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Interesting, but doubtful.

This makes me think we've found the point of diminishing returns with regard to road construction techniques and technology.

But how will companies sustain constant revenue???

" Wont somebody think of the shareholders???"

Well, I know we'll never see this down in Louisiana. Having our roads either completely destroyed or under constant reconstruction is a state pass-time.

Sounds interesting, but you’re not getting away from using a nuclear densitometer for testing the actual compaction. I could see using this for adjusting the unit’s speed though.

I live in the US, there’s more than enough work to go around. Testing while laying down asphalt is a little bit late, though.

If it can accurately predict failure points while rolling, even guessing, it could save billions in repairs and insurance claims. Redo a potential soft spot, then bring in the nuke. Right now the standards I’ve seen for compaction testing leave potential holes like Swiss cheese. More testing is good.

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It’s used when compacted the subgrade and base coarse if I recall correctly. So if used correctly, it will help the construction crew account for the variability of the natural materials (earth foundations with high void ratios; subgrade; and base coarse) that typically cause uneven compaction and potholes. I don’t believe it’s used when compacting the surface coarse

You’re right, I was thinking of rolling the asphalt, which makes no sense.

It doesn’t work I’ve been on 3 projects where this was tested. It cost a lot of money and all 3 change ordered density controlled compaction into toe contract.

Let's go back to oiling down gravel roads to suppress dust!

What's the use in predicting a fail point in the road base gravel when you pave in June, and then the seasons, weather, temperature, ground water, frost level, humidity, traffic variations and countless other variables come into play?

With this tech you might be able to prevent 0.01% of deficiencies.

I was thinking build more trains but okay.

Yeah I was being sarcastic. We need more light rail in urban centres

Don’t know where you get 0.01%. Current QC requirements in the US that I work with call for roll testing, visually observing a heavy object rolling over the substrate, hoping to see any soft spots in the substrate, and Nuclear densitometer testing which is highly localized and in my experience used to show an average compaction over an area. Adding testing that is more widespread, even without 100% accuracy, gives quality control an additional tool to find soft spots in a roadbed before it is paved over.