User:LTPP.Research

LTPP (Long-Term Pavement Performance)

LTPP started in 1987 as part of the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) and managed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) since 1992, the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) program studies the performance of in-service pavements. The LTPP program does research to understand how and why pavements perform as they do. To accomplish this goal, researchers collect pavement performance data using standard data collection procedures and protocols on a variety of pavement types. This information is stored in a database that can be used by pavement engineers and researchers worldwide to advance the science of pavement engineering.

Since 1989, the LTPP database has grown exponentially and includes electronic information collected from 2,509 pavement test sections throughout the United States and Canada. The LTPP program has two sets of experiments, the General Pavement Studies (GPS) and the Specific Pavement Studies (SPS), The GPS test sections were established on existing pavements. An experimental matrix was used to guide the selection of GPS test sections that would cover, to the greatest extent possible, the range of factors required to explain pavement performance. Test sections for SPS experiments were built to specific designs and thicknesses.

The LTPP program continues to collect performance data for over 700 test sections. Approximately 50 percent of the remaining test sections are GPS experiments with the majority falling into the GPS-6 experiment that evaluates asphalt concrete overlay of asphalt concrete pavement. Many GPS-3 experiment sections that evaluate jointed plain concrete pavements also remain. The remaining 50 percent are SPS experiments. The majority of the test sections are in the SPS-2 experiment, which is the study of structural factors for rigid pavements, followed by the SPS-8 experiment, which is the study of environmental effects on the pavement in the absence of heavy loads.