scholarly journals A GPR-Based Pavement Density Profiler: Operating Principles and Applications

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 2613
Author(s):  
Nectaria Diamanti ◽  
A. Peter Annan ◽  
Steven R. Jackson ◽  
Dylan Klazinga

Density is one of the most important parameters in the construction of asphalt mixtures and pavement engineering. When a mixture is properly designed and compacted, it will contain enough air voids to prevent plastic deformation but will have low enough air void content to prevent water ingress and moisture damage. By mapping asphalt pavement density, areas with air void content outside of the acceptable range can be identified to predict its future life and performance. We describe a new instrument, the pavement density profiler (PDP) that has evolved from many years of making measurements of asphalt pavement properties. This instrument measures the electromagnetic (EM) wave impedance to infer the asphalt pavement density (or air void content) locally and over profiles.

2015 ◽  
Vol 2507 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong-Sub Lee ◽  
Nelson Gibson ◽  
Y. Richard Kim

Effects of design air void contents, design voids in mineral aggregate (VMA), and in-place air voids on the fatigue performance of asphalt mixtures were investigated with mechanistic analyses based on the viscoelastic continuum damage (VECD) analyses and the mechanistic–empirical pavement analysis using the AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design program. The VECD analyses included the simplified viscoelastic continuum damage model at the material level and two structural models: ( a) layered viscoelastic analysis and ( b) layered viscoelastic pavement analysis for critical distresses. The mix design of a 2013 accelerated loading facility test lane was selected to develop the volumetric mix designs with the design air voids of 3%, 4%, and 5%, design VMAs of 13%, 14%, and 15%, and in-place air void contents of 5%, 7%, and 9% with the Bailey method. Dynamic modulus and direct tension cyclic fatigue tests were performed in accordance with the AASHTO TP 107 procedure. The test results showed that the linear viscoelastic property was affected by the design VMA, design air void content, and in-place air void content in order of sensitivity. Also, the damage states at failure determined from the damage characteristic curves and the mechanistic fatigue predictions had consistent trends as observed for the design VMA, in-place air void, and design air void content in rank of sensitivity. Finally, the design VMA, in-place air void, and design air void parameters were found to be sensitive in the mechanistic analyses, whereas the parameter that was most sensitive in the pavement mechanistic–empirical analysis was the in-place air void content.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-110
Author(s):  
Andrius Baltrušaitis ◽  
Audrius Vaitkus ◽  
Juris Smirnovs

The assurance of asphalt pavement layer compaction, expressed by ratio between field and laboratory bulk density and air voids content, is one of the main criteria of the durability of asphalt road pavement. Destructive measures should be applied and cores should be taken from the asphalt pavement seeking to determine the representative compaction level of the constructed asphalt layers. New methods are constantly being sought for fast, non-destructive and accurate asphalt layer density and air void determination on road. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) can allow determining the qualitative characteristics of asphalt pavement across the entire length of the road without causing damage to the road structure. Relative dielectric permittivity, usually called dielectric value or constant, is the leading property used in GPR applications on road pavement surveys. This article presents GPR measurement results from asphalt base and binder layers of four test sections. GPR measurements were conducted immediately after the end of asphalt layer compaction process. Test points on each layer were selected and density, air void content were determined by drilling cores and testing them in the laboratory. To estimate asphalt layer density and air void content, GPR data were analysed using different existing mathematical models. To justify the reliability of the data measured by GPR, results were checked by comparing them with the results measured directly on cores taken from the asphalt pavement layers.


Author(s):  
Pajtim Sulejmani ◽  
Safwat Said ◽  
Sven Agardh ◽  
Abubeker Ahmed

One of the major causes of premature failure in asphalt pavements is moisture damage. Asphalt mixtures designed without considering climate impacts may suffer from durability problems caused by movement of water inside the asphalt mixture. Rolling traffic over wet pavement builds up pore pressure in the mixture, which will consequently accelerate deterioration. The objective of the study was to assess the moisture damage to asphalt concrete mixtures by means of complex modulus testing of dry and moisture-conditioned asphalt specimens with various mixture compositions. The asphalt mixtures were conditioned with the Moisture Induced Sensitivity Tester (MIST), which aims to replicate pore pressure in field conditions. The results showed a decline in stiffness modulus and a reduction in elastic properties after MIST conditioning. In addition, the results indicated that binder content and air void content had a significant influence on the reduction in stiffness. To capture the relationship between air void content, binder content, and the reduction in stiffness, a relationship was developed and validated with measurements on cores extracted in the field.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Ma ◽  
Yao Zhang ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Xiaoming Huang ◽  
Yongli Zhao

This study characterized the impacts of air voids on the low-temperature cracking behavior of dense-graded asphalt concrete. Virtual low-temperature bending beam test for dense-graded asphalt concrete was built and executed by discrete element method and PFC3D (particle flow code in three dimensions). Virtual tests were applied to analyze the impacts by content, distribution, and size of air voids on the low-temperature properties of dense-graded asphalt concrete. The results revealed that higher air void content results in worse low-temperature property of dense-graded asphalt concrete, especially when the air void content exceeds the designed air content; even with the same designed air void content, different distributing condition of air voids within asphalt concrete leads to different low-temperature properties of asphalt concrete, especially when the air void content in the central-lower part of testing sample varies. Bigger size of single air void which tends to form interconnected air voids within asphalt concrete has more harmful impacts on the low-temperature properties of asphalt concrete. Thus, to achieve satisfied low-temperature properties of dense-graded asphalt concrete, it is critical to ensure the designed air void content, improve the distribution of air voids, and reduce the interconnected air voids for dense-graded asphalt concrete.


Author(s):  
A. Varveri ◽  
S. Avgerinopoulos ◽  
C. Kasbergen ◽  
A. Scarpas ◽  
A. Collop

Author(s):  
Bouzid Choubane ◽  
Gale C. Page ◽  
James A. Musselman

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) initiated monitoring of its first Superpave section on I-75 in Columbia County for stripping potential using AASHTO T 283, which specifies that all conditioned test samples be saturated to between 55 and 80 percent based on 7 ± 1 percent air voids. A fairly large saturation range is allowed because it was thought that mixtures may have different percentages of permeable air voids. However, the potential interaction between air void content and the level of saturation has not been fully investigated. It is also not clear whether test results from samples saturated to 55 percent are comparable with those of the same mixture saturated to 80 percent for a similar air void content. Therefore, although FDOT adopted AASHTO T 283, it also initiated a parallel study on the effects of different degrees of saturation on moisture damage. Findings are reported of both the ongoing monitoring of the I-75 project for potential stripping and the investigation of the effects of different levels of saturation on moisture susceptibility test results as determined using AASHTO T 283.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (16) ◽  
pp. 4438
Author(s):  
Yujun Che ◽  
Shengwen Tang ◽  
Huashan Yang ◽  
Weiwei Li ◽  
Mengyuan Shi

This paper focuses on inspecting the influences of anti-foaming agent (AFA) on the performance of 3D printing cementitious materials (3DPC). The mini-slump, spreading diameter, yield stress, and strength of 3DPC were evaluated. Additionally, the air-void content, air-void morphology, and air-void size distribution of mortar with and without 0.05% AFA were assessed through image analysis. The mechanical performance and air-void structure of 3D printed samples were also investigated and compared to that of conventionally mould cast samples. Test results show that an optimal AFA content enables 3DPC to achieve favorable workability and mechanical performance. The addition of AFA exhibits lower air-void content in 3DPC than that of the sample without the AFA addition. This reduction in air-void content is further strengthened by the results of strength analysis. Electron microscope analysis shows that the use of AFA results in the suppressed formation of large air-voids during the process of fresh 3DPC. Moreover, the air-void morphology substantially influenced the mechanical performance of hardened 3DPC.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (21) ◽  
pp. 6385
Author(s):  
Wei Tang ◽  
Xin Yu ◽  
Ning Li ◽  
Fuqiang Dong ◽  
Zhongyuan Wang ◽  
...  

The use of rejuvenators has enhanced the workability of asphalt mixtures containing the reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). This conclusion is based on the determination of viscosity of asphalt binders, while not validated from reclaimed asphalt mixtures. In this study, the effect of two rejuvenators (ordinary and emulsified rejuvenator) on the workability of reclaimed asphalt mixtures was evaluated by measuring the mixing torque and determining the air void content of reclaimed mixtures. In addition, their effects on the performances of reclaimed mixture were studied via the three indexes tests, rutting test and freeze-thaw splitting tests. The experimental results show that mixing torque and air void content of reclaimed mixtures with the emulsified rejuvenator is 4% and 6% lower than that with the ordinary rejuvenator, respectively. This indicates that improvement of the workability of reclaimed mixtures can be achieved by using an emulsified rejuvenator, but not by an ordinary rejuvenator. That is also the reason that at least 20% greater high-temperature stability is found for reclaimed mixtures by using the emulsified rejuvenator than using the ordinary rejuvenator. In addition, reclaimed mixtures with the emulsified rejuvenator show similar moisture susceptibility to that with the ordinary rejuvenator. This study provides a feasible method to assess the workability effect of rejuvenators on reclaimed mixtures directly and recommends the use of an emulsified rejuvenator to improve the workability and high-temperature stability of reclaimed mixtures.


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