This research developed an implementation plan for automating highway-materials testing using existing or developing technologies. Technologies and test equipment from other industries and other countries that have potential for use in highway-materials testing were identified and evaluated as part of the process. Selected technologies were evaluated and prioritized based on their potential for use in highway applications.

To successfully implement automation, several audiences must be convinced that new equipment will be beneficial. Manufacturers must be convinced that there is a suitable market, laboratory decision makers must believe that there will be a satisfactory return on their investment, test data users must believe that the resulting data at least maintains the accuracy of the present testing procedures, and regulatory and standards-setting agencies must accept the new methodology.

Braun Intertec Corporation of Minneapolis, Minnesota, was awarded NCHRP Project 4-25, "Implementation Plan for Automating Highways-Materials Testing," to (1) find new uses for existing and/or new technologies in order to automate highway-materials testing and (2) propose a plan to induce governmental and private laboratories to evaluate and implement these technologies. The research included not only technical feasibility studies of these technologies, but also financial feasibility studies, since the automation of specific testing activities must have a market large enough to induce equipment manufacturers to produce and retail the new equipment at prices that laboratories can justify. The proposed implementation plan addresses each audience in ways tailored to its individual interests, emphasizing the issues most relevant to the particular audience. The plan incorporates three courses of action that cover the varying stages of readiness of the specific conceptual designs. These stages include the automation of existing tests with clearly visible benefits, the automation of tests that require a demonstration project, and the replacement of existing technologies with new technologies. Results have been published in NCHRP Report 427, "Implementation Plan for Automating Highway-Materials Testing."

Status: The report has been accepted and published.

Product Availability: Published as NCHRP Report 427, "Implementation Plan for Automating Highway-Materials Testing."