Advancements in pavement management practice require evaluating the performance of pavement preservation treatments using performance-related characteristics. However, state highway agencies face the challenge of developing performance-based relationships between quality characteristics of pavement preservation treatments and expected pavement performance. The objective of this study is to develop and evaluate a mechanistic-empirical procedure which can be used to relate the performance of surface smoothening pavement preservation treatments to a roughness-related, profile-based index. The profiles for pavement sections treated with diamond grinding and thin overlay treatments were obtained and the impact of these treatments on roughness was evaluated using the International Roughness Index (IRI) and the Dynamic Load Index (DLI). The effects of these treatments on the pavement profile, the dynamic loads experienced by the pavement, and predicted pavement performance were also observed. Using the proposed mechanistic-empirical procedure, the results of this study demonstrate that is possible to relate changes in IRI and DLI, as a result of surface smoothening treatments, to the expected pavement performance. The performance-based relationships obtained from this procedure can be used in the development of performance-related specifications.
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