Assessment of compaction quality of multi-layer pavement structure based on intelligent compaction technology

Intelligent compaction (IC) is an emerging and evolving technology for road construction. IC technology brings a lot of benefits as well as some challenges to be solved. This paper presents the framework of a field construction using IC technology and the results of the assessment of the practical use of intelligent compaction. The IC technology was implemented at the soil subgrade, the cement stabilized gravel subbase, and the cement stabilized gravel base course. The changing pattern of Compaction Meter Value (CMV) corresponding to roller passes and moisture contents of compacted materials was studied. It was found that it is more likely to achieve the desired compaction quality under the optimum moisture content situation. The relationships between CMV values and in situ measurements (compactness and deflection) for three layers were analyzed using simple linear regression analysis. The results of above linear regressions performed at three layers indicate the potential influence of underlying layers on upper layers. Then the relationships between CMVs of different layers were firstly studied using simple linear regression and multiple linear regression in which the effects of moisture content and compaction quality indicators were also considered. The study on the effect of moisture content on CMV shows that the closer the moisture content to the optimum moisture content, the more likely to get larger CMV values. The strong and consistent correlations between CMVs of different layers obtained from above regression analysis have further demonstrated the contribution of underlying layers to upper layers, and may be useful in the research of CMV decoupling in the future. Furthermore, the proposed moisture content effect study has provided a way for the above multiple factors involved CMV decoupling research in future studies.