Pavement repair assessment pioneer continues to help ensure smoother roads and runways

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center
Published Nov. 29, 2021
VICKSBURG, Miss.-Pavement management personnel can now employ an index to rank repair priorities for both roads and runways, using a uniform system patented by an inspiring inventor from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC).

ERDC received this impressive legacy from M.Y. “Mo” Shahin, Ph.D., prior to his retirement in 2011 from the ERDC’s Construction Engineering and Research Laboratory (CERL) in Champagne, Illinois. Now with a patent for his “System for Processing Multi-Level Condition Data to Achieve Standardized Prioritization,” Shahin invented this pavement condition index (PCI) used nationwide for highway and airfield pavement assessments. His invention relates to the field of computational devices and more specifically to an apparatus for accurately prioritizing infrastructure maintenance.

“The Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is responsible for the repair and maintenance of billions of dollars of infrastructure assets, including roads and buildings. The government and industry use standardized classification systems to assess and rank the condition in order of these assets to prioritize repairs and allocate resources. Cracks or faults in roadways are assigned as low, medium, or high severity to be assigned a numerical score by type and frequency,” Shahin said.

How it works

As stated in the patent application, the current invention is a computer apparatus and method for processing multi-level condition data to achieve standardized prioritization of infrastructure maintenance, comprised of a processor which instantiates an object corresponding to an actual infrastructure.

Each object is comprised of a stored value associated with an infrastructure type, wherein it is associated with a plurality of fault types, a plurality of stored fault data matrices, which store actual data values based on observation. Each stored fault data matrix is associated with one fault type, and each stored fault data matrix includes severity level data values correlated with frequency of occurrence values. This in turn reflects the actual number of observed instances of a said fault type, corresponding to each severity level observed for each infrastructure.

Shahin explained that the severity of each deterioration factor identified in an asset is recorded, and the frequency of occurrences (density) is tracked. An asset having less severe manifestations of a deterioration factor may have a higher density (more frequent) manifestations. Conversely, an asset with few manifestations of a deterioration factor could have instances which are severe and warrant more immediate attention.

Now a rehired annuitant with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Transportation Systems Center (TSC,) Shahin remains active in the further development of the PAVER pavement management system (which is also patented) that he started while at CERL. He also teaches pavement management short courses for Colorado State University. Shahin has won numerous awards, including CERL Researcher of the Year and Federal Engineer of the Year. Furthermore, his PCI invention is widely accepted as a standard in transportation civil engineering and asset management. Numerous municipalities use it to measure the performance of their road infrastructure for both the order and levels of service.

Nationally accepted standard

“The pavement condition index (PCI) is a numerical index between 0 and 100, which is used to indicate the general condition of a pavement section. It is a statistical measure and requires manual survey of the pavement. This index was first developed as an airfield rating system funded by the U.S. Air Force, but later was developed for roadway pavements funded by the U.S. Army. It was documented and standardized by the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) for its surveying processes and calculation methods roads and airport pavements. The PCI system has also been adopted by NATO for rating airfield pavements,” Shahin said.

As noted in the association website, ASTM has more than 30,000 members from 140 countries as producers, users, consumers and general interest parties. These volunteer members write ASTM standards, serve on 140-plus technical committees and have developed more than 12,800 ASTM Standards operating globally.

Well-known in professional and educational circles, Shahin is recognized as a leader in the field and has written numerous publications on pavement evaluation, maintenance and management. He is the author of the textbook, "Pavement Management for Airfields, Roads, and Parking Lots." As a consultant, Dr. Shahin has assisted many airports and local and international agencies in evaluating their current maintenance practices and developing maintenance and rehab recommendations.

Science of pavement management

From airport runways to ocean freight terminals, pavement management and repair involves a network of paved facilities requiring detailed planning to optimize pavement conditions.
“Every highway superintendent does pavement management, which incorporates life cycle costs into a more systematic approach to minor and major road maintenance and reconstruction projects. The needs of the entire network as well as budget projections are considered before projects are executed, as the cost of data collection can change significantly. Pavement management encompasses the many aspects and tasks needed to maintain a quality pavement inventory and ensure that the overall condition of the road network can be sustained at desired levels. While pavement management covers the entire lifecycle of pavement from planning to maintenance in any transport infrastructure, road asset management and road maintenance planning target more specifically road infrastructure,” Shahin said, as recipient of the Excellence in Technology Transfer by the Federal Consortium and Development Achievement Award for his PAVER TM  System.

Pavement management brings smoother and safer roadways, runways and parking lots for drivers and passengers, with inventive maintenance systems benefiting all.  For detailed technical information: https://patents.justia.com/patent/10936282