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.