Evaluation of a highway pavement using non-destructive tests: Falling Weight Deflectometer and Ground Penetrating Radar

摘要

This paper presents the results of the application of two non-destructive tests (NDT): Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to assess the bearing capacity of a flexible pavement. The main motivation of this research was the evaluation of the use of this two methodologies, over time-consuming, unsafe and costly traditional destructive methods, as a support for the decisions regarding pavement maintenance with concerns to its structural condition. The structural models were established based on the deflections from the FWD and using the design thickness and GPR measured thickness. The layers elastic moduli were estimated through back-calculation.