Determination of an Optimum Speed for the Simultaneous Collection of Pavement Imaging, Ground Penetrating Radar, and Inertial Profiling Nondestructive Airport Pavement Data in a Moving Vehicle

In November 2014, representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and support contractor, SRA International, collected pavement data on an airport runway in southern New Jersey, USA. Runway 1 – 19 is asphalt, approximately 5000 ft. (1524 m) long x 150 ft. (45.7 m) wide. Data collection included 2D and 3D pavement imaging, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), and pavement profiling and roughness technologies. The purpose was to acquire data from all three technologies simultaneously at different speeds and determine if there is an optimum speed for future data collection that would accommodate the three data sets. Preliminary analysis of the 2D and 3D pavement imaging indicates satisfactory resolution at various speeds. The analysis of longitudinal profiling and Ground Penetrating Radar at varying speeds is ongoing. The data for all three technologies was collected using the FAA Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Van, a Ford E-350 commercial cutaway vehicle with a delivered shipping weight of 5201 lbs. (2359 kg) that has been customized as a mobile NDT platform.