An Automated System for Quality Control of Compaction Operations: Receiver Tests & Algorithms

When other conditions such as roller frequency, wheel load, and compactor speed are the same, the density of asphalt pavement is dependent on the number of coverages of the compactor. If the mat is compacted with less than the determined number of passes, there may be a large volume of air voids leading to a low density. On the other hand, if the mat is overly compacted, the aggregates will be crushed further and the attributes of the mix will be changed leading to a reduction in density. For this reason, monitoring the exact number of coverages over the entire surface of the pavement mat is desired. This paper reports on research that started three years ago to develop an automated system for mapping compaction equipment using global positioning system technology (GPS). This paper describes the system along with tests devised to evaluate GPS performance under various conditions.