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Spotlight on Pavement Uniformity: Minnesota Department of Transportation Using the Paver-Mounted Thermal Profiler (PMTP) For Asphalt Uniformity

File Language:
English


Details

  • Corporate Creators:
    United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
  • Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Publication/ Report Number:
    FHWA-HIF-22-060
  • Resource Type:
    Brief
  • Geographical Coverage:
    United States;Minnesota
  • Corporate Publisher:
    United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
  • Abstract:
    The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) fully implemented Paver-Mounted Thermal Profilers (PMTPs) into its quality assurance procedures in 2018, after finding the tool practical to use and effective in catching asphalt nonuniformity. The agency began piloting PMTPs in 2010 and phased in the tool over a four-year period between 2014 and 2018. PMTPs use temperature sensors to continuously read surface temperatures of the newly placed asphalt mat immediately behind the trailing edge of the paver screed during placement operations. These readings can indicate temperature differentials, usually referred to as thermal segregation. Data are converted to visual representations of the surface temperatures along a paver’s path, often in the form of maps or charts. MnDOT saw advantages in the tool’s data for showing areas or patterns of nonuniformity while projects were in progress and that data allowed real-time adjustments to improve temperature uniformity as the paving continued. The thermal data also have encouraged better construction practices in the local paving industry. “We know that paving asphalt uniformly will improve the life of our roads,” says Rebecca Embacher, MnDOT Advanced Materials and Technology Engineer. "Being able to look at the [thermal] information is extremely helpful for identifying issues and mitigating them."
  • Format:
    PDF
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:6d65f3be21e7c8dcd18942f8693319fa92bc29ec7cf88bf4e0e8e275bc9e2dd6fa57b95659758004716a822eba08563094d415fe353ed156f7ebc6ba97f43c88
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  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 2.23 MB ]
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