Saturday, November 10, 2012

The Advantages of Making use of Ground Penetrating Radar to Determine Concrete Slab Thickness

By Tracey Trevino


Ground penetrating radar is a beneficial tool for figuring out concrete slab thickness very easily as well as accurately. Determining slab thickness is vital in seeing precisely how concrete pavements may perform during their service life. Be aware that actually a decrease in the thickness of the slab by as little as 1 inch may cut in half its service life. Computing the thickness of concrete slabs is also important in figuring out if contractors have complied with the project specifications whenever building concrete pavements.

GPR is really technology that's currently being widely used in several states within their pavement evaluation systems, which includes North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Michigan along with Louisiana, as well as in several European countries like the UK, Finland as well as Denmark, with much success. The radar transmits short pulses of radio waves directly into the concrete and then makes use of the arrival time and strength of the returning echoes to calculate thickness as well as properties like moisture content. Nevertheless, GPR may not be in a position to make correct measurements in the event that there is not enough contrast in between the concrete along with the underlying base.



What are the benefits of using GPR in measuring concrete slab thickness?

1. Thickness data from the GPR can end up being right away imported into pavement management systems so that they can determine the remaining life of the concrete pavement and also determine the correct maintenance and repair actions. Radar readings may end up being converted into visual representation for easy interpretation or as ASCI file output.

2. Measurements may be performed by GPR equipped vehicles with small disruption to regular traffic since there's no more any need to shut down lanes while measurements are generally being taken. Cars can cover approximately 200 miles per day of pavement at regular highway speeds. And automatic data collecting substantially cuts down on the time necessary to complete the survey.

3. The expense of GPR is much more affordable in comparison with conventional methods of determining slab thickness including taking core samples. Concerned agencies possess the option of purchasing their very own equipment and also training personnel to man it or even contracting services from providers, with respect to the spending budget available to them for these functions.

4. Highway personnel usually are completely safe when taking measurements because they are no longer subjected to hazardous situations such as high-speed traffic, bad weather or even air pollution.

5. GPR has a high range of precision in its measurements of concrete slab thickness. Depending on the kind of layer being assessed, you can enjoy precision within range of 3 % to 5 % (for completely new asphalt). But actually calculating thick granular base may give results accurate to inside range of 8 % to fifteen percent.




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