01472662

Component

An approach is explored for modernizing the determination of bulk density of compacted asphalt specimens. It is based on calculating the bulk volume of the specimen in a three-dimensional model reconstructed from its images. The paper presents the basics of image-based modeling, founded upon the science of photogrammetry and computer vision. Next, a demonstrative application is described, in which a field core is photographed from many viewpoints with a consumer grade camera, and the images are combined into a sparse point cloud. This cloud is subsequently ‘meshed’ with planar polygons into a closed 3D shape and its volume calculated. It was found that the model-core volume was very close to that measured with a traditional liquid-displacement approach. It was also found that while the volume was relatively insensitive to the quantity and quality of the images used for the reconstruction, the computational time varied significantly from minutes to hours. Based on the favorable findings of this limited application, the approach is deemed promising and viable, worthy of more in-depth examination.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFK50 Characteristics of Asphalt Paving Mixtures to Meet Structural Requirements.

01470560

13-1758

English

17p

2013

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Photos; References

Asphalt; Bulk density; Computer vision; Image processing; Mathematical models; Photogrammetry

Construction; Highways; Materials; Planning and Forecasting; I30: Materials

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-1758

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 5 2013 12:25PM