EVALUATION OF BITUMINOUS COMPACTION PROCEDURES USING NUCLEAR GAUGES

A STUDY WAS CONDUCTED USING NUCLEAR GAUGES TO EVALUATE PRESENT BITUMINOUS CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURES. SPECIFICALLY, NUCLEAR DENSITY TESTS WERE TAKEN BOTH DURING ROLLER OPERATIONS AND AFTER COMPACTION HAD BEEN COMPLETED. THE DENSITY DATA WERE ANALYZED TO STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF USING NUCLEAR GAUGES TO ESTABLISH OPTIMUM ROLLING PATTERNS FOR SEVERAL DIFFERENT TYPES OF BITUMINOUS PAVEMENT MATERIALS FOR THE ROLLERS ENCOUNTERED. AFTER FINAL COMPACTION, CONTINUED NUCLEAR TESTS WERE TAKEN IN A STUDY OF ANY DENSITY VARIATIONS IN THE COMPACTED PAVEMENT. DENSITY TESTS WERE TAKEN TRANSVERSELY, ON JOINTS, ALONG THE PAVEMENT EDGES, ALONG THE LONGITUDINAL WHEELPATH AREAS, AND FINALLY, IN RANDOM LOCATIONS ALONG THE PAVEMENT. AREAS OF LOW DENSITY APPEARED TO BE PREDOMINANTLY THE JOINTS AND PAVEMENT EDGES. A SEPARATE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED WITH TWO COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE NUCLEAR DENSITY GAUGES TO EVALUATE THE EFFECTIVE DEPTH OF MEASUREMENT. BOTH BACKSCATTER AND AIR-GAP TECHNIQUES WERE ANALYZED. THE AIR-GAP DENSITY TEST WAS SHOWN TO BE DEPENDENT ON ONLY THE TOP 1 3/4 INCHES OF MATERIAL TESTED. /AUTHOR/

• Corporate Authors:

  Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

  Bureau of Materials, Testing and Research, 1118 State State
  Harrisburg, PA  United States  17112

  Bureau of Public Roads /US

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Grey, R L
• Publication Date: 1970-3

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Backscattering; Bituminous construction; Bituminous pavements; Compaction; Depth; Feasibility analysis; Nuclear tests; Rollers
• Old TRIS Terms: Air gaps
• Subject Areas: Construction; Geotechnology; Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00215930
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bureau of Public Roads /US
• Report/Paper Numbers: 64-15
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 28 1970 12:00AM