Construction Quality Monitoring of Asphalt Pavement using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Construction Perspective of Asphalt Pavements

Two major factors hindering targeted in-place density are uniform mat temperature and uniform rolling pattern. Existing innovations, such as pavement thermal profilers (PMTPs), are confined to capturing thermal data just behind the paver, overlooking thermal segregation during compaction. On the other hand, intelligent compaction techniques (ICTs) exhibit a weak correlation between the developed compaction metrics and the measured density. Therefore, new protocols are needed to capture the mat thermal signature and compaction pattern. These protocols, when combined, can predict the likelihood of achieving density, thus giving near real-time feedback to the contractor.

Protocol for Capturing Mat Thermal Differentials

The proposed thermal protocol involves an infrared (IR) sensor-equipped UAV to capture the thermal images of asphalt pavement construction jobs. Thermal differential matrices are computed for these job sites and compared as a function of time. Various thermal anomalies such as longitudinal streaks caused by lowering the auger box and repetitive V-shaped streaks caused by cold material from the end dump are identified and quantified. Thermal monitoring with UAV provided the advantage of identifying segregation within the compaction window.

Protocol for Capturing Roller Movement

A compaction protocol for roller movement detection using objection detection algorithms is developed. Roller movements over the freshly paved asphalt surface are tracked. This model provides detail on the compaction effort and its uniformity over paved mat.