PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF ROADS USING FALLING WEIGHT DEFLECTOMETER

Abstract

Roads have played a key role in the trade and transportation system all over the world. It is important to have good quality roads for connectivity as quality of roads is a indicator of a countrys economy. There has been a rapid increase in traffic in Indian roads due to increase in population and urbanization. So more roads should be constructed and existing roads should be widened and strengthened, so performance evaluation of roads should be done from time to time and seek rehabilitation measures so that pavement can reach its design life. The Falling Weight Detlectometer (FWD) is an excellent device for evaluating the structural capacity of pavements in service for rehabilitation designs. Because the FWD test is easy to operate and simulates traffic loading quite well, many state highway agencies utilize it widely for assessing pavement conditions. This report gives information regarding the effect of temperature on the deflection values obtained at the sensors using FWD. First two sensors showed significant change with temperature increasing with temperature. Lesser variation was observed on the next sensors. Report tries to lnd the distribution which explains the changes in deflection with temperature and concludes the behaviour shown by the layers with temperature. Designing and evaluation of a section of NH-58 has also been performed as per IRC 115 by using FWD. 12 sections ofNH-58 were selected in a stretch of 6km. Concerned portion was found to be insufficient to carry 100 insa traffic and needed overlay. Remaining service life of lIT roorkee roads was calculated and effort was made to check if a relationship exists on Density of surface course and Remaining service life obtained using FWD. A strength map has also been generated showing the pavement information of sections of roads using ARCGIS.