Assessing Reliability and Potentiality of Non-Nuclear Portable Devices for Asphalts Mixture Density Measurement

Electromagnetic sensors can be exploited to determine properties (i.e., density) of hot mix asphalts (HMAs) by observing the surface polarization effects that occur in the radio frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum. A challenge is the modeling of electromagnetic sensors, which do not require penetrating probes to perform the measurement. Moreover, core extraction is time consuming and subjected to technical and operator errors. In this paper, in order to model an electromagnetic sensor for HMA density measurement, a finite element code modeling a particular case of study has been exploited. A subsequent objective has been to determine HMA electrical characteristics and their relation with density values obtained with a nonnuclear device evaluating in-place HMA pavement. An experimental plan has been designed. The obtained results demonstrate that the implemented model is able to explain the relationship between density and electrical properties of HMA layers. Practical applications and recommendation have been outlined.