Improved laboratory laser scanning setup and test procedure for 3-D pavement texture measurement

Abstract

Commercial laser scanners that have the required measurement resolutions, cover too small an area per scan for pavement texture studies. Time and skill demanding image splicing tends to introduce errors. To overcome the limitation, this study developed the laboratory Chang’an University 3D Laser Scanning Device (CUSD) to cover a single-scan area of up to 800 × 325 mm, with the capability to perform a reverse-twin scanning procedure to reduce occlusion effects. To verify the advantages of CUSD, twelve asphalt mixtures were tested by CUSD and a commercial scanner AMES HD9400. CUSD took 19 min to scan and process the image of an area measuring 750 mm long, compared to more than 3 h by AMES HD9400. The experimental verification showed that the mean profile depth (MPD), root-mean-square height (RMS) and height deviation index (Ra) obtained from CUSD images were all within 5% of the values by AMES HD9400.