Flexible Pavement Evaluation: A Case Study

Abstract

This study is a survey to evaluate the flexible pavement conditions to determine and specify the types of the failures in the pavement for the selected highway. It is very significant to evaluate and identify the causes of the flexible pavement failures and select the proper and best treatment and maintenance type. The study had two major and critical goals which covered by considering the following three tasks; the first was the visual evaluation and inspection of existing flexible pavement conditions including the failures, the second to determine and find out the actual causes of these failures in the pavement, and  the third is to select the most and effective treatments and maintenance types. As a case study, Khanaqin-Kalar 2-way 2-lane rural highway was selected for evaluation and inspection purposes. The field evaluation works were achieved on the existing flexible pavement conditions of the selected rural highway. The results were most of the damages and failures in the pavement are serious and extreme surface deformation, cracks, disintegration, and surface defects. These damages and failures are caused by fatigue and other types of failures resulted from the movement of heavy vehicles and trucks, poor drainage design, unsuitable pavement layers thickness design, and improper pavement mix design and selected materials.

Keywords:

Flexible pavement, failure, deterioration, rural highway, evaluation survey.