TxDOT’s Use of Non-destructive Testing tools for Selecting the Optimal Pavement Rehabilitation Strategy

Jan 31

Written By Southern Plains Transportation Center

January 31, 2020

TxDOT’s Use of Non-destructive Testing tools for Selecting the Optimal Pavement Rehabilitation Strategy

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Presented by: Tom Scullion, PE

Bio: Mr. Tom Scullion is a Regents Fellow and the manager of the Flexible Pavement Program at the Texas A&M University’s Transportation Institute (TTI) and is a registered professional engineer in the state of Texas. He has been involved with pavement research for over 40 years and his current interests are in the areas of pavement design, high performance thin overlays, non-destructive testing, full depth reclamation and soil stabilization. His list of sponsors includes state agencies, municipalities, counties, private consultants, and contractors.

Mr. Scullion is an expert in using nondestructive testing to identify defects in engineering structures. He routinely uses both Falling Weight Deflectometers (FWD) to measure structural strength and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to identify and locate subsurface defects. Mr. Scullion supervised the development of GPR interpretation software and provides training for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) on where and how to use this technology. He has developed and regularly teaches training programs for TxDOT on pavement design, FWD analysis, Rubblization, Full Depth Reclamation, thin overlay design and construction.

He routinely conducts forensic evaluations of pavements showing premature deterioration and is currently active in developing 10-year rehabilitation plans for major Interstate corridors in Texas. He played a lead role in the development and implementation of the MODULUS 7 backcalculation program, which is widely used around the world for processing FWD data. He also was the lead developer of TxDOT’s Flexible Pavement Design program (FPS 21), which is the recommended design system for all flexible pavements in Texas.