Pavement and Structures Investigations

Making the Invisible – Visible

When it comes to the accurate collection of information and data relating to pavement and structures, our Earth Radar technology can not only meet this requirement, but we can do so to an unprecedented quality and at previously unimaginable speed.

Refined over a decade with over 10,000 lane-kilometres of field use, our trademarked Sparas system has been purposely developed to operate at speeds of up to 80km per hour, enabling it to efficiently map large-scale areas in a short period of time. This allows for not only a saving on time but can allow for other cost saving benefits such as traffic management to access busy, critical, or major roadways and is ideal for time sensitive locations including airport runways.

The data captured can be utilised to ensure effective subsurface asset management and maintenance, provide wide-area network analysis, and support targeted maintenance projects across the pavement and infrastructure disciplines.

The Industry Challenges:

The VAC Group Solution:

Deliverables of the Sparas System:

Subsurface characteristics (3D ground penetrating radar)

• Relate Pavement Layer Depth and Defect Information to Aid Pavement Modelling and Interpretation of Deflection Measurements During Pavement Structural Analysis
• Detect and Locate the Extent of Voids, Moisture Ingress or Developing Defects
  
• Segment the Road and Determine Extents of Homogeneous Pavement Construction
  
• Determine Optimum Coring / Trench Locations to Maximise Benefit of These Investigations and Verify the Extent of Their Validity

Subsurface characteristics

• Surface Imagery - Continuous High-Definition Imagery of Road Surface Conditions
• Environmental Cameras - Identify Roadside Assets and Record the Surrounding Environment
  
• Location and Visualisation - Linear Views of the Collected Data or Geospatial Views Using GPS Positioning Information

Combined surface and subsurface views

• Improved Forensic Investigations - Directly Compare Surface Defects and Subsurface Changes (E.g., Defects; Changes of Construction) to Enable Better Informed Assessment of the Causes of Surface Defects and Selection of Remedial Treatments
• Geospatial Data Displays - Compare Location of Surface and Subsurface to Better Understand the Results in Context of the Surrounding Environment