Rutgers/NJDOT Pavement Resource Program: NJDOT Statewide GPR Project Network, GPR Data Collection and Analysis Update of HPMA GPR Database


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CAIT project no.: 166 RU9309

Fiscal Year: 2005/2006

Status: Final

Principal investigator(s): Nenad Gucunski, Ph.D.

Performing organization(s): Rutgers CAIT

Coauthor(s): Carl D. Rascoe; Ali Maher

Managing organization: Rutgers CAIT

In cooperation with: New Jersey Department of Transportation
Partner project manager: Susan Gresavage, Robert Sauber

Supported by: USDOT-FHWA

Summary:

Center for Advanced Transportation Infrastructure (CAIT) of Rutgers University is mandated to conduct ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys to update NJDOT’s pavement management system with GPR-measured pavement layer thicknesses.

Based on the review of the GPR data currently in the pavement management system, it has been identified that 2,328 miles of pavement have “no GPR data,” and 1,550 miles of pavement have data with “gaps.” Gaps generally refer to missing portions of data of about 50 to 100 feet in length. The number and distribution of gaps vary. In some cases, the sections with gaps contain adequate GPR information to interpolate thicknesses between the gaps.

For the purpose of this work plan, the section with “no GPR data” are considered to be highest priority. As a part of the pavement management systems (PMS) project, GPR surveys were conducted at locations throughout New Jersey. Interpretations of the survey information were conducted for network-level pavement management purposes. The objective of the work was to provide NJDOT with information obtained by the GPR survey regarding pavement structure and layer properties (thickness, dielectric, etc.); to aid decision making; and to improve FWD back-calculation or characterization of pavement thickness variability over potential project sections.