Development of an Automated Real-Time Tracking System for Pavement Compaction

Quality control of asphalt pavements is an important concern of highway agencies and contractors. Compaction is an important step in this process as it leads to an increase in pavement strength and durability. While there are a number of factors that influence the in-situ pavement density, the number of passes made by the compaction device is one that is very hard to measure. One can never be certain that the desired number of passes has been made over all portions of the pavement mat. A method for automatically tracking and overlaying the number of passes over a geometric representation of the roadway would significantly enhance the quality control of this important operation. The objective of this research is to develop a prototype system software that will map the coverage area of compaction equipment and transform this information into a computer graphics environment. This system will produce a permanent record of the number of passes made at each location on the roadway. This system will also be capable of developing a graphical representation depicting the number of passes. This will be overlaid on the roadway representation to give a complete picture as to the quality and thoroughness of the compaction operation.