Permanent deformation and deflection relationship from pavement condition assessment

The development of permanent deformation in flexible pavements has been a research topic for several decades. Currently there are models included in the structural design of pavements that can predict this type of failure. However, the variables required for the prediction of this distress are complex or difficult to obtain in the field, making its application in pavement evaluation also difficult. Measurement of the deflection of pavement structures by means of non-destructive testing is a technique used to assess the condition of the pavement. This research study seeks to correlate data from deflections of the pavement surface with probable permanent deformation in time. In addition, prediction of the remaining life of the pavement structure using a specified criterion is also analyzed. In order to accomplish these objectives, data acquired from 4 different full scale accelerated pavement test tracks was used to develop a permanent deformation model as a function of deflection, load repetitions and pavement layer thickness. The developed model considered a time series model that incorporates an Auto-regressive parameter of order 1. The proposed model presents an advantage over currently available models because it reduces the required parameters to predict the permanent deformation and/or remaining life in the structure and because these variables can be easily found and updated in a pavement management system.