For example, in asphalt pavement construction, the Superpave standard defines gradation curves and restrictions on the percentage of smooth versus ‘‘angular’’ particles and on the percentage of ‘‘flat, elongated’’ particles in the mixture.
Until recently, most aggregate inspection for pavement construction has involved manual operations,which are laborious and time-consuming.
Samples cannot be processed quickly enough to provide real-time feedback to the blending operations. As a result, quality control costs can be high, and process control for the blending operations cannot be optimized.