The Calibration Assistance Tool Released in October 2019
January 31, 2020A special thank you to those who participated as beta testers for the AASHTOWare calibration assistance tool! The calibration assistance tool was released in October 2019 and is being used by multiple agencies.
It is a semi-automated tool that avoids the tedious mathematical computations involved in the model coefficient optimization process. It allows practitioners to opt for re-calibration whenever they notice significant changes in the material, traffic, performance, and spec, etc., without much difficulty. Although the mathematical portion of the calibration is automated, one still needs to judge the quality of data and projects within the dataset.
“Maine DOT has found the Tool to be an excellent resource for locally calibrating Pavement M-E design,” said Maine DOT Assistant Engineer Uma Arepalli, PhD. “Maine DOT has tried calibrating our rutting models with this tool and we found it very user-friendly to navigate through the interface. It was rapid in computing the initial verification and optimization which otherwise would have taken several days to months. Several visual graphics output with the data and optimization runs provides greater insight into the potential data trends and relative comparisons. The automatically generated ANOVA results were of great assistance in determining the coefficients that need adjustment. The local calibration efforts for the Maine DOT are completely reliant on this tool. The crucial part of calibration with extensive use of this calibration tool is underway.”
“Overall, Maine DOT has found the tool to be a great assistance and a necessity for those with various dynamic data inputs that may be subjected to change with time,” Arepalli said. “Possessing this tool will allow our practitioners to re-calibrate quickly without the hassle of the time-consuming mathematical process.”
If you and/or your agency has any questions about the calibration assistance tool, please contact Wouter Brink (217-356-4500; wbrink@ara.com) or the ARA Help Desk (217-356-4500); pavementmedesign@ara.com).