Monitoring the Performance of Geosynthetic Materials within Pavement Systems Using MEMS

摘要

Geosynthetic materials have found useful applications when unbound aggregates have been placed on cohesive soil with very weak subgrade. They have also been successfully used in retarding reflective cracking in both flexible and composite pavements. There are many applications of geosynthetics in pavement engineering yet there is considerable lack of understanding in the behavior of the material. Geosynthetic materials exhibit very peculiar properties in the area of tensile strength and reinforcement. MEMS are miniature sensing or actuating devices that can interact with other environments (provided no adverse reaction occurs) to either obtain information or alter it. With remote query capability, it appears such devices can be embedded in pavement systems as testing and monitoring tools. The aim of this paper is to propose both field and laboratory methods for monitoring geotextile performance using MEMS.