Life Cycle Analysis of Low-volume Rural Hill Roads Using PCR

Abstract

This article presents an approach to forecasting the behavior of pavements in rural hill roads in their overall life cycle and the prediction of its performance throughout their service life. In the present study, two major factors were considered to determine the overall performance of the pavement, i.e., pavement condition ratings and pavement age. Rutting, raveling, cracking, patching, and pothole were the five major defects that have been considered to evaluate the overall condition of the pavement. Linear regression analysis, polynomial regression analysis, and exponential regression analysis were adopted for evaluation purposes. Among chosen three approaches, the linear regression analysis approach gives better results while predicting a relationship between pavement age and pavement condition rating (PCR), which depicts a scientific relationship to predict the remaining service life of pavements in rural roads in hilly regions. The validation of the study was done based on a conducted case study of 18 low-volume rural hill roads constructed under a government scheme in the Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh, India.