Inferring Pavement Properties using an Embedded Accelerometer

A high-end single-axis inertial sensor, capable of detecting minute accelerations, was embedded in an asphalt pavement system. A vehicle of known dimensions and overall weight was driven along a straight line, passing near the sensor’s embedment location at constant speed. Measured accelerations were analyzed as means to infer the pavement layer properties. For this purpose, instead of double integrating the accelerometer data to arrive at deflections, the raw measurements were first smoothed and then matched against computed accelerations. Vehicle speed and weight distribution between front and rear axles were also backcalculated. The paper describes the experimental details, analysis method, and results.