Field Measurements and Numerical Simulations of Temperature and Moisture in Highway Engineering Using a Frequency Domain Reflectometry Sensor.
This paper presents a systematic pioneering study on the use of agricultural-purpose frequency domain reflectometry (FDR) sensors to monitor temperature and moisture of a subgrade in highway extension and reconstruction engineering. The principle of agricultural-purpose FDR sensors and the process for embedding this kind of sensors for subgrade engineering purposes are introduced. Based on field measured weather data, a numerical analysis model for temperature and moisture content in the subgrade's soil is built. Comparisons of the temperature and moisture data obtained from numerical simulation and FDR-based measurements are conducted. The results show that: (1) the embedding method and process, data acquisition, and remote transmission presented are reasonable; (2) the temperature and moisture changes are coordinated with the atmospheric environment and they are also in close agreement with numerical calculations; (3) the change laws of both are consistent at positions where the subgrade is compacted uniformly. These results suggest that the data measured by the agricultural-purpose FDR sensors are reliable. The findings of this paper enable a new and effective real-time monitoring method for a subgrade's temperature and moisture changes, and thus broaden the application of agricultural-purpose FDR sensors.
School of Traffic &amp; Transportation, Changsha University of Science &amp;Technology, Changsha 410114, China. yyaoai@connect.ust.hk.
Yong-Sheng
YS
Yao
School of Traffic &amp; Transportation, Changsha University of Science &amp;Technology, Changsha 410114, China. zjl@csust.edu.cn.
Jian-Long
JL
Zheng
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. zchenba@connect.ust.hk.
Zeng-Shun
ZS
Chen
School of Traffic &amp; Transportation, Changsha University of Science &amp;Technology, Changsha 410114, China. zjhseu@csust.edu.cn.
Jun-Hui
JH
Zhang
Shenzhen Bridge-Doctor Design &amp; Research Institute Co., Ltd., Shenzhen 518048, China. liy2000@163.com.
Yong
Y
Li
FDR sensor; field measurement; highway reconstruction and extension; numerical simulation; temperature and moisture