Utilization of traffic speed deflectometer for pavement structural evaluations

Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD) is primarily capable of evaluating the pavement conditions at the network level with regard to the structural capacities. This paper mainly reviews the utilization of TSD for the pavement structural evaluations. With the Doppler lasers configured in a specific truck, TSD can measure the deflection velocity (slope) at a traffic speed. The measured deflection can be calculated by either area under the curve (AUTC) method or Euler-Bernoulli beam (EB) method. Moreover, the pavement moduli backcalculated by either 3D Move simulation or the Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) from TSD measurements tend to well correlate those backcalculated from FWD measurements. It is noted that structural capacities derived from TSD measurement were reliable in assessing the pavement conditions. Additionally, the pavement roughness has a significant effect on TSD measurements. Therefore, Traffic Speed Deflectometer has a promising applied prospect in pavement structural evaluations.

Automated summary

The Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD) is a reliable tool for evaluating pavement structural conditions by measuring deflection velocity and calculating pavement moduli using different methods. The results from TSD measurements show good correlation with traditional FWD measurements, indicating its promising prospect in pavement structural evaluations. Additionally, the pavement roughness significantly affects TSD measurements.