00731096

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/1544-11

http://scholar.google.com...aker&publication_year=1996

Coring is normally done to monitor the thickness and quality of portland cement concrete (PCC) slabs during construction. Because this procedure requires a considerable amount of time, it is done at widely spaced intervals. As a result, the most critical points, in terms of strength or thickness, are sometimes not tested. Their repeatability and extreme sensitivity to the properties of surface layer enable wave propagation techniques to be used for quality control. The main advantage of these techniques is that they are nondestructive. Fortunately, these techniques have been automated in the last few years. Two seismic devices (seismic pavement analyzer and a portable version of it called the Lunch Box) have been used extensively for quality control. With them, slabs can be tested at closely spaced points and at a fraction of the cost and time of coring. The main tests used are the impact echo for determining the thickness of the slab, the ultrasonic body wave for determining the modulus, and the ultrasonic surface wave (an offshoot of the spectral analysis of surface waves method) also for determining the modulus. On the basis of extensive field testing on many types of base and subgrade, the techniques in general--and the two devices in particular--are suitable for many quality-control projects. It was found that the most robust method for determining the modulus is the ultrasonic surface wave. The impact echo also works well, as long as enough contrast exists between the properties of the PCC and the underlying materials.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1544, Portland Cement Concrete Pavements, Bridges, and Quality Management.

English

p. 91-98

1996

Transportation Research Record

0309059534

Figures (9) ; Photos (2) ; References (10) ; Tables (2)

Concrete pavements; Cost effectiveness; Earthquakes; Modulus of elasticity; Nondestructive tests; Paving; Productivity; Quality control; Seismographs; Thickness; Ultrasonic tests; Ultrasonic waves; Wave motion

Impact echo tests; Spectral analysis of surface waves

Repeatability; Time savings

Construction; Highways; I52: Construction of Pavements and Surfacings

TRIS, TRB

Feb 3 1997 12:00AM

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• BITUMINOUS PAVEMENT SMOOTHNESS: STATISTICALLY BASED APPROACH TO ACCEPTANCE
• CONSTRUCTION ISSUES IN STEEL CURVED-GIRDER BRIDGES
• DEVELOPMENT OF PROTOTYPE PERFORMANCE-RELATED SPECIFICATION FOR CONCRETE PAVEMENTS
• EFFECT OF CONCRETE MIX CONSOLIDATION ON JOINT FAULTING AND LOAD TRANSFER EFFICIENCY
• FULL-SCALE TEST OF HIGH EARLY STRENGTH BONDED CONCRETE OVERLAY DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION METHODS
• LATERAL SLIDING OF MULTISPAN STEEL BRIDGES
• NOISE CHARACTERISTICS OF PAVEMENT SURFACE TEXTURE IN WISCONSIN
• PORTLAND CEMENT CONCRETE PAVEMENT TEXTURING METHODS
• QUALITY ASSURANCE SOFTWARE FOR PERSONAL COMPUTER
• RECONSTRUCTION OF WINDSOR BRIDGE PIERS
• SPECIFICATION OF ASPHALT CONCRETE USING TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES
• STRUCTURAL MODELING FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF ARCH BRIDGE
• USE OF FATIGUE FUSES FOR PREDICTION OF FATIGUE LIFE OF STEEL BRIDGES