Comparative Study of Nondestructive Pavement Testing, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida
Description:... This project is the most comprehensive single undertaking to date which is directed toward an evaluation of the validity of concepts of nondestructive evaluation of the load-carrying capacity of airfield pavements. Seven nondestructive test devices tested five sections of airfield pavements at MacDill Air Force Base (AFB) which consisted of two rigid, two flexible, and one composite pavements, ranging from 20-in. portland cement concrete (PCC) to 5.5- in. asphaltic concrete. Analytical treatments of the test data included empirical correlation analyses, and layered-elastic and finite element computer analyses. Six private firms each with a different nondestructive testing (NDT) evaluation method provided evaluation results in terms of allowable aircraft loads and overlay thicknesses. The Air Force produced one set of results using its new nondestructive pavement testing method, and Waterways Experiment Station provided three sets of results. This study has shown that NDT technology exists for evaluation of airfield pavements. For the pavements at MacDill AFB, some NDT evaluation methods agreed better with the standard test-pit method than others. However, the pavements at MacDill AFB are rather nontypical, and those NDT evaluation methods that did not give good results at MacDIll may give more agreeable results on different pavements. The lack of agreement between results of the NDT evaluation methods does justify concern and may point to the need for a standard evaluation method.
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