National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

Project description

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) began ME related research in the late 1990's and more recently had a local calibration effort for Ohio completed by Applied Research Associates in 2009. This 2009 effort indicated the national calibration either over or under predicted the distresses and smoothness based on the available Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) data from sections constructed in Ohio. Based on the recommendations from the 2009 research, ODOT has been compiling the additional distress and material information to perform a more comprehensive local calibration. In Spring 2020, ODOT attempted to use the newly released Calibration Assistance Tool provided as a companion to the AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design (PMED) software. The project data was compiled to locally calibrate for ODOT conditions using Pavement Condition Rating (PCR) and Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) distress data, both methods did not yield valid calibration coefficients for the models attempted. Due to the unsuccessful local calibration efforts by ODOT, a more thorough evaluation of the department's available data and development of local calibration coefficients is needed for ODOT to be able to incorporate PMED into the existing design and analysis process. Without this Ohio calibration, ODOT cannot move forward with a responsible implementation of PMED. The goal of this research is to assist ODOT in optimizing the pavement design process, based on critical performance parameters associated with the PMED software. The objectives of this research include the following: (1) Determine implementable calibration coefficients representative of the unique conditions, materials, and construction in Ohio. (2) If implementable calibration coefficients cannot be determined for any model evaluated, develop a detailed plan of the steps ODOT would need to take for future local calibration of these models as applicable.