Use of Nuclear Gauge for Construction Quality Control of Unbound Base Course Containing Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement

Details

• Creators:
  Hossain, M. Shabbir ; Hoppe, Edward J
• Corporate Creators:
  Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC)
• Corporate Contributors:
  Virginia. Department of Transportation ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Base Course (Pavements) Deflectometers Nuclear Density Gages Paving Materials Quality Assurance Quality Control Reclaimed Asphalt Pavements Recycled Materials Road Construction
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/VTRC 26-R06
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Virginia
• Edition:
  Final Report, March 2023 – May 2024
• Corporate Publisher:
  Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC)
• Abstract:
  A recent study determined that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) can use up to 30% reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in a pavement base aggregate layer without adverse effects on pavement performance. However, an effective quality-control protocol to monitor construction is needed to implement the use of RAP in the base course. The study recommended using a lightweight deflectometer device to perform quality-control and quality-assurance monitoring of RAP-aggregate base construction. VDOT does not currently use a lightweight deflectometer device for any of the unbound layer construction, rather a nuclear density gauge is commonly used for compaction control. Major modification of existing VDOT practices and significant resource allocations would be required to implement the use of lightweight deflectometer devices for compaction control. As an alternative, this study evaluated the use of a nuclear gauge to monitor the construction quality of a base course containing RAP. Although several state departments of transportation currently use nuclear density gauges for such construction monitoring, accurate moisture measurement using a nuclear device is challenging because of the presence of hydrogen atoms in RAP that comes from both asphalt and compaction water.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  124056
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5631f2e0db2bed42e5b84b96d00b168b517f3d940f60dfd4eb0fb78e8c528e5ef3ffca865cf0fc5d1461a9aea028c4b99d9fd1f6d8d02782deba23633e39889c
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/85677/dot_85677_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.74 MB ]