Instrumentation of a Roller Compactor to Monitor Vibration Behavior during Earthwork Compaction

Among the goals of intelligent soil compaction is feedback control of vibration frequency, force amplitude, and forward velocity to optimize the compaction of soil. The development of a robust model structure for feedback control and/or soil parameter identification for continuous quality control/quality assurance requires comprehensive information about the machine's behavior, e.g., vibration characteristics. This paper describes the development of a comprehensive instrumentation system to monitor the three dimensional vibration of key roller compactor components. The measurement techniques are explained in detail, and experimental data is presented to demonstrate the nature of response observed during field testing.