Evaluation of a non-nuclear density gauge as an alternate to destructive coring for airport asphalt acceptance testing

Abstract

A non-nuclear density gauge (NNDG) was evaluated as part of an asphalt runway resurfacing project. The repeatability of the NNDG was found to be high but asphalt temperature and surface moisture had a significant effect on the reliability of NNDG inferred asphalt density. It was also found that a single NNDG inferred density, located immediately over the core location, provided greater agreement with core density than an averaged NNDG density over and around the location of the core. It was concluded that when used 1 day behind the surface paving operation, when the temperature had stabilised and the surface was dry, the NNDG was a reliable replacement for destructive coring for density measurement. Consequently, the coring frequency was reduced by 75% following NNDG calibration. However, the influence of temperature and moisture rendered the NNDG less suited to quality control during the compaction rolling process. Finally, it is recommended that additional research be undertaken to extend these conclusions to other asphalt mixtures, allowing other airports to reduce the frequency of destructive coring for density testing during asphalt resurfacing, following mixture-specific calibration of the NNDG.

Study on the Evaluation Standard of Construction Quality for Asphalt Pavement Based on the Intelligent Sensing Aggregate

“…White evaluated a nonnuclear density gauge (NNDG) as part of an asphalt runway resurfacing project. It was concluded that when the temperature had stabilized and the surface was dry, the nonnuclear density gauge (NNDG) was a reliable replacement for destructive coring for density measurement [5]. Hu examined the possibility of utilizing Compaction Meter Value (CMV) to evaluate the density of different asphalt pavement layers [6].…”

Investigating the high-temperature performance and activation energy of carbon black-modified asphalt binder

“…Whereby, a high-quality asphalt binder can prevent or delay the environmental-and-traffic-related distresses in flexible pavements and hence increase the longevity of these pavements. Asphalt pavement distresses, i.e., rutting and cracking, occur before the time that flexible pavements reach their service lives [8,9]. These distresses result in huge amounts of money spent on rehabilitation or even reconstruction of flexible pavements; hence, it would be wiser to prevent such expenditures when it is possible to develop more sustainable and more resilient asphalt binders [10,11].…”