PURPOSES : The numeric-based Highway Pavement Management System (HPMS), along with an advanced three-dimensional pavement condition monitoring profiler vehicle (3DPM), in South Korea has presented remarkable advancements in pavement management since the early 2000. Based on these results, visual distress on pavement surfaces can be easily detected and analyzed. Additionally, the entire expressway pavement surface conditions in South Korea can be easily monitored using the current graphical user interface-based advanced information graphic (AIG) approach. Therefore, a critically negative pavement section can be detected and managed more easily and efficiently. However, the actual mechanical performance of the selected pavement layer still needs to be investigated in a more thorough manner not only to provide more accurate pavement performance results but also to verify the feasibility of the current 3DPM and AIG approaches. In this study, the low-temperature performance of the selected asphalt pavement layer section was evaluated to further verify and strengthen the feasibility of the current 3DPM and AIG approaches developed by the Korea Expressway Corporation. METHODS : Based on 3DPM and AIG approach, the positive and negative-riding-quality road sections were selected, respectively. The asphalt material cores were extracted from each section then bending beam rheometer mixture creep test was performed to measure their low-temperature properties. Based on the experimental results, thermal stress results were computed and visually compared. RESULTS : As expected, the asphalt material from the negative driving performance section presented a poorer low-temperature cracking resistance than that from the positive driving performance section. CONCLUSIONS : Current 3DPM equipment can successfully evaluate expressway surface conditions and the corresponding material performance quality. However, more extensive experimental studies are recommended to verify and strengthen the findings of this study

Due to the sewer induced ground subsidence, there is an increasing demand for the advanced visual inspection technique for the existing sewer pipe structures. This study aim to develop a new condition assessment method using visual inspection device with automatic crack extracting and real-time gas monitoring systems for large diameter glass-fiber reinforced plastic sewer pipes. In this paper, a high-precision image capturing system that automatically extracts cracks in the large-diameter sewer pipes and sewage culverts with a diameter of 1,000 mm or more, and a real-time gas detection sensor for investigator safety were considered. By analyzing the module technology of the visual inspection device, the test device and their software for system integration were developed. It is expected that the developed technique inspecting conditions of the GFRP sewer pipes using the proposed visual inspection device in this study can be effectively used for various types of underground structures in the future.

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to investigate characteristics of crack spacing and crack width and their relationship in continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) based on the data obtained from long-term field observations. METHODS: The crack spacings and crack widths are measured periodically over 10 years at two different CRCP sections: one with asphalt bond breaker beneath concrete slab, and the other with bonded lean concrete base beneath concrete slab. The effects of steel ratio, type of underlying layer, terminal treatment method, and seasonal temperature change on the crack characteristics are evaluated by analyzing the measured data. RESULTS: The CRCP with lean concrete base shows smaller crack spacings than those of the CRCP with asphalt bond breaker. As the steel ratio increases, both the crack spacing and crack width tend to decrease. The crack width becomes larger as the crack age increases, but once the crack age is over a certain value the crack width tends to converge. When the terminal anchor lug system is not used and the expansion joints are employed at the terminals, the crack spacings and crack widths increase near the terminal sections. The crack spacing and crack width seem to be proportional each other, but not necessarily linearly, and their relationship is more distinguished in the summer when the crack widths become smaller. CONCLUSIONS : The steel ratio, underlying layer type, terminal treatment method, and seasonal temperature change affect the characteristics of cracks and the crack spacing and crack width are related to each other.