Continuous Pavement Deflection Measurement System for Road and Airfield Pavements

Pavement Management Systems are not typically a priority in host nation day-to-day operations so the exact loads and pavement conditions are not known prior to deployment. Pavement Performance data can identify how well the current infrastructure on the host nation runways and roadways can serve the Military operations prior to a catastrophic event. There are five main pavement performance related data subsets which can highlight current pavement network condition: (1) roughness data; (2) surface distress data; (3) surface friction data; (4) deflection data; and (5) Ground Penetrating Radar. The two priorities in this list for the Army are deflection data and ground penetrating radar. Deflection data is important to assess the pavements current load acceptance and areas that require improvement in order to allow for large numbers of heavy vehicles, cargo, and aircraft. Ground Penetrating Radar data is important to assess the sub-surface structures that are present and which structures require improvement to prevent catastrophic punch through during use. Deflection data will be most useful if collected real-time at highway speeds with no lane closures, no additional congestion, no traffic backups, reduced work zone safety issues, using readily available heavy equipment on site via a RWD with 3D GPR.