<p><p><h2>Preferred QC/QA Procedures</h2>Roller-Integrated Compaction Monitoring (RICM) is the recorded and color-coded real-time display of integrated measurement parameter values on rollers including, but not limited to, roller operation parameters, global positioning-based position, roller-ground interaction parameter values (e.g., ground stiffness), temperature, and/or moisture content. Intelligent Compaction (IC) technologies consist of sensors and control systems that provide a record of drum-soil interaction (an indicator of ground stiffness conditions) and automatically adjust vibration amplitude and/or frequency and/or speed using drum feedback during the compaction process. Without the automatic feedback control system the technology is commonly referred to as Continuous Compaction Control (CCC). IC and CCC fall under the umbrella of RICM technologies. Currently, there is no preferred FHWA document that addresses QC/QA procedures or provides guidelines for use of IC/CCC technology.</p><p>Construction quality is achieved by meeting established requirements, as detailed in project plans and specifications, including applicable codes and standards. QC and QA are terms applied to the procedures, measurements, and observations used to ensure that construction satisfies the requirements in the project plans and specifications. QC and QA are often misunderstood and used interchangeably. Herein, QC refers to procedures, measurements, and observations used by the contractor to monitor and control the construction quality such that all applicable requirements are satisfied. QA refers to measurements and observations by the owner or the owner's engineer to provide assurance to the owner that the facility has been constructed in accordance with the plans and specifications.</p><p>Table 1 shows the typical components of QC/QA monitoring programs for intelligent compaction technology.<br><h3>TABLE 1. TYPICAL EXISTING QC/QA PROCEDURES AND MEASUREMENT ITEMS</h3><table class='tablepress' id='tablepress-1997'><thead><th><center>QC or QA</th><th><center>Material or Process</th><th><center>Items</th></thead><tbody><tr><td ><center>QC</td><td ><center>Material Related</td><td >• Moisture/density tests, index properties, elevation monitoring, roller-integrated compaction measurements</td></tr><tr><td ><center>QC</td><td ><center>Process Control</td><td >• GPS mapping of number of roller passes, moisture, lift thickness, and achievement of target roller-integrated compaction measurements</td></tr><tr><td ><center>QA</td><td ><center>Material Related</td><td >• Penetration tests, static plate load tests, moisture-density tests, index properties, roller-integrated compaction measurements.
</td></tr><tr><td ><center>QA</td><td ><center>Process Control</td><td >• GPS mapping of number of roller passes
• Lift thickness measurement using GPS elevation readings
</td></tr></tbody></table><br><h3>TABLE 2. PERFORMANCE CRITERIA USE IN QC/QA MONITORING PROGRAMS</h3><table class='tablepress' id='tablepress-1998'><thead><th><center>Topics</th><th><center>Items</th></thead><tbody><tr><td ><center>Material Parameters</td><td >• Bearing capacity/shear strength, stiffness/modulus</td></tr><tr><td ><center>System Behavior</td><td >• Spatial non-uniformity</td></tr></tbody></table><br><h3>TABLE 3. EMERGING QC/QA PROCEDURES AND MEASUREMENT ITEMS</h3><table class='tablepress' id='tablepress-1999'><thead><th><center>Topics</th><th><center>Items</th></thead><tbody><tr><td ><center>Material Related</td><td >• New sensor technologies to measure soil moisture-content in real time</td></tr><tr><td ><center>Process Control</td><td >• Wireless radio transmission of roller data to field office computer
• Geostatistical analysis of roller measurement values for process control
</td></tr></tbody></table></p></p>
<p><p><h2>QC/QA Guidelines</h2>Different types of in-situ spot testing methods have been used to correlate with IC/CCC measurements and can be broadly categorized into the following:<br><ul> <li>Penetration tests</li> <li>Static plate load tests</li> <li>Dynamic plate load tests</li> <li>Small-strain modulus tests</li> <li>Moisture/Density tests</li> <li>In-situ soil sampling</li> <li>Elevation monitoring</li> <li>Proof rolling</li></ul>CCC can itself also be used for QC/QA, if properly implemented. It must be noted that using roller compaction measurements obtained in automatic feedback control (i.e., IC) can influence the correlations as the roller measurement values are influence by changes in amplitude, frequency and roller speed. A literature review indicates that IC/CCC measurements provide a measure of soil stiffness or modulus and generally do not correlate well with density measurements. Some existing specifications (developed by ISSMGE, German, Sweden, and Austria highway authorities) recommend using static or dynamic plate load tests and not using density measurements for QC/QA in conjunction with CCC. Some research studies (e.g., Mooney et al. 2010) indicate that performing multivariate regression analysis using moisture and/or underlying layer variations as parameters would improve correlations between density and IC/CCC measurements.</p><p>Inspections, construction observations, daily logs, and record keeping are essential QC/QA activities for all technologies. These activities help to ensure and/or verify that:<br><ul> <li>Good construction practices and the project specifications are followed.</li> <li>Problems can be anticipated before they occur, in some cases.</li> <li>Problems that do arise are caught early, and their cause can oftentimes be identified.</li> <li>All parties are in good communication.</li> <li>The project stays on schedule.</li></ul></p></p>
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