MEASUREMENTS OF ASPHALT PAVEMENT DENSITY USING GROUND PENETRATING RADAR AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO PERFORMANCE

摘要

The Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) has been used for many years to determine the thicknessesof asphalt pavement layers. This study explored expanding the use of GPR as a non-destructivequality control (QC) tool to assess the density (air void distribution) of asphalt layers. Inaddition, the study quantified the effect of density on mechanical properties of asphalt mixturesmeasured using various methods under dry and wet conditions. The compactability andmechanical properties of warm mix asphalt (WMA) were also compared to hot mix asphalt(HMA). There was excellent correlation between maps of air void distributions produced basedon GPR data and percent air voids of field cores. In addition, the results of the mechanical testsprovided valuable information on the effect of density on performance; such information isneeded to support the development of QC limits for density. WMA used in this study was easierto compact than HMA; however, the results showed that WMA was more susceptible to moisturedamage compared to HMA.