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US 6,684,684 B2Granted
Systems and methods for determining the porosity and/or effective air void content of compacted material
AssigneeInstroTek, Inc.
InventorsAli Regimand, Lawrence James
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods, systems, and computer program products determine the porosity or effective air void content of a compacted material sample of pavement or construction materials undergoing analysis corresponding to different measurements of field or lab formed material samples. The effective air void content represents a subset of the total air void content of the material sample.
Claims58
A method of determining the porosity of a compacted material sample, comprising the steps of:
- encasing a compacted material sample in a conformable sealant material;
- evacuating the encased material sample;
- sealing the encased material specimen to provide a vacuum-sealed encased material sample;
- obtaining the weight of the encased vacuum-sealed material sample in air;
- immersing the vacuum-sealed encased material sample in a liquid displacement bath;
- obtaining a weight of the encased sealed material sample with the vacuum intact while immersed in the liquid displacement bath;
- introducing an opening into the sealant material of the encased material specimen while the material specimen and sealant material are held immersed in the liquid bath to allow liquid to enter the sealant material and contact the material sample;
- obtaining the weight of the encased material sample during said immersing step after said introducing step;
- and
- determining the porosity of the material sample based on said obtaining steps.
7 more elements
A method for determining the effective air void content of a compacted material sample, comprising:
- drying a compacted material sample;
- obtaining a dry weight of the material sample;
- determining the bulk specific gravity (ρ1) of the material sample;
- positioning the material sample in a rigid sealable container having a known volume;
- obtaining a first weight of the material sample and container under ambient pressure conditions;
- evacuating the container to introduce a vacuum onto the material sample held therein;
- introducing a known quantity of liquid into the container in a quantity sufficient to cover the material sample;
- releasing the vacuum in the container with the material sample held immersed in the liquid;
- obtaining the weight of the material sample in the open container in the liquid after the releasing step;
- calculating the maximum apparent density (ρ2);
- and
- determining the effective air void content or % porosity of the compacted material sample undergoing analysis based on the obtained weights, the calculated maximum apparent density (ρ2) and the determined bulk specific gravity (ρ1).
9 more elements
A computer program product for determining the effective air void content or % porosity of a compacted material sample undergoing analysis, the computer program product comprising:
- a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied in said medium, said computer-readable program code comprising:
- computer readable program code for accepting input corresponding to a weight measurement of a vacuum-sealed compacted material sample held encased in a sealant material;
- computer readable program code for accepting input corresponding to a weight measurement of the encased material sample as it is held under liquid with the vacuum seal intact;
- computer readable program code for accepting input corresponding to a weight measurement of the encased material sample as it is held under liquid with the vacuum seal destroyed;
- computer program code defining predetermined mathematical relationships for determining the effective air void content or % porosity of the compacted material sample;
- and
- computer readable program code for calculating the effective air void content or % porosity of the compacted material sample undergoing analysis based on the weight measurements and the predetermined mathematical relationships.
4 more elements
A system for analyzing compacted material samples, the system comprising:
- a calibrated container having a known calibrated volume configured during operation to receive a compacted material sample and a known amount of liquid;
- an evacuation source operably associated with the container;
- a weighing scale operably associated with the container;
- and
- computer program code for determining the effective air void content or % porosity of a compacted material sample based on an evacuated dry weight of the material sample in the container and a second wet weight of the material sample in the container after the known amount of liquid has been introduced with the vacuum released and the material sample held immersed in the liquid.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.