A BIM-Based Approach for Pavement Monitoring Integrating Data from Non-Destructive Testing Methods (NDTs)

Monitoring of critical civil engineering infrastructures has become a priority for public owners and administrative authorities. Several laws and regulations have been issued on this topic, emphasizing the crucial role of Building Information Modeling (BIM)- based procedures for the design and management of civil infrastructures. This study aims at examining the potential of an interoperable and upgradeable BIM model supplemented by ground-based non-destructive survey data, such as Mobile Laser Scanner (MLS) and Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), for the analysis of the potential distresses identified in a transport infrastructure’s pavement. The main goal of the work is to implement an infrastructure management process that aims to reduce the limits associated with the separate observation of these assessments and to provide a more efficient way to store data regarding the status of a linear transport infrastructure, to the advantage of an integrated analysis. As on-site surveys are carried out, preliminary analyses on the condition of the inspected infrastructure are performed by relying on the information provided by Non-Destructive Testing (NDTs) inspections. Subsequently, a digital informative model capable of storing the data obtained by the surveys is generated, integrating both the MLS and GPR information to accurately represent the status of the infrastructure’s pavement in a three-dimensional environment. Data obtained from these instruments were used as the input for the digitalization process, making use of parametric digital elements capable of adapting their configuration to the information provided by the NDT surveys. As more analysis on the surveys’ results is carried out, potential distresses in the deep layers of the pavement are identified, and the information related to these elements is then integrated into the BIM model previously created. The process hereby described allows for an analysis of the three-dimensional configuration of the pavement, along with potential distresses and their location into the road’s superstructure. This digitalization process has shown promising viability for data management aimed at supporting asset managers in various management phases.

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