EVALUATION AND APPLICATION STUDY OF THE GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION RAPID TRAVEL PROFILOMETER

IN ADDITION TO EVALUATION OF THE GENERAL MOTORS RAPID TRAVEL PROFILOMETER (RTP), THIS PAPER PROVIDES IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE DEVICE AND ITS OUTPUT. DETAILS OF THE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM ITSELF ARE LIMITED; HAVING BEEN COVERED IN AN EARLIER REPORT BY THE GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION. IT IS SHOWN THAT THE RTP MEASURES PROFILE WITH RESPECT TO AN ARBITRARY AND MOVING REFERENCE. CONSEQUENCES OF THIS PROPERTY ARE EXPLORED AND FOUND TO BE NO PROBLEM WHEN PROPERLY ACCOUNTED FOR. ACCURACY, DEFINED WITH REGARD TO THIS REFERENCE, IS FOUND TO BE VERY HIGH WHEN RTP AND PRECISE LEVEL PROFILES ARE COMPARED. RTP ACCURACY IS ALSO SHOWN TO BE THEORETICALLY SUPERIOR TO THAT FOR ROLLING STRAIGHTEDGES, BPR ROUGHOMETERS, AND CHLOE PROFILE DEVICES. A SURVEY OF PROFILE ANALYSIS EQUIPMENT PRECEDES A DISCUSSION OF POWERFUL ANALYSIS OPTIONS MADE POSSIBLE BY MAGNETIC TAPE DATA RECORDING. ALL METHODS OF PROFILE ANALYSIS ARE EXAMINED, INCLUDING SIMULATION OF OTHER PROFILE DEVICES TO OBTAIN THEIR INDICES FROM RTP PROFILES. PARTICULAR EMPHASIS IS GIVEN TO MODERN TIME SERIES METHODS OF RANDOM SIGNAL ANALYSIS, THE MOST POWERFUL OF WHICH APPEAR TO BE POWER SPECTRAL DENSITY MEASURES. THE DEPARTMENT HAS USED THIS INSTRUMENT, AMONG OTHER THINGS, TO: STUDY 24-HR. SLAB MOVEMENT, RECORD ACTUAL SLAB CURLING; STUDY CROSS-SECTION PROFILES OF JOINT BLOWUPS; COMPARE BRIDGE DECK FINISHING METHODS; PROFILE EXPERIMENTAL PAVEMENTS; AND PROFILE AIRPORT RUNWAYS, ETC. /AUTHOR/

• Corporate Authors:

  Michigan Department of State Highways

  State Highways Building, PO Drawer K
  Lansing, MI  United States  48904

  Bureau of Public Roads /US

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Darlington, J R
• Publication Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accuracy; Airport runways; Bridge decks; Concrete finishing; Magnetic tapes; Pavements; Power spectra; Profilometers; Road meters; Slabs; Time series analysis
• Uncontrolled Terms: Profiles
• Old TRIS Terms: Magnetic tape recording
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00206419
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bureau of Public Roads /US
• Report/Paper Numbers: 62-f-73
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 28 1970 12:00AM