Abstract Manager

This paper presents the design and implementation of an effective and economical pavement monitoring system developed to evaluate the structural and environmental behaviour of asphalt pavement sections. The design of the instrumentation system considers pavement layer configuration and material composition to inform appropriate sensor selection, layout, and data acquisition strategies. Particular emphasis is placed on capturing the effects of seasonal variations in moisture and temperature on pavement response. The potential long-term effects of early asphalt pavement opening are of particular interest; therefore, the monitoring system incorporates dynamic measurements capabilities to record initial deformations, associated stresses, and corresponding asphalt temperatures.

The monitoring system integrates moisture gauges and thermocouples to quantify moisture and temperature gradients within the pavement structure and is capable of measuring both static and dynamic responses under traffic loading. The system was implemented across five (5) full-scale pavement sections (four (4) trial sections and one (1) control section) in York Region as part of a research and development project focused on maximizing the use of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) in Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA). The surface asphalt mix trials incorporate 20% and 30% fractionated RAP while the base asphalt mixes use 30% and 40% non-fractionated RAP, exceeding both Ontario Provincial Standard Specifications (OPSS.MUNI) and York Region’s specifications.

This paper describes the instrumentation design, sensor selection, installation procedures, testing protocols, and data management framework developed to support reliable long-term pavement monitoring. Field measurements demonstrate strong sensitivity to asphalt temperature variations and traffic speed, confirming the effectiveness of the system in capturing key structural and environmental responses. The presented approach provides a state-of-art framework for implementing in-situ pavement instrumentation in full-scale trial projects.