A Mobile Acoustic Subsurface Sensing (MASS) system for rapid roadway assessment

Area of Science:

• Geophysics
• Civil Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Surface waves are crucial for vibration-based nondestructive testing (NDT) of infrastructure.
• Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW) is established for geologic subsurface property detection.
• Scaling down NDT methods for small structures and non-contact sensing are recent research focuses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce an improved surface wave-based system for measuring roadway subsurface profiles.
• To enhance the efficiency of subsurface detection for infrastructure using non-contact methods.

Main Methods:

• Development of a compact, 3-wheeled Mobile Acoustic Subsurface Sensing (MASS) system.
• Integration of an electromagnetic impact source, distance register, and non-contact acoustic sensors.
• Utilizing a fast air-coupled surface wave analysis program for real-time processing.

Main Results:

• The MASS system enables continuous subsurface measurements at walking speed.
• The system offers fast scanning and real-time analysis capabilities.
• Demonstrated efficiency as a mobile prototype for field testing.

Conclusions:

• The MASS system represents an efficient advancement in mobile subsurface profiling for roadways.
• The integration of non-contact sensing and rapid analysis overcomes previous inefficiencies in NDT.
• The system is a viable tool for field-based infrastructure assessment.