Performance evaluation of full-scale accelerated pavement using NDT and laboratory tests: A case study in Jiangsu, China

Abstract

Maintenance of typical pavement structures is critical in Jiangsu, China. Therefore, a method combining accelerated testing, non-destructive testing, and laboratory tests was proposed in this study to achieve the performance evaluation and conservation measures analysis. After loading one million times on a full-scale road section of asphalt pavement with semi-rigid bases using a large mobile load simulator (MLS66), the material and structural properties were tested. Results showed that the rutting depth of asphalt surface layer reached 8.9 mm, indicating that the material had passed the compaction stage and entered the rheological stage (high-temperature rutting resistance declined). The compressive strength of the upper and lower base layers decreased by 24.2% and increased by 31.7%, respectively. Regarding pavement deflection, the asphalt layer showed a slight decrease in bearing capacity, but the base had virtually no change. Deflection decreased by 19.4% after adding an asphalt layer, indicating a significant increase in bearing capacity. Neither the asphalt surface nor the base layer showed abnormal signals in ground penetrating radar (GPR) images after loading, except where the sensor was buried. This study provides a timely and necessary study of the asphalt pavement maintenance in Jiangsu province and also could guide pavement maintenance in other regions of the world.