Predictive Maintenance To Maximise Pavement Life

November 2021

Data from scanning laser systems currently not used in condition assessment in the UK could allow highway authorities to radically change their maintenance programmes and end the blight of potholes.

The use of survey vehicles that comply to the UK Scanner specification is an established technique for gathering highway surface condition data. This information has generally been used to determine the overall measure of carriageway condition, known as the Road Condition Index (RCi).

The RCi score is then used as a high-level network comparison tool to track condition changes over time, but as asset management techniques have evolved, the need for a more detailed level of data, one that identifies defects and areas of deterioration, has become apparent.

Survey vehicles, such as W.D.M. Limited’s Road Assessment Vehicles (RAV), whilst accredited to the Scanner specification, collect a whole host of data from their scanning laser systems, including year on year deterioration of the road surface.

It’s this data that Andy Stevenson, WDM®’s Associate Director of Road Services, says could be used to totally transform the way highway authorities schedule their carriageway maintenance.

“By asking different questions of the huge wealth of data collected by WDM®’s RAV it is possible to identify a range of surface characteristics that are indicative of the failure mechanisms of all currently commonly available surface treatments in the UK,” he says.

Andy points out that the comparison of surface viability over time is an excellent indicator of the rate and extent of deterioration. Legacy data sets allow the development of predictive models, giving optimum intervention timescales for preventative surface treatments to enable the maximum possible life to be derived from a surface.

He added: “This process will enable carriageways in need of attention to identified at an early stage, before failure begins to initiate. This will facilitate the removal of the growing blight of potholes and the corresponding drain on maintenance budgets for costly reactive maintenance.”

Andy gave a keynote presentation on predictive maintenance entitled “The worst approach to pavement management is to let it fail”, at Highways UK 2021.

For further info: Andy Stevenson 0117 956 7233 or andys@wdm.co.uk

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