DEVELOPMENT OF FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT DISTRESS MODEL FOR RIYADH CITY – SAUDI ARABIA

Civil Engineering Department, King Saud University

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The Pavement Maintenance Management System (PMMS) of Riyadh city performs

comprehensive pavement visual survey prior to each maintenance program. In the

condition survey, detailed information related to type, severity and density of

existing distresses is collected. The collected data is then used to determine needed

maintenance activities on the network and a project level. This process was proven

to be costly and very time consuming. In the condition survey, detailed information

related to type, severity and density of existing distresses is collected. The collected

data is then used to determine needed maintenance activities on the network and a

project level. This process was proven to be costly and very time consuming.

The objective of this paper is to develop distress prediction models. The model

cover all common types of distress exist on Riyadh’s street network. The model

predicts distress density over time associated with each severity level, pavement

condition and traffic level The model developed for a total of 61 cases for main and

streets. All the developed models were found to be statistically significant in

predicting distress density. The models were validated using reserved data points.

The validation process indicated that the models can adequately predict the distress

density with reasonable accuracy. Therefore, the developed models may be used to

update distress data prior to each maintenance program. This will minimize the need

for comprehensive visual inspection.