| Rutting is one of the most common distresses seen on the nation's highways. Highway agencies use this distress as an indicator of the performance of their roadways in their pavement management systems. One of the resolutions used for correcting rutting is to mill off the pavement surface and overlay with new mix. This method of correcting the problem may not be the best solution if the rutting is caused by some layer other than the surface of the pavement.; However, it is difficult to determine the predominant cause of the rutting on a network level basis. The purpose of this study was to determine if the predominant cause of the rutting could be determined in an automated manner using the transverse profile. The study found two potential models that allow for prediction of the predominant cause approximately 60% of the time. In addition, the study determined that a 5-sensor rut bar has a correlation to rut depth as determined from a rod and level elevation survey of approximately 0.4 and cannot be relied upon to accurately measure rut depth. A minimum of 9 sensors is required for measuring the rutting with sufficient accuracy for pavement management. |
