Improving the quality of road construction while increasing efficiency and productivity is a key focus for the industry and State Road Agencies. Intelligent construction initiatives including intelligent compaction, asphalt thermal profiling, dielectric profiling systems, 3D profiling are technologies that can help achieve these goals.
As compaction is critical for the performance of pavement layers, intelligent compaction technology emerges as a solution to meet the growing need for a more detailed, efficient and reliable way of collecting compaction data. Additionally, it assesses work consistency and provides on-the-fly feedback, amongst other benefits.
During the implementation of IC technology, various pavement materials were incorporated into demonstration projects, aiming to utilise the technology for quality control, quality assurance, and, ultimately, work acceptance. Various benefits and features of intelligent compaction, such as coverage, uniformity of compaction, monitoring compaction temperature, pre-mapping to identify weak areas, were successfully trialled. The learnings from these demonstration projects were shared and utilised for the development of technical documents and specifications.
Asphalt thermal profiling technology was also trialled as an addition to the process for monitoring work and enhancing the quality of outcomes through improved asphalt consistency. This trial yielded highly positive results, with promising observations.
In conjunction with other intelligent construction initiatives, intelligent compaction and thermal mapping demonstrations have provided a wealth of information and knowledge which can be shared with the industry and State Road Agencies for mutual benefits. This paper shares the experiences gained in different areas during these demonstration projects, encompassing technical and operational aspects of data collection, analysis, and practical conclusions for quality control and project acceptance.
