FWD Data Analysis

version 2.2.5

Office of Materials
Pavement Engineering Section
Pavement Design Unit
1400 Gervais Ave
Maplewood, MN 55109-2044
 FWD Data Analysis
First of all, this program is a work in progress. As you can see, there are some features that are not yet
implemented. The idea is that this program is not just a TONN replacement, but, a more complete data
analysis for deflection data.

Installation
The following files should be present on the Install Disk:

To install the program: Load the provided Disk, run setup.exe and follow the onscreen instructions.

Default directories and program groups are provided, but you may choose to use your own.

The contents of this disk may be copied to a local drive and installed from that location, if desired.

Once installed, To run the program, select FWD Data Analysis under the FWD Data Analysis Program
Group on the Start menu. (This assumes default installation. Custom installations may differ). Please
note: Installation on network drives has not been tested.

To un-install this program, use the Add or Remove Programs option from the Control Panel. It is best to
remove any previous editions of this program before installing the current edition.

Included on the disk are documentation for the program (this document) and brief explanations of the
TONN methodology (all in *.pdf format). Also, there is a sample directory containing versions of a data
file:
03-5609A.xls - basic data file with no pavement data added
03-5609B.xls -pavement data has been added but TONN analysis has not been done
03-5609C.xls -a completed file

It is also possible to “upgrade” from a previous version by copying the FWDDataAnalysis.exe file from the
Support directory on the disk to the \Program Files\FWD Data Analysis directory on your harddrive.

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Running the Program

Opening Screen

File Menu Options

At this point, the only options are either to load a file or exit the program.

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Loading a data file

Selecting Open from the File menu will open the following screen:

As you can see, the data files are now in an excel format (*.xls) as opposed to the old (*.F) format.

The FWD now saves its test data in Access tables rather than the older ascii text format (*.FWD,*.F25,
etc). The data files required by the FWD Data Analysis program have been formatted to contain only the
necessary data from the original Access tables.

You are able to navigate to the FWD datafile directory in the same manner as other Windows
applications.

Once the file is loaded you will see the following screen:

Basically all that is shown is the file header or project information.

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Also, once the file is loaded, the options under the Data menu become available.

At this point, the Analysis options are not available since the structural or traffic information has not yet
been entered.

Basically only the Edit or View options are available.

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Selecting the View Option

At this point, you can only view the basic test results. The four navigation buttons MoveFirst(|<),
MovePrevious(<<), MoveNext(>>) and MoveLast(>|) allow you to move about the file. Note the Current
Station and Record indicators. These are to aid in the navigation of the project, as tested. Also, note the
absence of pavement parameters. Also, no editing is possible, any entries in the Pavement Parameters
will not be saved to the file.

Selecting the Edit Option

The only apparent difference is that the ‘Accept’ button and the Segment Begin and End indicators are
now visible. Moreover data entry into the Pavement Parameters section is now possible.

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The Segment Begin and End boxes contain the stations at which FWD tests were done. The purpose of
these boxes is to enable the user to select uniform project segments to avoid repetitious data entry. In
normal usage of the navigational buttons, these boxes simply indicate the current station.
Prior to “Accepting” the entered Pavement Parameter data, the Segment beginning and ending stations
must be selected in order that the entered data for the entire segment is saved. If both stations are the
same, data will be entered only for that station.

The purpose of the “Accept” button is to cause the Pavement Parameter data to be entered into the
dataset. Failing to do so will cause any entered data to be lost.

Move to the first station (if not, already there) by selecting the Move First button.

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Data entry into the Pavement Parameters section is, for the most part, straight-forward. However, there
are some aids to facilitate the entry of data.

Subgrade Classification

In addition to the visible selections of subgrade behavior, Subgrade soil classifications are available by
“right-clicking” on the Subgrade Classification “Frame”.

Selecting a soil type from this screen will cause a corresponding subgrade type to be selected on the
main screen.

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The ‘quantity’ (Bituminous Surface Thickness, Granular Base Thickness and Traffic Volume) boxes also
have a capability for entry ease, as well. By “double-clicking” on any of these boxes, the Data Entry
screen will appear:

This functions as a normal keypad. When a number is entered in the window, pressing ‘Enter’ causes the
number to be entered in the ‘calling’ box from the main screen. ‘C’ is to cancel an entry from the keypad.
The screens from Granular Base Thickness and Traffic Volume will be similar.

The editor does have the following conditions:

1. All data required for each station must be entered before ‘Accepting’ or certain error conditions
will exist.
2. Data will be entered (into the dataset) for the segment indicated by the Segment Begin and End
boxes.
3. Data for all stations must be entered before the user can proceed to the analysis.

After all data for any station has been entered and accepted, the following informational screen will
appear:

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After each data entry the program checks to see if the dataset is complete. The user will not be able to
proceed with the analysis until all data is complete.

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Once the program finds the dataset to be complete, the following message will appear.

Once the dataset is complete, the TONN selection on the Data Menu becomes available.

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The ‘TONN’ Routine is simply run by selecting it from the menu. Once the routine has finished the
following message appears.

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Note: the View option from the Data menu is once again enabled. Selecting View from the menu gives the
following screen:

Note: Allowable Axle Load, 10-Ton Overlay and Life Capacity (AASHO) boxes are now visible.
These results can be viewed by navigating through the file, via the navigation buttons.
The results may also be viewed from the Output menu.

Note: The “TONN” routine no longer computes Allowable Axle Loads over 10 Tons. Any calculation
using the present “TONN” procedure is not valid for loads over 10 Tons. The main intent is simply to
indicate roadways (or portions thereof) the have a 10-Ton capacity.

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Selecting Report from the Output menu gives the following screen:

Basically, this is the Print Preview screen from the spreadsheet. Selecting Print, will give the following
screen:

The report can be printed to any installed printer.

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Similarly, selecting Allowable Axle Load from the Output menu will show a Print Preview of the Allowable
Axle Load Chart:

And this can be viewed or printed as before.

Finally, Selecting Cumulative Percent will allow you view or print the Cumulative Percent Chart.

Any Data file on which “TONN” has previously been run, can be viewed and printed in the same manner.
However, there are no guarantees if the file has been edited outside of this program, that the viewing and
printing options will function correctly.

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Overlay Options

In the normal operation of the program a 10-Ton overlay is computed.

The program has an overlay option. Once the TONN Analysis has been completed and the view option
selected, the overlay option is visible on the Data Analyze Menu.

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Selecting the Overlay option from the menu makes the Overlay Design frame visible.

Overlay design of a specified (Design) thickness or by a required (Design) axle load is possible by
selecting the appropriate input box. Double-clicking either the Design Thickness or Design Allowable
Load box functions in a similar fashion to the pavement parameter input boxes. The Data Entry Screen
will appear and function as before. The value entered via the Data Entry Screen will be entered in the
respective Overlay Design box. Once a value is entered in this manner, the Compute Overlay button
becomes visible. Pressing this button will compute the selected type of overlay.

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However, prior to computing the overlay, it is possible to select the segment over which to compute the
overlay.

Both the Overlay Begin Station box and the Overlay End Station box contain a list of all stations that were
tested by the FWD. By making an appropriate selection of beginning and ending stations, an overlay for
a desired segment can be computed. If a single station overlay is desired, the same beginning and
ending station can be selected. The entire project can be broken into segments and a different overlay
computed for each segment. Also, the segments do not have to be of the same design type. Each
segment can be a Design Thickness Overlay or a Design Axle Load Overlay

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Once the Compute Overlay button has been pressed an Overlay will be computed for the specified
segment (The default stations are current station).

In the same fashion, a Design Allowable Load Overlay can be computed.

Once computed, the results can be viewed using the navigational buttons.

Note:
1. When computing a Design Thickness Overlay, an overlay will be computed only for those stations
where the resulting Allowable Load is less than 10 Tons.
2. For a Design Allowable Load Overlay, only those stations having an Allowable Axle Load less
than that requested will have an overlay computed.
3. All other stations in the segment will have corresponding blank records in the file.
4. No Overlay Report is generated. All results are added to the “TONN” worksheet.

A note on the view option in the data menu:

1. If a file for which no computations have been made, only the Pavement Parameters and
Deflection Data will be visible.
2. Once the TONN computations have been made, The TONN Results also become visible when
selecting the View option.
3. If any Overlay computations have been made, they too become visible when selecting the View
option. However, the Overlay Design frame is not enabled. To compute any overlays the Overlay
option must be selected from the Data\Analyze menu

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In order to exit the program cleanly, the data file must be closed (If any changes were made to the file). If
the file was edited, selecting Close from the File menu will bring up the following screen:

This will also allow you to save the Data file under any name or at any location.
Attempting to exit before saving the file will result in the following warning:

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Clicking Yes, saves the file. Failing to do so, all data entered and analysis results will be lost.

And finally, the program is exited by selecting Exit from the file menu.

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A note on structural units:

From the main menu, a choice of units (US or Metric) is offered. The choice of units is for visual purposes
only. All thicknesses are stored in the file as US units.

You can freely change between unit systems without affecting the output.

Also, from the main menu under the Forms option, you can view and print some of the reference tables
used in the analyses.

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The Data File:

The completed file contains the following worksheets:

FWD Data

This sheet contains all the original field data. No computations are made in this worksheet.

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TONN

This worksheet contains only the last drop at each station, or in some cases the last drop at the 9000 lb
load level. It also contains the normal TONN computations.

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Report

This worksheet is simply the summary of the “TONN” computations.

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There are also the two charts or graphs in the file:

Cumulative Percent

Allowable Axle Load

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Please note: This is a work in progress. Several tools for the analysis of deflection data are being
worked on and should be available in the not so distant future:

• Basin Analysis program

o AASHTO Analyses (Esg, Ep, SNeff, etc)
• PCC Analyses
• Reference Information

Any and all comments or suggestions are very welcome.

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Notes on Data entry:

Prior to “Accepting” the pavement data for any station, the data must be complete or the following error
condition will arise:

Input Errors

‘Subgrade Type’ Error – This results from failing to select a subgrade type.

Simply clicking ‘OK’ and selecting a subgrade type button will cancel this error.

‘Bituminous Surface Thickness’ Error

To cancel this error, a thickness must be entered and ‘OK’ clicked (Cancel has no effect).

‘Granular Base Thickness’ Error

Again, A thickness must be entered and OK’d to clear this error condition.

‘Pavement Type’ Error

Similar to Subgrade Type, clicking ‘OK’ and selecting a ‘Pavement Type’ will clear this
condition.

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 ‘Traffic Type’ Error

Again, similar to ‘Type’ Errors, clicking ‘OK’ and selecting a ‘Traffic Type’ will clear this
condition.

‘Traffic Volume’ Error

Similar to the other ‘quantity’ errors. A Traffic volume must be entered and OK’d to clear
this condition.

Each of these “conditions” must be cleared before proceeding. And the only way to clear these
conditions is by entering the requested data. The “Data Entry” screen is not available with these errors
and data must be entered “Manually” from the keyboard.

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Typical Outputs:

The Report:

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Allowable Axle Load

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Cumulative Percent

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