Track: Sensors and Sensing Systems

Abstract

The constant improvement of airport pavement design standards is very important for maintaining high levels of performance, protection and efficiency in air transportation.  Numerous distress types can be found in asphalt pavements at airports.  Interlayer delamination, caused by a poor bond between the two layers of paving, is a serious concern in runway and taxiway surfaces.  However, preventing this problem has proven to be a difficult issue. The use of sensors to monitor the condition of pavements shows several advantages and benefits since it monitors the pavement in real time and collects practical data, which facilitates the analysis to produce predictive models. Nonetheless, it is a relatively new concept within the transportation industry. The purpose of this paper is to present different types of sensors, their infrastructure, as well as the positioning and spacing. While the types of sensors available in various industries are abundant, there are only a few types that are appropriate for use in pavements.  Although, the amount and types of sensors can vary depending on the particular objective, the basic types include strain gages, temperature gages, pressure sensors, as well as the collection of environmental data.  The behaviors of transversal and longitudinal sensors arrangements are also discussed.