IMPLEMENTATION OF INTELLIGENT CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS IN THE HIGHWAY INDUSTRY

摘要

The implementation of new technologies in any field of engineering is a task that is becoming a necessity in today’s projects. The technologies being used in road pavements have become a vital tool to evaluate, design, and construct high quality projects that meet the standards and specifications required by highway agencies and concessionaires around the globe. In the United States, emerging technologies in the area of pavement construction are becoming more intelligent. The term “intelligent construction” is used to describe a technology that has the ability to sense its environment, collect, and analyze information in real time to enable paving contractors and highway agencies make smart decisions during the construction stage, leading to develop better final products and projects. Intelligent construction tools provide information to make necessary adjustments and changes “on the go” to achieve high quality pavements while being both cost and time effective. This paper aims to present a review of the advancements achieved in three intelligent construction technologies used in the highway industry in the United States. First, intelligent compaction is a technology used for materials including soils, aggregates, and asphalt mixtures (subgrade, base, and asphalt layers). This technology allows performing real-time adjustments in the compaction process, improving current practices and achieving high quality and uniformity of pavement layers, which in turn ensure long-lasting high-performance pavements. Another technology reviewed herein is the real-time measurement of pavement surface smoothness. This allows making adjustments to the paving operation in nearly real time, instead of having to perform expensive corrective actions after construction. Measuring real-time smoothness helps construct more comfortable and durable pavements. Finally, the implementation of an automated curing and monitoring system is presented. This technology is used to continuously check the curing process of concrete pavements in the field and issue warnings when there is risk for premature deterioration of the concrete. By continuously monitoring the curing process, automatic adjustments can be made to curing methods, resulting in high quality pavements. This paper identifies the benefits obtained from these three technologies and also describes how they are helping construct a better highway infrastructure.