A dipstick is
one of several measurement devices.
Some
dipsticks are dipped into a liquid to perform a chemical test or to provide a measure of quantity of the liquid.
Since the
late 20th century, a flatness/levelness measuring device trademarked
"Dipstick" has been used to produce concrete and pavement surface
profiles and to help establish profile measurement standards in the concrete
floor and paving industries.
TESTING DIPSTICK
A testing
dipstick is usually made of paper or cardboard and is impregnated with reagents
that indicate some feature of the liquid by changing color. In medicine, dipsticks can be used to test for a variety of liquids for
the presence of a given substance, known as an analyte. For example, urine dipsticks are used to test urine samples for haemoglobin, nitrite(produced by bacteria in a urinary tract infection), protein, Nitrocellulose, glucose and occasionally urobilinogen or ketones. They are usually brightly coloured, and extremely rough to
touch.
MEASURING DIPSTICK
Dipsticks can also be used to measure the quantity of liquid
in an otherwise inaccessible space, by inserting and removing the stick and
then checking the extent of it covered by the liquid. The most familiar example
is the oil level dipstick found on most internal combustion engines.
Other kinds of dipsticks are used to measure everything from
fuel levels to the amount of beer left in an alecask (Firkin).
FLOOR & PAVEMENT PROFILER
"Dipstick"
is the trade name of a profiling device manufactured by Face Construction
Technologies of Norfolk, Virginia USA. The instrument is used in 65
countries on six continents to measure the flatness and levelness of concrete
floor slabs and pavements.
The Dipstick
measures concrete floor slab flatness/levelness in terms of Face Floor Profile
Numbers ("F-Numbers"), a profile measurement system adopted in 1990
by the American Concrete
Institute. F-Number
measurement procedures were established by ASTM Standard E1155. The instrument
also measures TR-34 Free Movement (FM); TR-34 Defined Movement (DM); Gap under
Sliding Unleveled Straightedge; Gap under Rolling Straightedge; and DIN 18202.
The
U.S. Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA) and
the World Bank (with its International
Roughness Index...
or "IRI")have established measurement procedures using Dipstick
profiler data.
The American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has established its Standard R 41 (most recently published
as R 41-05 (2010)) to, "... manually collect precision profile data
utilizing the Face Technologies Dipstick. The instrument measures profiles
(relative elevation differences) at a rate and accuracy greater than
traditional rod and level surveys. Procedures for measuring both longitudinal
and transverse profiles are described."
The Dipstick, with a reported
accuracy of .01 mm ( 0.0004 inches), measures "true"
profiles and is the most widely used and accepted Class 1 profiler
for the purposes of calibrating other profilers.
Dipstick
was used to obtain data that were used as ground truth in FHWA evaluations of
the repeatability of IRI values as measured by other profilers and in Long-Term
Pavement Performance (LTTP) studies conducted by several states.
The instrument was similarly used to
produce reference measurements by the World Road
Association (PIARC)
in its 1998 "International Experiment to Harmonise Longitudinal and
Transverse Profile Measurement and Reporting Procedures." The PIARC
experiment was conducted in the USA, Japan, Holland and Germany and included
IRI values from airport runways and super highways to rough unpaved roads.