Technical assessment model for the performance of flexible pavement maintenance

Assessment of maintenance strategies is a key aspect in pavement management. This is done through such models as HDM-4 at network level. Calibrations at project level however are not always available for maintenance plans to be accurately made. This paper proposes an alternative model for the technical assessment of pavements, allowing conservation plans (assessment of the ex-before type) to be compared and also the performance of already executed maintenance works (ex-after type assessment). The model considers forecasts of traffic stress, roughness progression through IRI and the effect of maintenance activities on the IRI. Models were calibrated at the level of projects using data from 2,000 200-hundred meter sections of asphalt pavements of the Chilean road network. Each test section was grouped considering weather, traffic level, type of vehicles and load condition. An aggregated performance index is also proposed to measure the effectiveness of conservation plans compared to its base condition. This model allows measuring the performance of maintenance plans according to the type of pavement and optimizing the conservation plan according to the history of pavements.