One of the greatest technological advances in pavement smoothness technology is the development of the inertial profiler. Developed by General Motors research engineers in the 1960’s, the inertial profiler is fast becoming the nation’s first choice for smoothness measurement. The components of an inertial profiler are a height sensor (laser), an accelerometer, a distance measuring device, a photocell and a computer with software to compute the profile.
All these combined can calculate the profile of a section of pavement. The data can be used to calculate various indexes, the most common being the Profile Index and the International Roughness Index.
Our equipment can provide these values in printed and electronic format at the job site.
LMI Roline Laser
GeoTest has available a LMI Roline laser for use with the lightweight profiler. The Roline is recognized to reduce inflated IRI and PI values caused by pavement texture. The Roline also provides the highest repeatability value when compared to other lasers on textured pavements. The Roline laser takes 100 readings over a 4 inch line to provide an accurate measurement of the surface smoothness.
TriODS Laser
GeoTest has available a pair of TriODS lasers for use with either the Lightweight or High Speed profilers. The TriODS offer extremely high accuracy on all pavement types. The TriODS provides an average of three measurements which reduces high IRI values caused by pavement texture or irregularities. The dual units provide single pass coverage, helping reduce the time required on-site and traffic interruptions.