The pavement management system (PMS) is considered to be of significant value in the effective management of road systems. Large amounts of data related to road surface condition, pavement structure, mechanical properties, and such must be stored in the PMS to establish and render the system useful. The common methods used to determine pavement structure - trial digging and large-diameter boring - are destructive methods that supply only local information about the pavement structure. A rapid and wide-ranging survey system is required in order to add functional value to the PMS. An integrated system using a combination of ground penetrating radar (GPR) and the borehole camera (BHC) has been developed in Japan by focusing sharp attention on how such a system must perform. GPR supplies overall pavement structure information, and the BHC provides an accurate image of layer thicknesses and pavement material composition at a broader range of points. By combining the GPR overall data and the BHC specific location data into a single vehicle-mounted survey system, an accurate profile of the pavement structure can be successfully created. The system proved useful after evaluation of the trial period in terms of survey functionality and practical accuracy. Introduction of the system is considered to increase the accuracy of the PMS and thus of the formation of pavement management decisions. (A)
Abstract