Abstract:
Low volume Roads are those that serve the daily social and economic needs of the locality. In
developing countries, the main problem with low volume roads which are managed by local
authorities is the lack of funding for maintenance and resources. The funds allocated to local
authorities are largely insufficient to maintain low volume road network at good condition.
Fund allocation can be optimized to achieve better overall network performance if the decision
making can be supported by up to date information of the road network condition.
Road roughness information is very useful for road agencies because it can be used to assess
the road condition and be used in decision making process for maintenance planning and
programming. But existing measurement technologies to measure road roughness like
profilometer are very expensive and difficult to use with the prevailing constraints in the local
road agencies. The development of smartphones with 3-Axis accelerometer allows it to take
acceleration measurements in m/s2 along each of x, y, z axes. In this research regression
analysis was used to two find a relationship between roughness value (IRI) obtained from
profilometer and resultant acceleration obtained from an android application called
Androsensor. According to the results Resultant acceleration has a linear relationship with
road roughness (IRI) and Engineers can use this relationship to estimate road surface condition
based on accelerometer readings.
In developing countries planning decisions on maintenance and decisions on selecting
pavement type are mostly taken based on feedback from local communities and subjective
judgement made by the authority due to significant political and other interferences. Therefore
it has been become the trend in the recent past in Sri Lanka to pave low volume roads in asphalt
all over the country regardless of the traffic volume and the required condition of the road.
Although asphalt roads has it’s many advantages in the point of view of the road user, when
analysing the effective cost comparisons of life cycle cost this may not be the most suitable
method available for some roads considering the limited funds available. Therefore suitable
framework should be developed as a primary step to providing the context and a methodology
by which pavement options may be assessed and selected for low volume roads.
This research presents a methodology to select suitable pavement type for low volume roads
in Sri Lanka. The main factors considered for framework are Traffic volume, Traffic
composition, Land use, connectivity, terrain and weather.
