MEASUREMENT OF ROAD SURFACES USING A LASER- BASED DISTANCE MEASURING INSTRUMENT

This paper describes an instrument capable of carrying out detailed measurement of road surface features such as road rutting, undulations and macro texture. The physical basis of the measurement is the determination of the time delay between a pulse of light emitted by a laser and that reflected onto a photodetector by the road surface. The transmitter is a modulated semiconductor laser which emits an infrared beam whilst the detector is a silicon photodiode. The measurement system can automatically compensate for the widely varying reflectivities of a road surface and is capable of rapid measurement in real time. The reflective properties of various road surfaces were measured and the results of these studies are given. Arising from these studies, typical resolution accuracies have been determined. The instrument could also find application in the dynamic measurement of axle height above a road surface and may be useful in the measurement of deflection of the road surface due to vehicle load. The number of the covering abstract for the conference is TRIS No. 393385. (Author/TRRL)

• Record URL:
  • http://arrbknowledge.com
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00050164
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was presented during the 12th Australian Road Research Board Conference, Hobart, Tasmania, 27-31 August 1984.
• Corporate Authors:

  ARRB

  Melbourne, Victoria  Australia 
• Authors:
  • Stumpf, E
  • CAHILL, L W
• Publication Date: 1984

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 143-149
• Serial:
  • Australian Road Research
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: ARRB
  • ISSN: 0005-0164

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Axle load force; Axles; Conferences; Deflection; Errors; Height; Highways; Infrared radiation; Lasers; Macrotexture; Measurement; Measuring instruments; Pavement ruts; Real time control; Real time data processing; Reflection; Reflectivity; Roughness; Rutting; Size; Speed control humps; Surfaces; Texture; Time
• Uncontrolled Terms: Macro; Rut
• Old TRIS Terms: Laser applications; Undulation
• ITRD Terms: 6155: Apparatus (measuring); 1322: Axle; 8525: Conference; 5586: Deflection; 6440: Error; 6489: Height; 2755: Highway; 6772: Laser; 9041: Macro; 6136: Measurement; 8679: Real time; 5926: Reflectivity; 3081: Rutting (wheel); 6438: Surface; 3053: Surface texture
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements; I23: Properties of Road Surfaces;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00393439
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• Files: ITRD, TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Jun 30 1985 12:00AM