The Influence of Statistical Spatial Repeatabiliy on Remaining Pavement Life

A road develops permanent deformation and fatigue damage because of the strains induced in its
structure by surface loading and environmental change. A mechanistic-empirical approach is
implemented here to simulate the deterioration of a pavement. A quarter car model is used to
simulate pavement/vehicle dynamic interaction and a feedback mechanism is implemented after each
run to update the pavement profile after the passage of each axle. In this way, the influence of
Statistical Spatial Repeatability (SSR) is incorporated into the pavement damage model. The model
is run for two sample profiles. The first is a simple step profile which demonstrates that the patterns
of damage relate to the two natural frequencies of the quarter car. An initially random profile is also
investigated. A complete history of the surface profile during its life demonstrates how the peaks and
troughs migrate in response to the evolving pattern of SSR.