Research Pays Off: Contour Plots Enhance Analysis of Pavement Data Collected with Nondestructive Survey Equipment

Pavement engineers need accurate, complete, and reliable data to manage highway pavements optimally and to diagnose problems efficiently. Drilled core holes and cut trenches historically have yielded pavement samples for analysis. New nondestructive test (NDT) methods, however, can provide greater amounts of data more efficiently and cost-effectively, without damaging pavement or disrupting traffic. With the NDT methods, however, there is the need for an efficient and comprehensive method to interpret and summarize the increased quantity of data. To solve this problem, Florida Department of Transportation engineers applied a commercially available contour plotting tool to visualize NDT data. This has proved to be an efficient method for evaluating pavement characteristics and selecting the most critical areas for follow-up destructive testing.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/trnews/trnews281RPO.pdf
• 
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • 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:
  • Choubane, Bouzid
  • Holzschuher, Charles
  • Upshaw, Patrick
  • Lee, Hyung Suk
  • Morrison, Vicki
• Publication Date: 2012-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; Photos;
• Pagination: pp 48-50
• Serial:
  • TR News
  • Issue Number: 281
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0738-6826

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Contour maps; Data collection; Information processing; Nondestructive tests; Pavement management systems
• Identifier Terms: Florida Department of Transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Data interpretation
• Geographic Terms: Florida
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Pavements; I23: Properties of Road Surfaces;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01445177
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Sep 11 2012 9:14AM