This report documents the development of statistical acceptance procedures for asphalt pavement construction. These acceptance procedures are recommended as modifications to the current U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Guide Specifications entitled "Asphaltic Bituminous Heavy-Duty Pavement (Central-Plant Hot Mix)." Technical reviews are provided for statistical specifications, including statistical acceptance plans. Current acceptance procedures for pavement construction that are used by Federal Government agencies are also reviewed. Recommendations for changes to the USACE Guide Specifications are presented in the form of an Engineering Technical Letter. Both the modified acceptance procedures and current acceptance procedures are applied to field data, providing comparisons in terms of lots rejected, lots accepted with full payment, and lots accepted with reduced payment.

This report documents the development of statistical acceptance procedures for asphalt pavement construction. These acceptance procedures are recommended as modifications to the current U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Guide Specifications entitled "Asphaltic Bituminous Heavy-Duty Pavement (Central-Plant Hot Mix)." Technical reviews are provided for statistical specifications, including statistical acceptance plans. Current acceptance procedures for pavement construction that are used by Federal Government agencies are also reviewed. Recommendations for changes to the USACE Guide Specifications are presented in the form of an Engineering Technical Letter. Both the modified acceptance procedures and current acceptance procedures are applied to field data, providing comparisons in terms of lots rejected, lots accepted with full payment, and lots accepted with reduced payment.

"The overall objectives of this study are to trace the development of a state-of-the-art in specifications for materials and construction methods for asphalt pavements, identify and evaluate requirements that are performance-related, and provide a framework of a system of specifications that will assure higher quality and longer life pavements"--Page 1

Research was undertaken to extend the use of statistically based airport pavement materials specifications that incorporate price-adjustment features. During the course of the project, data on the physical characteristics of pavement materials were collected from thirteen airport pavement construction projects. A statistical analysis of this data permitted the determination of the parameters (mean and standard deviation) on existing airport construction projects, and these parameters were then used to develop acceptance plans and price-adjustment factors. Operating Characteristics (OC) curves and curves of expected payment were used to determine the appropriate acceptance plans, which were based on the percentage of material falling within specification limits (PWL). By using a continuous rather than a discrete price-adjustment schedule, it was possible to avoid the problem of large differences in payment associated with relatively small differences in quality (as measured by PWL). A computer program was developed to approximate the expected payment curves associated with different continuous price-adjustment systems. This program is applicable to one-sided specification limits such as density. For properties such as air voids, which require both an upper and a lower specification limit, the OC curves were determined by computer simulation of 10,000 randomly drawn samples. (Author).