Assessing the pavement subgrade by combining different non-destructive methods

The subgrade provides support to the pavement system and assures an effective distribution of traffic loads in depth. Therefore, a failure in the subgrade will have consequences on the entire pavement behaviour. This work presents an integrated approach for the analysis of the road subgrade condition by combining different Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) techniques. Different Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems, both antennas configuration and frequencies, were tested in order to achieve the best methodology for subgrade cracking detection. Additionally, NDT load tests were performed with two deflectometers, Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) and Light Weight Deflectometer (LWD), aiming to determine the elastic modulus of the subgrade and consequently detect damaged areas. The tests were conducted at a real scale test section built to simulate pavement foundation layers consisting of clay soil subgrade, frequently used in African countries. The main tests performed are presented and analysed in this paper. Troubleshooting's are referred mainly related with GPR wave propagation on clayey materials, due to high absorption. Recommendations are made regarding the use of GPR antennas as air-coupled antennas lead to a better identification of pavement layer interfaces while ground-coupled antennas were preferable to detect anomalous areas, namely cracking and debonding. The results showed good agreement between both NDT methods (GPR and load tests) in the identification of the anomalous areas and were validated with some in-situ cores extracted. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.