Lessons learned during regular monitoring of in situ pavement bearing capacity conditions

Abstract

An investigation into the temporal variations of various pavement properties has been carried out in South Africa with regular monitoring over a period of one year. This involved the measurement of moisture content, in situ strength and pavement deflection at designated points on each road. The investigation involved nine low volume roads consisting of a thin natural gravel base course on the in situ subgrade, sealed with thin surface dressing bituminous seals. The roads were selected to represent various climatic and drainage conditions with the main objective being to assess the variation in road performance in relation to the seasonal moisture fluctuations. During analysis of the results it became apparent that a number of problems occurred with the data collection. This paper discusses the lessons learned from these problems and means of overcoming them in similar investigations.