Pavement Testing Services

Do you really know the condition of the Pavement ? Road/Runway maintenance is a huge industry and savings in terms of millions of dollars can result if we know where to maintain the Road/Runway.

Would you like to have more specific knowledge about the condition of the Pavement? Maintenance is extremely expensive, especially if you do not know where to maintain. Ultra Technologies can help you make better decisions!

Ultra Technologies in collaboration with its overseas technical associates offers comprehensive Pavement Testing Services, including Pavement Deflection, 3-D mapping of the Pavements/slabs/bridge decks, Stiffness Profiling, Density & Compaction Studies, Roughness Index etc.

Ultra Technologies provide Super Heavy Weight Deflectometer (7kN-300kN), 3-D Radar, Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves, Nuclear Density Moisture Gauge & Bump Integrator for its clients.

The Advanced range of Non Destructive Testing Equipment/ Techniques available with Ultra Technologies provide and insight to the pavement condition. These include Slab Impulse Response/ Impact Echo, Structural Tomography, Concrete Test Hammer etc.

PAVEMENT DEFLECTION MEASUREMENTS

Strength evaluation of Pavements can be done by any of the approved methods such as Reverse Design Method, Destructive Test Methods and Non-destructive Methods. Reverse design method is a very generalized empirical method and assumes the sub-grade properties and nature of soil the same over a large area. Destructive methods are not only time consuming and costly but also damage the pavements and disrupts flight schedules over a long period of time.

Amongst the non-destructive methods, the latest, most advanced, most reliable and accurate method is use of Super Heavy Falling Weight Deflectometer (SH-FWD) for deflection data collection by simulating load of an actual vehicle/aircraft on the pavement. This data, collected in-situ, is than processed in different software along with other relevant data like CBR, Ground/Air/Pavement surface temperature, existing pavement material properties etc. in order to establish most accurate estimation of the in-situ pavement strength at as many locations on a pavement as needed.

The SH-FWD is state of the art Falling Weight Deflectometer which enables the engineer to determine the deflection basin caused by the controlled load with accuracy and resolution superior to the other existing test methods. The FWD data combined with the layer thickness, can be confidently used to obtain the “in-situ” resilient E- Moduli of a Pavement Structure. This information can in turn be used in a structural analysis to determine the bearing capacity, estimate expected life, and calculate an overlay requirement, if applicable (over a desired design life).

STIFFNESS PROFILE

Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW)  is a very effective tool for determination of stiffness profiles, i.e Young’s Modulus, velocity and thickness of thin layered systems such as pavements, tunnel liners, structural concrete etc without coring and one sided access. This system can be used both on Flexible and Rigid pavements, Slabs, Tunnel Linings, Structural Concrete etc. SASW is a powerful tool for identifying material condition properties at various depths through the determination of the variation of material stiffness versus depth in a layered system. The method uses the dispersive characteristics of surface waves to determine the variation of the shear wave velocity (stiffness) of layered systems with depth. SASW measurements are accurate to within 5% for the determination of the thickness and stiffness of the top layer in a pavement system

This method is also used to measure the depth of surface-opening cracks.

3-D PAVEMENT  MAPPING

3-D Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)  offers advanced technology  for high-resolution 3-dimensional  subsurface mapping. This innovative ground penetrating radar generates high-resolution 3-dimensional images of buried objects and natural interface layers down to 3 meters depth. 2.4 meter wide electronically scanning ultra-wideband antenna array collects data much faster than the traditional GPR surveying methods.

This GPR system can be connected to different antenna arrays. This is a multi-purpose 3D GPR system suitable for many applications. The system can easily be configured for anything between fast road/runway  surveys at 90 km/h (55 Mph) and high-resolution utility mapping or bridge deck concrete inspection at low speed.

This is a very efficient technology for mapping of roads/runways for maintenance planning, identification of voids and irregularities in advance to avoid expensive repairs and high resolution 3-D images for better decision support. This technology is the most effective tool for location and mapping of the underground utilities , railroad ballast inspection and  forensic studies.

MOISTURE & DENSITY

Nuclear gauges are used for compaction control testing of highways, airports, railway embankments, trench backfills and other earthworks such as dams and foundations. We estimate the  Density and Moisture Content of Soil and Soil Aggregates in Place by using Nuclear Density Moisture Gauge. These gauges are the most effective non-destructive testing method for asphalt paving materials. Conventional density test methods require collection of core samples, which are time consuming and require repair of the pavement. Accurate nuclear gauge density measurements take one-minute and are accepted by all State and National  Highways agencies.

SUBGRADE VOID EVALUATION

The Slab Impulse Response (SIR) method is used primarily to identify and map subgrade voids below slabs-on-grade, although it also sees use in general condition evaluation of structural elements. This method is excellent for evaluating the repair of slab subgrade support conditions by comparing the support conditions before and after repairs. The SIR method is often used in conjunction with Ground Penetrating Radar [GPR] for subgrade void detection and mapping.

The SIR method has been used on slabs of a wide range of thicknesses, but is most effective on thinner slabs (less than 12 inches thick). The method is generally limited to slab thicknesses of less than about 20-24 inches in thickness for most applications.