Identifying pavement construction and material composition
Pavements around the UK vary greatly, with multiple design standards and methods having been used over the years on the UK road network. Effective highway maintenance requires an understanding of how paved assets have been constructed and maintained therefore, and clients often need to investigate pavement construction to help determine strength of underlying base layers, level of unbound material, and drainage characteristics.
We deliver all aspects of highways and utility coring, and we have significant plant and labour resources available. We maximise safety, efficiency and quality of service, fulfilling client needs by providing clarity of performance and responsibility, value for money, and contract control. All the information gathered during on site investigations is analysed in our materials testing laboratory to provide clients with detailed and accurate pavement reports.
Prior to site works, we refer to best practice guidance when determining the number of samples required and we pre-inspect each site to determine any site-specific features that may impact on works such as bus stops, parking bays, schools, traffic speed and volumes, working hours restrictions, forward visibility for road users, and local business access requirements. We will work with you and other stakeholders to minimise disruption to road users.
Pavement Coring
We drill, reinstate, log, and analyse over 10,000 pavement core samples annually and we are capable of drilling to 1m in depth through bituminous and cementitious layers with core barrel diameters of 100mm, 150mm, 200mm and 300mm. Operatives use tailored mobile data capture systems to record details on site including accurate locational / GPS co-ordinate information and high-quality photographs of the core extraction process.
Ground bearing capacity and the California Bearing Ration (CBR) can be determined by Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) testing. We also deliver tar testing in the form of PAK-Marker and PAH testing, which is undertaken in-house to ensure a comprehensive pavement evaluation is undertaken in a timely fashion.
Our laboratory has a fully verified core logging procedure to "Documented In-house Method: C14, Issue 7, 12/08/14" based on Design Manual for Roads and Bridges, HMSO, HD 29/08 and the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 SROH (England) / SROR (Scotland) Code of Practice. All core logging measurements are taken in accordance with BS EN 12697-36:2003 "Thickness of an Asphalt pavement; 4.1 Destructive measurements."
Utility Coring
Utility coring is becoming increasingly important in utility management and contractor performance monitoring, and we deliver utility coring programmes for a variety of clients. For each batch of cores reported, a summary report will be provided including an overall performance summary and broken down by each utility, setting out the number and percentage of carriageway and footway cores which passed and failed at each testing stage. Utility testing covers the following:
- Visual assessment of the utility reinstatement with photos provided
- Determination of bulk density, maximum density, and air void percentage of samples
- Depth pass / fail
- Air void pass / fail
Delivering Service Enhancements
Core sampling allows engineers and contractors to analyze the physical, chemical, and structural properties of tested pavements and subgrade materials, with core reporting traditionally consisting of site plans, tabular reporting, and photographs. Through an innovative approach we have implemented an interactive cloud-based system, allowing clients to access road core data results on any licensed device and in any location. Our XA© suite of software is GIS-based, and delivers spatial analysis and mapping of road core results in as near real-time as possible.
Added-value features
- Visualize core sample locations on interactive maps, improving spatial understanding of road conditions
- Identify trends and inconsistencies across the network, e.g. if tar-bound material is found in one location, adjacent road sections can be flagged as areas for further investigation
- Integrate road core data with other infrastructure datasets, providing a holistic view of asset conditions
- Export GIS-compatible reports for further analysis, ensuring compatibility with client systems
- Correlate test results with environmental factors such as weather patterns to understand how flooding is affecting the road pavements
- Apply topographical analysis tools to predict road surface degradation over time.
We also deliver several complimentary services in relation to construction monitoring including Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD), Deflectograph (DFG), and Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR). For more information on these non-intrusive pavement assessment technologies, click on the buttons below.
Why Choose XAIS-PTS?
At XAIS-PTS our team has a wealth of experience, and we deliver comprehensive materials testing services in support of our surveying, software, certification, asset management and design services.
If you have any questions or queries about our services, please contact us today – our team will be more than happy to have a conversation with you regarding your project requirements!