Developing a Testing Device for Total Pavements Acceptance

During the second year of Project 0-6005, significant progress was made towards building the Total Pavement Acceptance Device (TPAD). The TPAD will be a multi-function device that will be used to profile continuously along pavements at speeds in the range of 5 to 10 mph. The test functions will include those associated with Rolling Dynamics Deflectometer (RDD), ground penetrating radar (GPR), Distance Measurement Instrument (DMI) and high-precision differential Global Positioning System (GPS), and surface temperature measurements, as well as digital video imaging of the pavement and right-of-way conditions. The specifications, bid documents, bid acceptances, and purchase of the TPAD mobile platform and the TPAD transportation equipment (tractor and trailer) were completed by the University of Texas Center for Transportation Research team. Construction of the TPAD is well underway and the acceptance testing will be done in early Year 3. Progress was also made in developing (1) improved rolling sensors and associated data analysis methods commensurate with the target testing speeds and (2) a second-generation integrated data acquisition and display system which records all test functions on the same time and distance baselines.