Evaluation of potential pavement profile reference devices: 2013 reference profiler benchmark test evaluation

Abstract

This report provides the results from an evaluation of reference profilers that was performed in May 2013. The evaluation tested the profile measurement accuracy, profile measurement repeatability, and longitudinal distance measurement accuracy of the reference profilers. The accuracy of the devices was evaluated by comparing the measurements with benchmark measurements that were deemed to be correct. A self-propelled and self-piloting robotic profiler that was developed by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute was used to collect the benchmark profiles. Benchmark longitudinal distance measurements were obtained using a nylon-coated steel tape corrected for temperature. Testing was performed at the MnROAD research facility in Albertville, Minnesota. Six test sections were used for the evaluation. The texture types of the sections were dense-graded asphalt, chip seal, pervious asphalt, transversely tined concrete, longitudinally tined concrete, and diamond ground concrete. Two vendors, Surface Systems and Instruments (SSI) and International Cybernetics Corporation (ICC) participated in the evaluation. Data were collected with a SSI CS 8800 unit and two ICC SurPRO units. The main report summarizes the experiment and provides a listing of which devices achieved a passing score for each criterion on each test section. The appendices provide much more detail about the performance of each device. The appendices include a summary for each device from each experiment, as well as individual “report cards” for each device on each test section.