Backcalculation with an Implanted Inertial Sensor

Abstract

This paper models and analyzes a pavement's response to a passing vehicle as captured by an embedded inertial sensor. Both ideal conditions, in which the riding surface is perfectly smooth, and more realistic conditions, in which load magnitudes fluctuate, are considered. A new back-calculation scheme is proposed for the use of a measured acceleration trace as the basis for inferring mechanical layer properties, vehicle travel speed, and weight distribution between axles. The suggested approach does not require double integration of the raw signal to arrive at displacements; this approach is based on matching computed accelerations with smoothed field measurements. The overall performance of the method is validated by application to several synthetic cases and to field-measured data.