mixes. The performance of the HMA is an important factor in pavement design programs used by many Departments of Transportation. The type of HMA selected not only greatly impacts the performance of the pavement structure but also the pavement’s life-cycle cost analysis. In order to select a HMA that is most suitable for the location’s loading and environmental conditions, all information related to construction, reconstruction, and maintenance jobs are incorporated in pavement analyses and design. Currently, the performance life of an HMA mix is recommended based on experience due to very limited empirical data. The study presented in this paper proposes a more objective and data-driven process for estimating the HMA service lives. To improve the prediction of HMA performance life, an approach was developed that involves data mining and integrating several pavement management databases to obtain mixture performance data along with other relevant information. Through an online graphical-user-interface (GUI), the approach then facilitates decision-making in terms of the performance of an HMA mix for a specific job or a specific mix. A description of the tool and its benefits in transportation as related to pavement design and maintenance is presented in this paper.