SBIR Phase I: Low-cost Piezoelectric Sensor for Quality Assurance of Asphalt Binders used in Highway Construction

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目满足了铺路行业对真实的沥青结合料性能变化的监控需求。它旨在开发一种先进的基于压电的测试系统原型，以快速验证沥青粘合剂的均匀性和规范合规性，用于质量控制（QC）和验证测试。用于铺路的沥青混凝土（AC）的供应在美国是250 - 320亿美元的产业;其中，沥青粘合剂的成本约为60 - 80亿美元。因此，确保粘合剂的均匀性和规格符合性对供应商、承包商和业主机构来说非常重要。成功实现拟议的设备将有助于最大限度地减少项目延迟和过早失败，以及相关的诉讼。假设5%的AC放置导致与粘合剂质量相关的早期故障，该设备每年有可能节省至少10亿美元。在粘合剂生产和沥青混合之间现场测量粘合剂流变属性的能力目前在市场上不可用。这些数据将提高业界对粘合剂生产、储存和运输过程对其均匀性的影响的理解。这将有助于改善行业内的生产流程，实现更长的道路使用寿命。该项目的智力优势在于其强调真实的时间粘合剂均匀性测量，这些测量与美国用于接受沥青粘合剂的标准规范AASHTO M320测量的性能直接相关。此外，该设备将被设计为现场便携式和成本效益，以促进广泛采用。考虑到在混合终端或承包商工厂对沥青粘合剂进行精炼后改性的急剧增加，这种装置的推动力从未如此之大。这项工作将利用在以前的国家研究中开发的台式原型系统，该系统在概念上被认为是可行的，可以提供进行沥青结合料质量控制所需的关键参数。该项目将专门解决几个技术挑战，包括将基本单元电子设备小型化为适合现场测试的手持单元，优化压电传感器材料和尺寸以实现最宽的操作范围，设计用于现场操作的基本单元，建立QC测试方法，开发用于数据简化的数值技术，以及集成硬件和软件。这项工作的预期结果将是（i）功能原型和（ii）实现质量控制测试的方法和软件。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the paving industry's need to monitor changes in asphalt binder properties in real time. It aims to develop an advanced prototype of a piezoelectric-based testing system to rapidly verify the uniformity and specification compliance of asphalt binders for quality control (QC) and verification testing purposes. Supply of asphalt concrete (AC) for paving is a $25-32 billion industry in the United States; of this, the cost of asphalt binders is around $6-8 billion. Assuring binder uniformity and specification compliance is therefore of great importance to suppliers, contractors and owner agencies. The successful realization of the proposed device will help minimize project delays and premature failures, as well as the associated litigation. Assuming 5 percent of the AC placed results in early failures related to binder quality, the device has the potential to save at least $1 billion annually. The ability to measure the binder's rheological attributes in-situ, between binder production and mixing of the asphalt, is currently unavailable in the market. Such data will enhance the industry's understanding of the impacts of binder production, storage and transport process on its uniformity. This will help improve the production processes within the industry and achieve longer-life roadways.The intellectual merit of this project lies in its emphasis on real time binder uniformity measurement in terms that are directly relatable to the properties measured by the standard specification used to accept asphalt binders in the US: AASHTO M320. Moreover, the device will be designed to be field-portable and cost-effective to promote widespread adoption. The impetus for such a device has never been greater given the sharp rise in post-refinery modifications of asphalt binders at blend terminals or at the contractor's plants. This effort will leverage the bench-top prototype system developed under previous national research studies, and which has been deemed feasible, in concept, to deliver the key parameters needed to do QC of asphalt binders. This project will specifically address several technical challenges including miniaturization of base unit electronics into a hand-held unit suitable for field testing, optimizing the piezoelectric sensor materials and dimensions for broadest operating range, design of a base unit for field operation, establishing QC test methodology, developing numerical techniques for data reduction, and integrating hardware and software. The anticipated results from this effort will be (i) a functional prototype and (ii) the realization of methodology and software for quality control testing.