PAVEMENT THICKNESS MEASUREMENT USING ULTRASONIC PULSES

A PULSE-ECHO TYPE OF ULTRASONIC PAVEMENT THICKNESS MEASURING SYSTEM IS DESCRIBED. THE SYSTEM'S PERFORMANCE ON NEWLY CONSTRUCTED CONCRETE PAVEMENTS IS REVIEWED. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT ARE MADE ALONG WITH DESIGN CRITERIA FOR ADVANCED VERSIONS OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM. THE THICKNESS MEASUREMENTS ARE BASED ON ULTRASONIC PULSE TRANSIT TIME MEASUREMENTS IN PAVEMENT OF KNOWN SOUND VELOCITY. ACCURACIES OF PULSE AND MINUS 2 PERCENT IN BETTER THAN HALF OF THE MEASUREMENTS TAKEN WERE OBTAINED DURING A TESTING PROGRAM INVOLVING MORE THAN 350 MEASUREMENTS. RESULTS WERE VERIFIED BY CORE MEASUREMENTS MADE BY THE TESTING LABORATORY OF THE OHIO DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS. THIS ACCURACY WAS ATTAINED THROUGH THE USE OF LARGE-AREA ULTRASONIC TRANSMITTERS, HIGH PULSE POWERS, AND HIGH FREQUENCIES OF OPERATION (300 KHZ). DURING THE EVALUATION PROGRAM IT WAS FOUND THAN AN ASSUMED CONSTANT VELOCITY OF PROPAGATION OVER A FINITE AREA OF PAVEMENT DID NOT SERIOUSLY IMPAIR THE TEST RESULTS. ONCE VELOCITY INFORMATION WAS OBTAINED FOR A GIVEN SECTION OF HIGHWAY, IT WAS FOUND REASONABLY SAFE TO CONSIDER THAT THE VELOCITY REMAINED THE SAME FOR CONSIDERABLE DISTANCES AROUND THE SPECIFIC VELOCITY MEASUREMENT SITE. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1968/218/218-005.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Paper sponsored by Committee on Mechanical Properties of Concrete and presented at the 47th Annual Meeting. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Golis, M J
• Publication Date: 1968

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 40-48
• Monograph Title: Mechanical properties of plastic concrete and pavement thickness measurement
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 218
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Acoustic measuring instruments; Acoustics; Concrete pavements; Core samples; Measurement; Pavements; Thickness; Ultrasonics; Wave motion
• Uncontrolled Terms: Pavement thickness
• Old TRIS Terms: Acoustic measurement; Cores
• Subject Areas: Construction; Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00214839
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Aug 28 1994 12:00AM