DEVELOPING AN ELECTRONIC DATA BASE FOR PAVEMENT …€¦ · · 2017-12-06Developing an Electronic...

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET)

Volume 8, Issue 11, November 2017, pp. 1027–1040, Article ID: IJCIET_08_11_101

Available online at http://http://www.iaeme.com/ijciet/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=11

ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

DEVELOPING AN ELECTRONIC DATA BASE

FOR PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Ibrahim Abed Mohammed

Engineering faculty, Isra University, Amman, Jordan

Abbas M. Burhan

College of Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq

Taiseer Mustafa Rawashdeh and Mohammed N. Asaaf

Engineering faculty, Isra University, Amman, Jordan

ABSTRACT

Transportation networks are considered as the main artery of economic growth

for every country, and constitute one class of major civil infrastructure systems that is

a critical backbone of modern society [1]. Pavement maintenance is necessary for

highway infrastructure efficiency and driver safety. However, systematic maintenance

and rehabilitation (M&R) works are extremely costly. Additionally, the funds

allocated for pavement maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) are often given lesser

priority compared to other national development plans; therefore, available funds

must be wisely allocated.

In recent years, the major challenge that have faced most of highways

management agencies in Iraq is how to preserve the roads networks at an acceptable

level of serviceability because of the limitations in the allocated budget for pavement

maintenance works, the external interferences in the process of decision making, and

absence of the effective decision making tools. This research presents developing an

electronic data base (EDB) named RMPI Program (Road Maintenance Priority Index

Program) in order to help the decision makers in making effective decisions for the

selection of roads that should be maintained firstly according to the allocated budget.

If this software is strictly applied, the decision makers will be able to overcome the

challenge of external interferences and to raise the performance level of roads

network by selecting the roads which need maintenance with the highest priority

index.

Key words: Pavement maintenance management, priority index, budget, decision

making, data base.

Cite this Article: Ibrahim Abed Mohammed, Abbas M. Burhan, Taiseer Mustafa

Rawashdeh and Mohammed N. Asaaf. Developing an Electronic Data Base for

Pavement Maintenance Management System. International Journal of Civil

Engineering and Technology, 8(11), 2017, pp. 1027–1040.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=8&IType=11

Developing an Electronic Data Base for Pavement Maintenance Management System


1. INTRODUCTION

Most of Iraq's highways agencies lack the databases about the roads and the details of

maintenance actions implemented. Databases are required to store data in electronic records

that will assist in searching, retrieving, and organizing in countless ways [2]. Having

information about the projects of pavement maintenance works in a database, instead of on

papers or in spreadsheets, not only preserves vital information and saves in time, but also

allows seeing modes in operations that are invisible in other method.

This research presents the details of developed computerized database which will assist

the decision-makers in knowing the necessary information for maintenance works

implemented for each road or section, calculating the index of pavement condition, ranking

roads maintenance projects according to their priority indices, and selecting optimal roads (or

sections) to insert them in the yearly budget plan of pavement maintenance.

2. THE MAIN REASONS FOR DEVELOPING RMPI PROGRAM

There are two reasons for developing RMPI program. The first reason is that the researcher

discovered through the field surveys that most of highways agencies in Iraq lack an effective

database related to the roads. So, the main purpose of this program is storing all information

related to pavement condition of roads in a computerized database which will assist decision-

makers and project managers in reviewing all information needed to implement maintenance

works. The second reason is to insert all projects that needed maintenance works within a list,

and then ranking them according to their priority indices and selecting the roads which have

the highest priority.

3. FACTORS AFFECTING THE DECISION OF PAVEMENT

MAINTENANCE PRIORITY

Many factors that affect the decision of pavement maintenance are assumed in this paper.

These factors may be considered partially or fully by the decision-makers to take the

decisions about which roads must be maintained firstly according to the budget available.

These factors include [3, 4]:

1. Pavement condition factor (PCF).

2. Traffic load factor (TF).

3. Maintenance cost factor (MCF).

4. Road class factor (RCF).

5. Importance to community factor (IF).

6. Security and stability factor (SF).

Iraqi companies suffer from an additional negative factor that significantly influences the

decision of pavement maintenance. This factor is known as "External Interference".

Therefore, Burhan[3]developed a prioritization model (Eq.1) that will take into account the

six factors to assist the decision-makers in overcoming the problem of decisions making

according to bad considerations resulted from the external interferences(1,2). RMPI program

used this developed prioritization model to give each road a priority index and rank all roads

needed maintenance actions according their priority indices.

Ibrahim Abed Mohammed, Abbas M. Burhan, Taiseer Mustafa Rawashdeh and

Mohammed N. Asaaf


4. PROGRAM APPLICATION

Two case studies were selected to apply RMPI program. The first case study is the road

network for Baghdad University campus at Al-Jaderia. The manual method was used by

Sarsam [5] to investigate the pavement condition of road network and hand calculations were

used when calculating PCI (Pavement Condition Index) for each section. These results were

entered by the researcher in RMPI program and the value of PCI was recalculated

automatically in order to show one of the strong points of this program by saving time, giving

accurate results, and storing the data in an electronic database. The second case study is

expressway no.1 in Iraq (about 1084 km length) whose survey results were collected

automatically and the collected data were entered in the program to calculate the priority

index for each section and then the optimal section was selected to insert it within the annual

budget of pavement maintenance. This will assist decision-makers to give appropriate

decision about which road or section must be maintained firstly, and may avoid the pressures

of external interferences.

5. THE OPERATION OF PROGRAM

Road Maintenance Priority Index (RMPI) software was built using two programming

languages (Microsoft Visual Studio.Net and SQL Server). The main reason for using these

two languages is the ease of connectivity between them. Visual Studio.Net is used to build the

platforms of RMPI software, while any information entered by the users will be saved in a

database using SQL Server program. Creating a database for roads requires collecting

information about Iraqi highways network. Theses information includes road name, type of

pavement surface, survey date, sections lengths, distresses available in each section, and the

index used to reflect the condition of pavement surface. The database is developed with three

pavement condition indices. These indices are PCI (Pavement Condition Index), PSI (Present

Serviceability Index), and IRI (International Roughness Index) which are more populated and

used as indicators for pavement condition.

When running RMPI software, the first screen will appear showing the name of program

and containing the button of program began as shown in Figure1. The user can perform two

functions by using RMPI program as shown in Figures 2 and 3.

…

Figure 1 The first screen of RMPI program Figure 2 The start screen of RMPI program



Figure 3 The Flow Chart of RMPI Software

Pavement condition Priority and decision making

Entering project properties

Pavement condition survey

Survey type:

-manual

-automated

Section

-ID

-length

-width

-area

Station

Lane

and

side

Identifying distresses

Calculating total deducted

value TDV

Calculating PCI value

Evaluating pavement condition

Save

in t

he

dat

abas

e

Entering road name

Assigning factors affecting

decision-making of pavement

maintenance

PCF MCF TF RCF IF SF

Determining value and weight

of each factor

RMPI will be calculating

automatically by pressing RMPI

button

Recurring the

same steps for

other road (or

section)

Ranking roads

Decision-making to select the

road (or section) which has

highest RMPI

Recurring the same

steps for other road

(or section)

Start

End


Mohammed N. Asaaf


The first function is when the user wants to evaluate the condition of pavement surface for

the road (or section) under study. So, pavement condition button must be pressed. Necessary

information must be ready when working on this part of the program. This information

includes project name, road name, construction date, and surface type which will enter in the

screen shown in Figure4. Also, information from field survey for pavement condition are

required which will enter in the screen of pavement condition survey shown in Figure 5. The

survey of pavement condition is done through two ways: manual or automated method. When

manual method is used, the user must divide the road under study into sections, and enter the

data resulted from manual survey into the screen. These data are section ID, section length,

section width, the lane, the side, and the stations. While, if automated method is used in the

field survey, the final results of automated survey represented by the indices of pavement

condition will enter directly in the lower part of this screen which will be activated after

selecting Automated from the field (Type of survey).

Figure 4 The screen of project properties

Figure 5 The screen of pavement condition survey

Pavement distresses [6] of each section must be recorded through the field survey and

these distresses will be entered in the screen of distress identification as shown in Figure 6.



Figure 6 Distresses identification screen

Twenty-type of distresses were programmed in RMPI software and entered in this screen.

So, the user will assign the distresses that he recorded through the field survey by pressing the

distress type. Next button is used for jumping to the next screen named "Deducted Value" as

shown in Figure.7. This screen is used to identify the area, the severity, and the density of

each distress. The program will apply Eq. (2) when calculating the density value. The values

of deducted value column are entered by the user using deducted value curves which can be

viewed by pressing on DV Graph button as shown in Figure 8. Also, the values of q (no. of

distresses) and TDV (total deducted value) appear automatically. These values will be used

later in determining the value of CDV (corrected deducted value).

Figure 7 Deducted Values Screen


Mohammed N. Asaaf


Figure 8 The Screen of Deducted Value Curves

Pressing PCI Calculation button will lead to jumping to a next screen named "PCI

Calculation" shown in Figure 9. Section id, TDV, and q will appear automatically in this

screen. The user must enter the value of CDV only. Pressing on CDV Graph button will lead

to showing CDV curves as shown in Figure10. The value of CDV can be identified. Finally,

PCI value will be calculated by pressing on PCI button that is available in Figure 9, since the

program will use Eq. (3).

Figure 9 PCI Calculation Screen

Figure 10 Corrected Deducted Value Screen



The button print in Figure 9 is used to show the final report as shown in Figure 11. This

report contains all information saved in the database that had been prepared when pressing the

button Save in each screen. Also, this report contains a decision that represents an indicator

for pavement condition.

Figure 11 The final report of pavement condition survey

The second part of RMPI software that can be used by the user is to rank projects, roads,

or sections according to a priority index. This priority index is determined by one or set of

factors which affect the decision-making of pavement maintenance. The developed

mathematical model (Eq. (1)) has been programmed in this program to calculate the value of

RMPI. The user must press priority and decision making button that is available in the start

screen (Figure 2)) when he wants to operate on this part of the program. The screen shown in

Figure 12 will appear and the name of project is required to be entered. This screen contains

four buttons. The button Save is used to save the information in a database, while pressing

Traffic count button will lead to move to another screen as shown in Figure13. The average

daily traffic (ADT) for each road (or section) must be entered in this screen. The third button

Maintenance Cost is used to enter the maintenance cost for each section and when pressing on

this button, the screen shown in Figure 14 will appear.


Mohammed N. Asaaf


Figure 12 The screen of entering project name

Figure 13 The Screen of Entering ADT value

Figure 14 The screen of entering maintenance cost value

The fourth button next is used to move to another screen as shown in Figure 15. This

screen is used to assign the factors that affect the decision-making of pavement maintenance.

The user must point the influenced factors and enter their values and weights. The six factors

that mentioned in the previous chapter are programmed in the priority screen. The priority

screen contains the following buttons:

Use Default Weights: This button is used to enter the weights that were calculated previously

from a closed questionnaire process.



Clear: It is used to reset the screen.

RMPI: When pressing this button, the formula of Eq. (1) will be applied to calculate the

composite priority index (RMPI) for each road (or section).

Save: It is used to save the information of priority screen in the database.

Ranking: This button is used after entering the data of all roads (or sections) under study. It

will lead to moving to another screen called "Decision-Making" as shown in Figure 16.

Decision-Making screen contains all roads or sections with their information that was entered

in the previous screen (Priority screen). The user must select the method of ranking and then

press the button Ranking. Seven ranking methods were programmed in this screen as follows:

Figure 15 The screen of calculating RMPI value

PC: The ranking will be according to the pavement condition of roads (or sections).

MC: The ranking will be according to the maintenance cost.

TL: The ranking will be according to the traffic load represented by ADT.

RC: The ranking will be according to road class.

IF: The ranking will be according to the importance to community.

SF: The ranking will be according to the security and stability factor.

RMPI: The ranking will be according to the composite priority index that is calculated from

priority screen (Figure 15).

Print: This button is used to print the final report of decision-making in a hard copy form.


Mohammed N. Asaaf


Figure 16 The screen of decision-making report

6. THE EVALUATION OF PROGRAM

The evaluation process of RMPI program should take into account operating the software

before any discussion conducted with the specialist persons concerned with the subject of

pavement management. Ten specialists with high experience years were selected to perform

the evaluation process for the program. All of them were from Ministry of Construction and

Housing (MCH) / The State of Commission for Roads and Bridges SCRB as shown in (Table

1). An evaluation form consisting of seven questions is used to collect the opinions of

evaluators about the ability of RMPI program. (Table 2) contains the answers of evaluators

and the evaluation degree for each question.

7. THE EVALUATION RESULTS

According to the answers of evaluators as shown in (Table 2), the following results can be

summarized as follows:

The flexibility of RMPI program is very good which means that most of users can easily run

the program, enter the data, and obtain the required outputs.

The comprehensive of data supplied by the program is very good, and this gives an advantage

for this program to be applicable widely in Iraqi companies. This program supplies electronic

database which may contain huge information about Iraqi roads.

RMPI program has an excellent ability to assist decision-makers, projects managers, planners,

and highways engineers in their work.

Most of evaluators confirmed that this program has an excellent role in developing the

highways maintenance management in Iraqi companies.

The importance and the accuracy of information supplied by the program are very good, since

this program had was built based on the international standards used in pavement maintenance

management.

The assumptions, the regulations, and the information of RMPI program is very good in its

matching with the standards and the reality of pavement maintenance management.

Most evaluators confirmed that such program has an excellent importance for Iraqi companies

if it is seriously applied.



8. CONCLUSIONS

The main goal of this paper is to develop a computer program named RMPI software that

aims to store all information related to pavement condition of roads in a computerized

database which will assist decision-makers and project managers in reviewing all information

needed to implement maintenance works. Also, this program can insert all projects that need

maintenance works within a list, and then rank them according to their priority indices and

select the roads which have the highest priority. Some conclusions resulted from

accomplishing this paper can be summarized as follows:

There is not any data base for Iraqi roads, and any current data related to the roads and bridges

are documented as hard copies. This makes it to be subject to damage and loss. So, an

electronic database such as RMPI software is required to store data in electronic records that

will assist in searching, retrieving, and organizing in countless ways.

Through conducting personal questionnaire with some of decision makers in Iraqi companies,

it is concluded that there is a weakness in Iraqi organizations in the process of pavement

maintenance decision making and a lack in using modern techniques that contribute in

collecting the data needed to help decision makers to take better decisions. In addition, the

using of mathematical models can assist the decision makers to rank all maintenance projects

according to their priorities and make proper decisions.

There are many factors that may affect the decision making of pavement maintenance. These

factors include pavement condition, security and stability, traffic load, road class, maintenance

cost, and road importance to community. Iraqi companies suffer from an additional bad factor

that significantly influences on the decision of pavement maintenance. This factor is known as

"External Interference". So, the developed prioritization model (RMPI model) and the

developed computer program (RMPI software) will take into account the six factors shown

above to assist the decision-makers in overcoming the problem of decisions making according

to bad considerations resulted from the external interferences.

RMPI program has an excellent ability to assist decision-makers, projects managers, planners,

and highways engineers in their work. Most evaluators confirmed that this program has an

excellent role in developing the highways maintenance management in Iraqi companies.

Table 1 Description for the sample of program evaluation

Company Academic

degree

Experience

years

Position address Current position

SCRB/World Bank loan

projects

B.Sc. Civil 34 Chief senior

Engineer

Head of technical division


projects

B.Sc. Civil 34 Chief senior

Engineer

Head of supplies division

SCRB B.Sc. Surveying 32 Chief senior

Engineer

Head of roads survey and design

division

SCRB B.Sc. Civil 32 Chief senior

Engineer

Head of supervision and monitoring

department

SCRB M.Sc. Civil 31 Engineer expert Head of design and planning

department

SCRB B.Sc. Civil 31 Chief senior

Engineer

Head of roads design division

SCRB B.Sc. Civil 25 Chief Engineer Head of roads maintenance

department


projects

M.Sc. Civil 13 Assistant Chief

Engineer

Director of world bank loan projects


projects

B.Sc. Civil 12 Senior Engineer Supervision and monitoring engineer

SCRB B.Sc. Civil 11 Senior Engineer Head of studies division


Mohammed N. Asaaf


Table 2 The evaluation questions and the answers

The Questions Excellent

100-80

V. Good

80-60

Good

60-40

Middle

40-20

Acceptable

20-0

The degree The evaluation

What is your opinion about

the flexibility of program

for users?

2 6 1 1 0 86 V. Good

What do you think about

the comprehensive of data

supplied by the program?

4 5 1 0 0 76 V. Good


the ability of program in

assisting decision-makers,

projects managers,

planners, and highways

engineers in their work?

7 3 0 0 0 84 Excellent


the role of program in

developing the road

maintenance management

in Iraq?



the importance and the

accuracy of information

supplied by the program?

5 3 2 0 0 76 V. Good

What is the degree of

matching the assumptions,

the regulations, and the

information of RMPI

program with the standards

and the reality of pavement

maintenance?

6 2 2 0 0 78 V. Good

What is the importance of

program for your company?


REFERENCES

[1] Hassan R. A Conceptual Model to Effectively Prioritize Recovery of Roads Damaged by

Natural/Man-Made Disasters. PhD. Dissertation, University of Birmingham. 2012.

[2] Wang K.C. Automated Survey and Visual Database Development for ‎Airport and Local

Highway Pavement. No. MBTC-2042. 2007

[3] Burhan A.M. Optimization of Pavement Maintenance Decision Making by Using

Automated Pavement Monitoring System. PhD. Dissertation, University of Baghdad.

2015.

[4] Alhadeethy I.A., Sarsam S.I., and Burhan A.M. Using Pavement Automated Monitoring

System in Prioritization of Maintenance Decisions. International Journal of Construction

Engineering and Planning 1(1), 2015, pp 1-13

[5] Sarsam SI. Development of Pavement Maintenance Management System using visual

evaluation of Asphalt Concrete surface condition and Expert system. In7th International

Conference on Managing Pavement Assets 2008 Jun.



[6] Shahin, Mohamed Y. Pavement management for airports, roads, and parking lots. Vol.

501. New York: Springer, 2005.

[7] Mgonja, C. T. and Saidi, H., Effectiveness on Implementation of Maintenance

Management System For off-Grid Solar PV Systems In Public Facilities – A Case Study

of SSMP1 Project In Tanzania, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and

Technology, 8(7), 2017, pp. 869–880.

[8] Joseph N. Mkilania, Factors Related to Human Resources Affecting the Maintenance

Effectiveness in Tanzanian Industries. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering

and Technology, 7(3), 2016, pp. 150–160.

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