Long Term Pavement Performance
SME has been providing technical assistance to the FHWA’s long-term pavement performance (LTPP) program in the area of smoothness data collection since 1995. The LTPP program collects data at numerous test sections established on in-service roadways in the United States and Canada. Smoothness data collection commenced in 1989, and in 2000 data was collected at over 2,100 test sections. The following are some activities SME has performed for this project:
- Developed specifications for purchasing of new smoothness data collection equipment (profilers)
- Performed acceptance testing on new equipment that has been purchased to verify they meet the specifications
- Developed equipment manuals for data collection
- Addressed issues related to data collection and providing solutions
- Performed comparisons among the four profilers that are used to collect data for the LTPP program to ensure they collect similar data
Pavement Smoothness
SME has assisted State Highway Agencies (SHA) in implementing American Association of State Transportation and Highway Officials (AASHTO) standards related to pavement smoothness under a FHWA contract since 2004. Our services included:
- Performing reference profiler measurements that are needed for certifying inertial profilers
- Assisting SHAs with setting-up and conducting programs to certify contractor owned profilers
- Reviewing SHA specifications related to pavement smoothness and providing feedback
- Reviewing SHA documents related to procuring profilers and providing feedback
- Assisting SHAs in trouble shooting equipment problems
- Analyzing data collected by inertial profilers to investigate issues related to pavement factors and equipment factors that affect the data collected by inertial profilers
SME has also served on the Expert Task Group and coordinated the update of the following four AASHTO standards related to pavement smoothness:
- M 328 – Standard Specification for Inertial Profiler
- R54 – Standard Practice for Accepting Pavement Ride Quality When Measured Using Inertial Profiling Systems
- R56 – Standard Practice for Certification of Inertial Profiling Systems
- R57 – Standard Practice for Operating Inertial Profiling Systems
FWD
SME engineers participated in the development of the course material that was used for a National Highway Institute (NHI) course on Pavement Deflection Analysis (NHI Course No. 13127). SME engineers served as instructors for this course, and taught the course to State Highway Agency (SHA) personnel in several states.