Feasibility Study of Non-Contact, High Speed Elastic Property Measurement of Pavements: Summary Report

Elastic properties of asphalt pavements are extensively used for pavement evaluation and maintenance scheduling. Presently, methods such as Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD), Plate Load Tests and Rolling Dynamic Deflectometer (RDD) are used by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for these measurements. These methods have a slow rate of data production because they are contact measurement systems. In this project, a laser system and a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system were developed for the measurement of the elastic properties of asphalt pavements. Several experiments and field tests were conducted to find the correlation between the electrical properties and the elastic properties of asphalt pavements. Lab test performed using the frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) GPR and the Pulse GPR indicated a close correlation between the dielectric constant of asphalt and its density.