DEVELOPING AN ELECTRONIC DATA BASE FOR PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Transcription

1 International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET) Volume 8, Issue 11, November 2017, pp , Article ID: IJCIET_08_11_101 Available online at ISSN Print: and ISSN Online: 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 editor@iaeme.com

2 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 decisionmakers 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 editor@iaeme.com

3 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 editor@iaeme.com

4 Save in the database Developing an Electronic Data Base for Pavement Maintenance Management System Start Pavement condition Priority and decision making Entering project properties Entering road name Pavement condition survey Assigning factors affecting decision-making of pavement maintenance Survey type: -manual -automated Section -ID -length -width -area Lane and side Station PCF MCF TF RCF IF SF Determining value and weight of each factor Identifying distresses Calculating total deducted value TDV RMPI will be calculating automatically by pressing RMPI button Calculating PCI value Evaluating pavement condition Recurring the same steps for other road (or section) Recurring the same steps for other road (or section) Ranking roads Decision-making to select the road (or section) which has highest RMPI End Figure 3 The Flow Chart of RMPI Software editor@iaeme.com

5 Ibrahim Abed Mohammed, Abbas M. Burhan, Taiseer Mustafa Rawashdeh and 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 editor@iaeme.com

6 Developing an Electronic Data Base for Pavement Maintenance Management System 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 editor@iaeme.com

7 Ibrahim Abed Mohammed, Abbas M. Burhan, Taiseer Mustafa Rawashdeh and 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 editor@iaeme.com

8 Developing an Electronic Data Base for Pavement Maintenance Management System 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 editor@iaeme.com

9 Ibrahim Abed Mohammed, Abbas M. Burhan, Taiseer Mustafa Rawashdeh and 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 editor@iaeme.com

10 Developing an Electronic Data Base for Pavement Maintenance Management System 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 editor@iaeme.com

11 Ibrahim Abed Mohammed, Abbas M. Burhan, Taiseer Mustafa Rawashdeh and 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 editor@iaeme.com

12 Developing an Electronic Data Base for Pavement Maintenance Management System 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 Experience Position address Current position degree years SCRB/World Bank loan B.Sc. Civil 34 Chief senior Head of technical division projects Engineer SCRB/World Bank loan B.Sc. Civil 34 Chief senior Head of supplies division projects Engineer 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 Head of roads design division Engineer SCRB B.Sc. Civil 25 Chief Engineer Head of roads maintenance department SCRB/World Bank loan M.Sc. Civil 13 Assistant Chief Director of world bank loan projects projects Engineer SCRB/World Bank loan B.Sc. Civil 12 Senior Engineer Supervision and monitoring engineer projects SCRB B.Sc. Civil 11 Senior Engineer Head of studies division editor@iaeme.com

13 Ibrahim Abed Mohammed, Abbas M. Burhan, Taiseer Mustafa Rawashdeh and Mohammed N. Asaaf The Questions What is your opinion about the flexibility of program for users? What do you think about the comprehensive of data supplied by the program? What do you think about the ability of program in assisting decision-makers, projects managers, planners, and highways engineers in their work? What do you think about the role of program in developing the road maintenance management in Iraq? What do you think about the importance and the accuracy of information supplied by the program? 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? What is the importance of program for your company? Table 2 The evaluation questions and the answers Excellent V. Good Good Middle Acceptable The degree The evaluation V. Good V. Good Excellent Excellent V. Good V. Good Excellent REFERENCES [1] Hassan R. A Conceptual Model to Effectively Prioritize Recovery of Roads Damaged by Natural/Man-Made Disasters. PhD. Dissertation, University of Birmingham [2] Wang K.C. Automated Survey and Visual Database Development for Airport and Local Highway Pavement. No. MBTC [3] Burhan A.M. Optimization of Pavement Maintenance Decision Making by Using Automated Pavement Monitoring System. PhD. Dissertation, University of Baghdad [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 editor@iaeme.com

14 Developing an Electronic Data Base for Pavement Maintenance Management System [6] Shahin, Mohamed Y. Pavement management for airports, roads, and parking lots. Vol New York: Springer, [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 [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 editor@iaeme.com