Development of maintenance decision model for flexible pavements

Abstract

Selection of an appropriate pavement maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) treatment is often a complex process. Some researchers have suggested a ‘decision tree’ approach to select the most feasible repair strategy based on the existing pavement condition. A decision system, maintenance unit (MU), was developed through research conducted at Cairo University, Egypt. The MU system determines M&R activities based on the density of distress repair methods (not the density of individual distresses). In addition, it addresses the complex combinations between distress levels and maintenance alternatives. Identifying future maintenance needs is an important component for a multi-year analysis. The objective of this study is to develop a maintenance decision model for flexible pavements using data extracted from the long-term pavement performance-DataPave3.0 programme. The proposed model, predicts future MU values with which future maintenance needs are determined. The validation process was performed using different sets of data. This model can play an important role in assisting decision makers in the planning and cost allocation of M&R more effectively.

Keywords:

• decision tree
• pavement maintenance
• prediction models
• maintenance decisions
• PMMS
• maintenance needs