PAVEMENT CONDITION EVALUATION OF ASPHALT SURFACED AIRFIELD PAVEMENTS

The Air Force has identified the need for a Pavement Maintenance Management System and has contracted the U. S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory to develop such a system. The initial requirement is a practical field-validated pavement condition survey and evaluation procedure. Thus, an objective method for determining a meaningful pavement condition index was developed based on distress data obtained from the condition survey. This paper summarizes the concepts and theory that lead to development of the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) and presents the overall procedure for field usage. There are three basic objectives of the PCI: to provide an index of the present condition of the pavement in terms of both structural integrity and surface operational condition; to provide the pavement engineer with an objective and rational basis for determining maintenance and repair needs and priorities (procedure to accomplish this objective have also been developed); and to serve as a warning system for early identification and/or projection of major repair requirements.