NONDESTRUCTIVE DETERMINATION OF PAVEMENT THICKNESS USING ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TECHNIQUES

ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TECHNIQUES WERE USED IN NONDESTRUCTIVE THICKNESS TESTS ON BOTH CURED AND FRESH CONCRETE. BEING AN ELECTRICALLY ISOTROPIC, HOMOGENEOUS, PURELY RESISTIVE LAYER OF THICKNESS, H WAS ASSUMED TO BE IN PERFECT CONTACT WITH A BASE LAYER OF INFINITE EXTENT. EQUATIONS APPLICABLE TO THIS MATHEMATICAL MODEL WERE DEVELOPED ASSUMING A WENNER ELECTRODE CONFIGURATION WITH BOTH FINITE AND INFINITE LENGTH ELECTRODES. LINE ELECTRODES WERE USED TO AVERAGE OUT THE ANISOTROPIC AND UNHOMOGENEOUS EFFECTS THAT EXIST ON A POINT BASIS. THIS MATHEMATICAL MODEL WAS FOUND TO BE APPROXIMATELY CORRECT FOR FRESH CONCRETE BUT INADEQUATE FOR CURED CONCRETE PAVEMENTS. AN INSTRUMENTATION SCHEME FOR LINE ELECTRODES WAS DEVELOPED USING AN AUDIO OSCILLATOR, AN AMPLIFIER, AND TWO DIGITAL VOLT METERS RATHER THAN A BRIDGE CIRCUIT, ALONG WITH ALTERNATED CURRENT AT 100 HZ. DATA REDUCTION SYSTEMS WERE DEVELOPED FOR USE WITH FINITE LENGTH LINE ELECTRODES. A CURVE MATCHING TECHNIQUE WAS USED IN THE FIELD TO OBTAIN DATA FOR COMPUTER PROGRAMMING. DISADVANTAGES FOR THE SYSTEM USED IN THE STUDY: (1) APPLICABILITY ONLY TO FRESH CONCRETE, AND (2) INAPPLICABLE TO CURED AND/OR REINFORCED CONCRETE PAVEMENTS. /FHWA/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Final ReporT, NO 648 (69)
• Corporate Authors:

  South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City

  501 East St Joseph Street
  Rapid City, SD  United States  57701

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Russel, J E
  • Olived, T K
  • Gnirk, P F
• Publication Date: 1971-12

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Computer programming; Data reduction; Electrical resistivity; Electrodes; Mathematical models; Nondestructive tests; Pavements; Polymer concrete; Thickness
• Uncontrolled Terms: Pavement thickness
• Old TRIS Terms: Resistivity
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Materials; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00215979
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Federal Highway Administration
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Jun 28 1972 12:00AM