Abstract
A significant amount of Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement that was placed in the 1960s is nearing the end of its serviceable life and must soon be rehabilitated or replaced. Initial WSDOT estimates place the cost of the anticipated work at more than $600 million. A tool to predict PCC pavement deterioration and ultimate failure is needed to prioritize rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts best. The software associated with NCHRP Project 1–37A was chosen as a promising tool worthy of assessment for this application. The urgency of the situation necessitated its use, despite the lack of formal calibration guidance, some software bugs, and isolated model inconsistencies. A procedure was developed and used to calibrate the rigid pavement portion of the NCHRP 1–37A software to data obtained from the Washington State Pavement Management System (WSPMS). Significant findings resulted: (a) the rigid pavement portion of the software was calibrated successfully; (b) WSDOT pavements require calibration factors significantly different from default values; (c) the software does not model longitudinal cracking, which is significant in WSDOT pavements; (d) WSPMS does not separate longitudinal and transverse cracking, a lack that makes calibration of the software's transverse cracking model difficult; and (e) the software does not model studded tire wear, which is significant in WSDOT pavements. Results indicate that the calibrated software can be used to predict future deterioration caused by faulting, but it cannot be used to predict cracking caused by the transverse or longitudinal crack issues.
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