Signal Stability and the Height-Correction Method for Ground-Penetrating Radar In Situ Asphalt Concrete Density Prediction

Abstract

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has shown great potential for asphalt concrete density prediction used in quality control and quality assurance. One challenge of continuous GPR measurements is that the measured dielectric constant could be affected by signal stability and antenna height. This would jeopardize the accuracy of the asphalt concrete density prediction along the pavement. In this study, signal instability and shifting antenna height during continuous real-time GPR measurements were identified as main sources of error. After using a bandpass filter to preprocess the signal, a least-square adaptive filter, using gradient descent and least mean square methods, was developed to reconstruct the received signal to improve its stability. In addition, simulations were performed to evaluate the impact of geometric spreading caused by shifting antenna height during testing. A height correction was developed using a power model to correct the height-change impact. The proposed filter and height-correction method were assessed using static and dynamic tests. The least-square adaptive filter improved signal stability by 50% and the height-correction method removed the effect of shifting antenna height almost entirely.

Research into Preparation and Performance of Fast-Hardening RPC Mixed with Straw

“…The compactness of concrete was an important indicator used to evaluate the concrete. It was not only closely related to the mechanical properties of concrete [34], but also affected the durability of concrete [35,36]. In this experiment, the ZBL-U5100 non-metal Ultrasonic testing instrument produced by Beijing Zhibo Lian Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing, China, was used to conduct the ultrasonic velocity measurement experiment, electron microscope scanning, and the X-ray diffraction analysis experiment.…”

Development of a Simulation-Based Approach for Cold In-Place Recycled Pavement Moisture-Content Prediction Using Ground-Penetrating Radar

“…During the GPR measurements, the GPR signal may suffer from signal instability and mismatch of antenna heights during measurement and calibration (38)(39)(40). The unstable signals cause measurements to suffer from high variation and uncertainty, which will impair accuracy of results.…”

“…The effects could be eliminated through applying a height-correction method and a least-square adaptive filter on GPR signals. The ''denoising'' procedure was developed earlier and reported elsewhere (40); it is summarized as follows:…”

Effect of Moisture Content on Calculated Dielectric Properties of Asphalt Concrete Pavements from Ground-Penetrating Radar Measurements

“…It is a non-destructive testing method based on the propagation and reflection of electromagnetic (EM) waves. It has been widely applied in geoscience and civil engineering [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Over the last decades, many studies have already demonstrated the high sensitivity of GPR to water in soil and building materials [18,19].…”

“…engineering [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Over the last decades, many studies have already demonstrated the high sensitivity of GPR to water in soil and building materials [18,19].…”