General procedure for backcalculating layer moduli

An efficient microcomputer program for back calculating moduli from nondestructive testing results is described. Its use is illustrated by analyzing a typical section where several deflection bowls were measured at the same location. sources of errors in the testing and backcalculating are presented and discussed. The error source is taken into consideration in the formulation of the objective function, the relative squared error between measured and computed deflections. The Hooke-Jeeves pattern search algorithm was selected for minimizing the objective function. The direct computation of the deflection at each move of the pattern search was replaced by the three-point Lagrange interpolation, using a data base generated ahead of time. The pattern search and interpolation were included in a microcomputer program named MODULUS, capable of performing and back calculation in 1 to 2 min per deflection bowl. It is highly efficient where several deflection bowls are measured along the pavement section or at the same location. The analysis of the typical section shows clearly that the measurement errors can be quite large. Averaging deflection measurements at each sensor cancels out some of the random errors and generally leads to acceptable values of the backcalculated moduli. The program MODULUS is especially suited toward these cases where multiple deflection bases are available for the same pavement geometry.