U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
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Washington, DC 20590
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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
| REPORT |
| This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information |
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| Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-07-040 Date: October 2011 |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-07-040 Date: October 2011 |
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This report details the critical updates to the Strategic Highway Research Program falling weight deflectometer (FWD) calibration procedure. This has led to the revision of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials R32-09 calibration procedure.(1) The report describes the procedural improvements and provides information on how to calibrate an FWD according to the updated procedure. Appendices provide the updated protocol for FWD calibration, drawings and specifications of the hardware needed, an updated specification for the pavement deflection data exchange (PDDX) protocol, and a flowchart for the new calibration software, WinFWDCal. This report will be of interest to engineers who perform structural evaluation of pavements. This final report covers the initial 2-year phase I and the subsequent task orders 1 and 2 of the pooled fund study TPF-5(039).
Jorge E. Pagán-Ortiz
Director, Office of Infrastructure
Research and Development
This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document.
The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.
Technical Report Documentation Page
| 1. Report No.
FHWA-HRT-07-040 |
2. Government Accession No. | 3 Recipient's Catalog No. | ||
| 4. Title and Subtitle
Falling Weight Deflectometer Calibration Center and Operational Improvements: Redevelopment of the Calibration Protocol and Equipment |
5. Report Date October 2011 |
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| 6. Performing Organization Code | ||||
| 7. Author(s)
Lynne H. Irwin, David P. Orr, and Daniel Atkins |
8. Performing Organization Report No. CLRP Report No. 2010-03 |
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9. Performing Organization Name and Address Cornell University Local Roads Program |
10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) |
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11. Contract or Grant No. DTFH61-04-C-00041 |
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| 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address
Office of Infrastructure Research and Development |
13. Type of Report and Period Covered
Final Report, September 2004–October 2010 |
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14. Sponsoring Agency Code HRDI-30 |
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15. Supplementary Notes The Contracting Officer’s Technical Representatives (COTR) are Eric Weaver (2004–2008) and Jane Jiang (2008–2011). |
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| 16. Abstract
The objective of this project is to upgrade the existing falling weight deflectometer (FWD) calibration system to make calibration sustainable for the next decade without a loss of quality while ensuring that any new procedures are compatible with all brands of FWDs sold in the United States. This involves upgrading the hardware and software used in calibration to take advantage of improvements in technology. The primary result of the FWD calibration procedure is to obtain gain factors used to correct FWD load and deflection sensor data to agree with the calibration instrumentation. Changes incorporated in the new FWD calibration procedure include replacing the reference linear variable differential transducer with an accelerometer for deflection sensor calibration, developing a stiff multiple-sensor stand to allow calibration of all deflection sensors simultaneously, updating the calibration software to a modern programming language with the ability to electronically read data from each brand of FWD, and using modern data acquisition techniques to eliminate sensitivity problems from the older Strategic Highway Research Program FWD calibration protocol. The time to complete an FWD calibration was greatly reduced. This report outlines the updated procedures and provides details about the equipment and methods needed to perform the updated protocol. |
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| 17. Key Words
Deflection measurement, Falling weight deflectometer, FWD, Backcalculation, Calibration, PDDX |
18. Distribution Statement
No restrictions. This document is available through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161. |
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19. Security Classification Unclassified |
20. Security Classification Unclassified |
21. No. of Pages 268 |
22. Price | |
| Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) | Reproduction of completed page authorized |
SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors
*SI is the symbol for the International System of Units. Appropriate rounding should be made to comply with Section 4 of ASTM E380.
(Revised March 2003)
| AASHTO | American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials |
|---|---|
| AMRL | AASHTO Materials Reference Laboratory |
| ANOVA | Analysis of variance |
| ASCII | American Standard Code for Information Interchange |
| ASTM | American Society for Testing and Materials |
| Caltrans | California Department of Transportation |
| CDOT | Colorado Department of Transportation |
| CLRP | Cornell Local Roads Program |
| DAQ | Data acquisition board |
| EMI | Electromagnetic interference |
| FHWA | Federal Highway Administration |
| FWD | Falling weight deflectometer |
| HWD | Heavy weight deflectometer |
| INDOT | Indiana Department of Transportation |
| ISA | Industry standard(s) architecture |
| LTPP | Long-term pavement performance |
| LVDT | Linear variable differential transducer |
| MDT | Montana Department of Transportation |
| MEMS | Microelectromechanical systems |
| micron (μm) | One millionth of a meter or 0.0039 mil |
| mil | One thousandth of an inch or 25.4 microns |
| Mn/DOT | Minnesota Department of Transportation |
| NIST | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| PCI | Peripheral component interconnect |
| PDDX | Pavement deflection data exchange |
| PennDOT | Pennsylvania Department of Transportation |
| QC/QA | Quality control/quality assurance |
| SHRP | Strategic Highway Research Program |
| TxDOT | Texas Department of Transportation |
| USB | Universal serial bus |
