Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering<\/a> and principal investigator for this project. \u201cHowever, political, budgetary, and labor constraints affect how roads are designed and how long they last.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cRoads are designed to perform for a pre-determined period of time,\u201d said Vandenbossche, professor of civil engineering, Associate Chair of Research, and co-principal investigator. \u201cWhen they fail too soon or last too long, it skews the lifecycle cost analysis used for selecting the most cost-effective design. An accurate prediction of the performance life is imperative for these lifecycle cost analyses to be accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n
An overlooked road failure<\/p>\n
Longitudinal cracking occurs on jointed plain concrete pavements (JPCP) that are commonly used on roads and interstates. These cracks can form from poor construction, weather, and heavy loads.<\/p>\n
To improve how roads are built and to better predict their lifespans, engineers have developed mechanistic-empirical design models, which incorporate principles based on physics and engineering as well as vast amounts of data collected during testing and observation. Although these models have evolved to meet 21st-century demands and reduce environmental impact, the current version of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) pavement mechanistic-empirical design (PMED) software does not account for longitudinal cracking in the design of original concrete pavements.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the modeling side, there has been a greater focus on more prevalent failure modes,\u201d said Vandenbossche, \u201cbut in focusing on some modes and neglecting others, longitudinal cracking has become more common.\u201d<\/p>\n
Expanding the model<\/p>\n
To improve the model and design software, which is used nationwide, Khazanovich and Vandenbossche will conduct a thorough analysis to identify the causes of longitudinal cracking. In addition to reviewing the existing literature, models, documentation, and databases, they will survey transportation officials from across the country and will also identify and research stretches of road experiencing longitudinal cracking.<\/p>\n
From their findings, the team will develop and test mechanistic-empirical models that predict this persistent failure mode. These models will be compatible with the PMED software so they can be easily implemented into it, improving a tool vital to road engineering. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project builds off our previous work to improve how pavements are designed, so that we can develop safer, more efficient roads,\u201d said Khazanovich. \u201cWe\u2019re honored to receive this competitive award from the National Academies of Science.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBillions of dollars are invested in our roads,\u201d said Vandenbossche, \u201cand this research will provide a better tool to achieve the best investment. It\u2019s a great opportunity for the U.S. to account for this neglected failure mode and to advance a national design procedure.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longitudinal cracks, those long fissures that run parallel to highway center lines, are more than just a nuisance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[3892,12911,3893,12913,3895,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-128431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-banner","tag-civil-environmental","tag-dept-banner","tag-grants","tag-pitt-swanson-school-of-engineering","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}