Compacting asphalt pavement sufficiently is crucial to extending the life of roadways. Intelligent compaction technologies offer methods of evaluating the state of pavement compaction in real time, helping operators to avoid under- or overcompacting the pavement. Most intelligent compaction methods rely on measuring the relative stiffness of the pavement and displaying a real-time, GPS-enabled map of how many passes have been made over the pavement mat.
The Federal Highway Administration has made intelligent compaction a priority investment for the future, and state transportation departments have run numerous tests and demonstration projects on different methods. "Most jobs still don't require the use of intelligent compaction, but they do have pavement density targets," says Fares Beainy, Volvo Construction Equipment research engineer. "So, even then, intelligent compaction can keep you from being penalized."