OCPLOT: PC PROGRAM TO GENERATE OPERATING CHARACTERISTIC CURVES FOR STATISTICAL CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS

The performance of the nation's highway system is inexorably linked to the quality of design and the quality of construction. To control the quality of construction, transportation agencies have developed elaborate quality-assurance programs, most of which employ end-result specifications that rely on statistical sampling and acceptance procedures to ensure that the work is done in accordance with the plans and specifications. Whether the acceptance procedure leads to a simple pass-or-fail decision or an adjustment in contract price, the proper design of such plans is critical to their performance. Poorly conceived plans may be either totally ineffective or impractically severe, and both extremes have been found in published and proposed national standards. To encourage the proper design of plans that are both effective and fair, an interactive PC program has been developed that enables the user to construct operating characteristic curves to analyze the performance of a wide range of acceptance plans. An example is presented to demonstrate the versatility of the program and the ease with which it can be applied.