Public Roads: A Journal of Highway Research and Development, Vol. 53 No. 4

Melhem, Hani G.; Wentworth, James A.; Brown, Douglas; McGogney, Charles; Duwadi, Sheila Rimal; Pietrucha, Martin T.; Knoblauch, Richard L.; Opiela, Kenneth S.; Crigler, Kristy · 1990 · ROSA P / United States. Government Printing Office

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Summary

This paper presents two distinct studies from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) regarding highway infrastructure assessment technologies. The first study, by Melhem and Wentworth, addresses the critical need for improved bridge inspection and fatigue assessment. With over 50% of U.S. steel bridges exceeding 30 years of age and scarce expertise in fracture mechanics, the authors developed FASTBRID (Fatigue Assessment of Steel BRIDges), a prototype expert system designed to assist engineers and train inspectors. The system was built using the EXSYS shell on IBM-PC compatible hardware, adhering to FHWA guidelines. It comprises two modules: Module 1 plans fatigue inspections by identifying fracture-critical members and prioritizing inspection areas, while Module 2 analyzes inspection reports to recommend actions such as load posting, nondestructive testing, or repair. The knowledge base was derived from FHWA courses, university case studies, and expert heuristics. The authors conclude that integrating such expert systems with interactive videodisc training is feasible and necessary to bridge the gap in specialized knowledge. The second study, by Douglas Brown, evaluates the PRORUT system, an inertial profiling device designed to measure road roughness and rut depth simultaneously. Developed under a contract with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, PRORUT uses laser sensors and accelerometers mounted in a van to collect longitudinal profile data. The system was evaluated by three state highway agencies: Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. The Georgia Department of Transportation compared PRORUT against modified Mays meters and manual stringline surveys across 48 test sections. They found PRORUT easy to use and capable of correlating roughness data with Mays meters, though rutting data correlation failed. Georgia recommended upgrading the on-board computer for simultaneous data processing and adding more lasers for better transverse profiling. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation also evaluated the system against multiple devices, including the Mays ride meter and portable universal roughness device, on 40 pavement sections. These evaluations demonstrate the potential for integrating pavement condition measurements into single, cost-effective systems, though further hardware refinements are needed for accurate rut depth assessment.

Key finding

A prototype expert system named FASTBRID was successfully developed to assist bridge engineers in planning fatigue inspections and evaluating inspection findings for steel bridges.

Methodology

other

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

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• rail grade crossings

Information type

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• Applied Guidance: countermeasure evaluation