Nondestructive data analysis for pavement profile evaluation

Highway pavements serve the need for safe transportation of human being and freights, so their condition deserves continuous monitoring and assessment. However, pavements are most often monitored in terms of their surface performance evaluation. Either with or without surface distresses, excessive pavement unevenness and/or texture loss may lead to a reduced road users’ satisfaction. Most often, the pavement surface condition is sensed through laser profilers that operate at traffic speeds. Once detected through the stand-alone use of laser profilers, pavement roughness along a pavement surface may be of major concern for the related agencies, since the root causes of roughness issues are in most cases unknown.

Excessive unevenness might sometimes be interrelated with structural issues within one or more pavement layers or even issues within the pavement foundation support. Traditionally, coring and boreholes are considered suitable to detect the condition of pavement surface layers and pavement substructure respectively. However, these processes are destructive and time-consuming. On the contrary, Non-Destructive Testing

(NDT) can be alternatively used to rapidly evaluate potential structural problems at areas with roughness issues and identify areas for further investigation. A popular method to assess the pavement structural integrity is the use of nondestructive deflectometric tests, including the Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD). This kind of testing outperforms the traditional approach; thus it is both desirable and practical.

On these grounds, related research is pursued towards integrating pavement profile and deflectometric data in order to further evaluate indications of increased pavement roughness. In particular, Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) data including deflectometric and pavement profile data is used. Additional sensing data through geophysical inspections with the Ground Penetrating Radar (GRP) is used to assist the overall pavement assessment. The study demonstrates the power of pavement sensing data in order to provide the related agencies with cost-effective and reliable evaluation methods and approaches.