What are perpetual pavements?

A bit of background
UK view
Top down cracking
Evidence for perpetual pavements

What can we do to encourage perpetual

pavement design and constructiondesign
catalogs
City/county of Honolulu
WSDOT

Concluding remarks

 An asphalt pavement designed and built to

last longer than 50 years without requiring
major structural rehabilitation or
reconstruction.
Not a new concept in that long-lasting
pavements have been discussed for some
time.

Source: Perpetual PavementsA Synthesis, APA, Jan 2002

 UK long-lasting pavement design

Distress associated with long-lasting
pavements
Top down cracking
What is the cause of this type of distress?

Evidence for long-lasting flexible pavements

Washington DOT Interstates
European practices

 Nunn and Ferne in the UK showed a thickness

upper limit for HMA pavements.
Typical US HMA falls within the
range of these 3 UK mixes

8
8 recommended as a min
thickness for a 40 year design

Source: TRB Circular 503, Dec 2001

Examples are numerous of this type of cracking

and it is critical to understand.
I-90 near Ellensburg, WA
Photo taken in 1976

City Street, Kirkland, WA

 Average core thickness: 160 mm

Average crack depth: 50 mm
Time from paving to first crack: 5 years (but
this ranged from 1 to 11 years)
ESALs to first crack: 1 million

 A number of studies have examined this

questionsubstantial work done in California,
Florida, Illinois, Nottingham, Washington, etc.
Solid explanations are provided by Qadi et al
at U of Illinois and Mohammad at Nottingham
Vertical shear strain in the upper 76 to 100 mm of
HMA is critical along with surface horizontal
tensile strains.
Caused by tire-pavement contact by individual tire
tread ribs.

 Max ADTs of 250,000

Max ESALs per year of 3.0 million
Pavement preservation: Typically budgets
$7,000/lane-mile/year for complete route
system (includes HMA, BST, and PCCP) which
totals 18,000 lane-miles.

13

700
600
HMA
Lanemile

500

PCC

400
300
200
100
0
<10

10~20

20~30

30~40

40~50

Age since original construction

50~60

60

Age to First Rehab

1200
HMA (Lane Miles)
PCCP (Lane Miles)

1000

Lane Miles

800

600

400

200

0
0 - 10

11 - 20

21 - 30
Age (Years)

31 - 40

41 - 50

FHWA
Ride Quality
Terms
Good

All Functional Classifications

IRI, m/km

PSR Rating

< 1.5

Good

Acceptable

2.7

Acceptable

Not Acceptable

> 2.7

Not
Acceptable

Pavement
Type

IRI

Percent of Total
Traffic Volume

HMA

1.5
m/km
73%

1.5 to 3.0
m/km
24%

3.0
m/km
3%

BST

25%

66%

9%

3%

PCCP

30%

59%

11%

28%

FHWA
Ride Quality
Terms
Good

All Functional Classifications

IRI, m/km

PSR Rating

< 1.5

Good

Acceptable

2.7

Acceptable

Not Acceptable

> 2.7

Not
Acceptable

69%

 UK best practice guide for overlaying PCC

European practices
Korean study

Experience from the UK with HMA

overlays over CRCP and PCC
HMA over PCC can be a longlasting pavement.
HMA reduces thermal movements
in the CRCP.
HMA overlays of 100 mm needed
for CRCP with some distress. Less
thickness for better condition.
HMA overlays over jointed PCC
should be a minimum of 150 mm
on crack and seat; 200 mm on
rubbilized PCC.
Source: Jordan et al, Road Note 41, Best Practice Guide for Overlaying Concrete, 2008.

A long-life pavement is a type of pavement

where no significant deterioration will
develop in the foundations or the road base
layers provided that correct surface
maintenance is carried out.

ELLPAG Phase I Report, A Guide to the Use of Long-Life Fully-Flexible Pavements,

2004.

ELLPAG Phase I Report, A Guide to the Use of Long-Life Fully-Flexible Pavements,

2004.

14

100 million ESALs (SA80)

12

12
8

Lee, Park, Lee, Development of a Simplified Design Procedure for Determining Layer
Thickness in Long Life Pavements, TRB, 2007.

Korean Design placed

on TRL design chart

Sidess and Uzan, A Design Method of Perpetual Flexible Pavement in Israel, TRB,
2010.

100 million 80 kN ESALs

330
320

HMA Thickness (mm)

310
300
290

13
12

280
270
260
250

CBR=3%

240
230

CBR=5%

220
210

CBR=10%

200
190
1.0E+06

1.0E+07

Number of 130 kN ESAL, W130

1.0E+08

 Research Report by Davis and Timm,

Recalibration of the Asphalt Layer
Coefficient, NCAT Report 09-03, August 2009.
Work performed for Alabama DOT
Why? ADOT and many other State DOTs use
AASHTO 93 for pavement structural design.
Ease of use
Basic design system has been available for 50
years.

 Original AASHO Road Test research reported

in 1962 (HRB Special Report 61E)
Layer coefficient for HMA set at 0.44 (or 1 of
HMA = 3.1 of high quality crushed stone).
Range of reported HMA layer coefficients from
0.33 to 0.83 based on AASHO Road Test results.
Max HMA thickness at AASHO Road Test was 6.

 Davis and Timm results

Used data from the 2003 and 2006 NCAT Test
Tracks
2003: HMA thicknesses 5 to 9
2006: HMA thicknesses 7 to 15
HMA layer coefficients ranged from 0.41 to 0.68
HMA layer coefficient average = 0.54 with s = 0.08

Bottom line from NCAT

HMA thicknesses less than 5 use 0.44.
HMA thickness greater than 5 use 0.54.

MR=10,000 psi
CSBC
HMA
@ 0.54
6.0
6.2

ESALs

Reliability

5,000,000

85%

HMA
@ 0.44
7.5

10,000,000

95%

9.8

6.0

8.0

6.0

25,000,000

95%

11.3

6.0

9.2

6.0

50,000,000

95%

12.6

6.0

10.3

6.0

100,000,000

95%

14.0

6.0

11.4

6.0

200,000,000

95%

15.5

6.0

12.5

6.0

Original AASHO
Road Test

NCAT Results

CSBC
6.0

 Design catalogs
Example from Hawaii
Example from WSDOT

 Low volume roads and

streets without bus
routes.
Maximum ESALs = 1
million
Minimum pavement
structure = 5 of HMA
and 6 unbound
aggregate base.
Effective March 1, 2006

 Contains a design catalog for scoping

pavement structuresboth flexible and rigid.
Originally based on AASHTO 93
Recently revised to reflect AASHTO 93,
MEPDG, national and international practices,
and NCAT research.

 Minimum subgrade stiffness of 10,000 psi.

If subgrade conditions are less 10,000 psi,
then use subbase or capping layer, etc.
If subgrade conditions are higher than 10,000
psi, the pavement structure can be reduced
accordingly.

ESALs

Approx.
Reliability

Flexible
Pavement

Rigid Pavement

HMA

Base

PCC

5 million

85%

5 to 10 million

95%

10 to 25 million

95%

10

10

25 to 50 million

95%

11

11

50 to 100 million

95%

12

12

100 to 200
million

95%

13

13

Base
GB only
HMA over
GB
HMA over
GB
HMA over
GB
HMA over
GB
HMA over
GB

6
4+4
4+4
4+4
4+4
4+4

 A large body of evidence exists to suggest that

HMA provides a long-lasting pavement
structure.
A number of tools are available to enable longlasting HMA pavement design.
Where to place future emphasis?
Long-lasting wearing courses.
Upgrading existing pavements to long-life.
Low volume roads/streets.
Budget requirements to keep it all together.