Relation between cost, quality, and risk in portland cement concrete pavement construction

In highway cement concrete pavement construction, the contractor decides what levels of quality to target under statistical quality assurance specifications. The selection of appropriate target quality levels affects both the probability of being awarded a project and the subsequent profit margin. Contractors are currently using the deterministic approach in selecting combined target acceptance quality characteristics. This approach does not take risk and probabilities into consideration. A new procedure using the probabilistic approach has been addressed. This probabilistic approach has been developed into a computer program that calculates the risks and probabilities in selecting the overall target quality. This proposed procedure and accompanying computer program can help a contractor select target quality levels that will maximize profit in a specific situation. It will also assist state highway agencies in validating their quality assurance specifications and pay adjustment provisions. Based on the analysis conducted, it was found that the deterministic and probabilistic methods do not necessarily identify the same optimal target values. The difference in answers between the two methods can mean a significant difference in profit. The proposed procedure is an improvement because it relies on computer simulation to replace time-consuming trial and error.