APPLICATION OF LASERS IN

HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
PRESENTED BY:
JOEL DOMINIC D ALMEIDA
4SF11CV022

GUIDED BY:
Asst. Prof. Mr. Dileep Kumar

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 Contents
1. Laser full form
2. Four Important Process of LASER
3. Desirable Properties of Lasers
4. Introduction
5. Application of LASERS in Highway Engineering
 Road Profiling
 Pavement Surface Deflection
 Bridge Deflection
 Speed Checkers
6. Advantages of using lasers in Highway Engineering
7. Conclusion
8. References

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 What is LASER?
L - Light
A - Amplification by
S - Stimulated
E -Emission of
R - Radiation

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 Four Important Process of Laser Are:
1. Absorption
2. Spontaneous Emission
3. Pumping & Population Inversion
4. Stimulated Emission of
Electromagnetic Radiation

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 DESIRABLE PROPERTIES OF LASERS

Monochromatic
Unidirectional
Coherent
Portable
Detect moving object
Work outside exposed to sunlight
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 INTRODUCTION
• There is a growing need for strategic management of
the national roadway network to preserve the large
capital investment.
• Pavement management activities require accurate,
fast and cost effective pavement test techniques to
record current status of the pavement structures in
rapid manner.
• Laser technique has the characteristics of high
accuracy, high resolution and repeatability, and has
been widely applied in the range finding.
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APPLICATION OF LASERS IN
HIGHWAY ENGINEERING

1. ROAD PROFILIING
2. PAVEMENT SURFACE
DEFLECTION
3. BRIDGE DEFLECTION
4. SPEED CHECKERS
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 1. ROAD PROFILING
 The road profile is the shape of the road in the
vertical plane along a reference line.
 Profilometer is a measuring instrument used to
measure a surface's profile.
LASER BASED ROAD SURFACE PROFILER
(RSP)
The system consists of two primary components:
a. A transducer unit carrying laser sensors and
accelerometers.
b. A pc with expansion slot capability.
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 PROFILER COMPONENTS
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 VEHICLE FITTED WITH LASER PROFILER
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 LASER PROFILER
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 Graph

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2. PAVEMENT SURFACE DEFLECTION
 Pavement surface deflection measurements are the primary
means of evaluating flexible structure and rigid pavements
load transfer

 Deflection is important criteria for pavement structural layer

stiffness and the sub grade thus; many characteristics of
flexible pavements can be determined by measuring its
deflection in response to load.

Types of Deflectometer
(1) Texas Rolling Dynamic Deflectometer (RDD);
(2) Airfield Rolling Weight Deflectometer (ARWD);
(3) Rolling Wheel Deflectometer (RWD);
(4) Road Deflection Tester (RDT); and
(5) High-Speed Deflectograph.
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 ROLLING WHEEL
DEFLECTOMETER (RWD)

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 The RWD is constructed using a specially
designed tractor-trailer which is 53 feet long
 trailer has a single rear axle that is loaded to
18,000 lb
 Objective: To measure pavement surface
deflections at traffic speeds and to
characterize the load carrying capacity of in-
service roads

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The RWD measures wheel deflections at the pavement surface by
means of a spatially coincident method.

What is spatially coincident method?

 As the RWD travels on top of the pavement, triangulation lasers
mounted, on a 25.5-ft. Aluminium beam and placed at 8-ft.
intervals, are used to measure surface deflections

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 The beam is mounted on the right side of the
semitrailer to follow the right wheel path on the right
lane, usually the weakest location on the pavement
structure.
 Three spot lasers are placed in front of the loaded
wheel to define the unloaded surface.
 One spot laser is placed directly on top of the loaded
dual-tire assembly in order to measure the deflected
surface.
 The laser sensors are set to collect a reading at a fixed
interval of 0.6 inch at all truck speeds
 The upgraded system has a 0.4 inch measurement
deflection range and has an accuracy of ± 0.001 inch

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 BENEFITS OF USING RWD
Measures pavement deflection applied by an actual, moving semi-
trailer wheel load
Records a continuous deflection profile, thus provides for rapid
processing
Operates at normal highway speeds
Does not require lane closures (improved safety and less
interruption to users)
Limit exposure of personnel to hazardous traffic.

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 3. BRIDGE DEFLECTION
In order to detect the performance of bridge, it usually needs
to determine the deformation of key parts of it. The
deformation is caused by changes of natural conditions and
long-term load even overload. It maybe bring damage when
exceeds the certain threshold.
Box Diagram of Instrument :

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 The deflection measurement system is composed of laser emitter,
laser receiver and upper computer
 The laser beam should be
1. long-term stability
2. anti-interference
3. high positioning accuracy
In order to ensure the accurate positioning of the spot centre.
Working:
4. Laser projects on the fixed laser screen
5. Laser image will be sampled by CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and sent to the
MCU (Micro Controller Unit)
6. A laser spot is formed in the imaging, and it is processed by digital
image processing technology
7. The coordinate of the centre of the laser spot will be calculated
8. In order to reduce measurement error, this study introduces tilt
sensor to measure the angle of the laser emitter.

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 A is the datum position
 B is the laser light spot position
 L is the length of AB line
 Φ is the obliquity of light sot receiver relative to datum
plane
Δ= l cos Φ (Δ – Displacement)

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Advantages of Laser system for Calculating Bridge Deflection

 Measure bridge deflection from a range of up to 30m.

 A computer-controlled scanning system controls the
laser and allows the system to scan a large area of a
structure.
 Measurements resolution of less than one mm is
possible with the system.
 No special target or surface preparation is required.

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 4. SPEED CHECKERS
 The laser system basically comprises two laser transmitter-LDR
(Light Dependent resistor) sensor pairs, which are installed on the
highway 100 meters apart, with the transmitter and the LDR
sensor of each pair on the opposite sides of the road. The
system displays the time taken by the vehicle in crossing this
100m distance from one pair to the other with a resolution of
0.01 second, from which the speed of the vehicle can be
calculated.
 This speed checker can check the speed of only one vehicle at a
time.
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 LASER BASED SPEED CHECKERS
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A laser speed gun shoots a very short burst of laser light and then
waits for it to reflect off the vehicle. The gun counts the number of
nanoseconds it takes for the round trip, and by dividing by 2 it can
calculate the distance to the car.
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ADVANTAGES OF USING LASERS IN
HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
Laser based system can measure road profile and deflection
accurately while travelling at normal speed.
It results in rapid measurement and quick data collection.
 Multiple locations can be measured from single instrument position.
 It doesn’t require any set up or break down.
 This can be fitted on any vehicle required by the user.
 It can operate at speed at speed of 105km/h.
 It collects data in real-time as it traverses the pavement’s surface.
 It eliminates the need for lane closures or traffic control while testing.
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 CONCLUSION
The laser system have several advantages over the traditional
instrumentations in highway engineering.
Laser based road profile measuring system are non-contact type
system capable of measuring road profile and road deflection at
normal traffic speeds
Pavement deflection measurement at traffic speed results in quick
data collection without compromising safety of the travelling public.
The system is quick to set up, and results are produced immediately
after measurement.

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 Since no targets are required for the laser system, access to
difficult-to-reach areas under the bridge is not necessary.
 Also laser has fewer source of interference and has better
ability to detect decelerating vehicles.

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 REFERENCES
[1] YujingGuo, Li Wei, ”Study of Deflection Measurement for Bridge Using Laser
Image Technology”, 3rd International Conference on Machinery, Materials and
Information Technology Applications (ICMMITA 2015), November 28-29, 2015 in
Qingdao, China.

[2] Dr. Ibrahim M. Asi, “Pavement Performance Evaluation”,International Journal of

Pavement Research and Technology Vol.5 No.2 Mar. 2012.

[3] Mostafa A. Elseifi, Ahmed M. Abdel-Khalek, Kevin Gaspard, Zhongjie Zhang,

Said Ismail, “Evaluation of Continuous Deflection Testing Using the Rolling Wheel
Deflectometer in Louisiana”, Journal of transportation engineering © asce / April 2012,J. Transp. Eng.
2012.138:414-422

[4] González, E.J. O’Brien, Y.-Y. Li, K. Kashell, “The Use of Vehicle Acceleration
Measurements to Estimate Road Roughness”, Vehicle System Dynamics, International
Journal of Vehicle Mechanics and Mobility, Vol. 46, No. 6, Taylor & Francis (2008), pp.
483-499

[5] MostafaElseifi, Ahmed M. Abdel-Khalek, and KarthikDasari, “Implementation of

Rolling Wheel Deflectometer (RWD) in PMS and Pavement Preservation”, Report No.
FHWA/11.492August 2012, Page 36.
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