Asphalt milling, paving & compaction

Since launching its Gyratory Compactor B041 in February 2012, Matest has improved on the machine’s design. Changes to worktop, door and lighting – and a novel new accessory to help with weighing the mix - aim to improve the equipment’s functionality. Matest has reduced the size of the Gyratory Compactor’s worktop to make the use, transportation and installation easier when tests are performed on mobile laboratories or directly on construction sites. And it has reshaped the worktop to accommodate the ‘integr

ELE International is launching the Geotechnical Data Acquisition Unit (GDU), a multi-channel data logger which can co-ordinate test data from several different soil tests at the same time. This development means that a wide range of soil tests can be carried out in a very cost effective way, with accurate and reliable results, says ELE. Combining the GDU with the transducers from the various soil tests and ELE’s geotechnical software package DS7, creates a system which can co-ordinate and supervise the vari

UK-based Cooper Research Technology has expanded into the US with the acquisition of James Cox & Sons, of Colfax, California in September 2012, and the appointment of US asphalt expert Dr Geoffrey Rowe as a non-executive director. Cox and Cooper are a good fit culturally. Both firms were founded by inventors – Jim Cox and Keith Cooper – and both are built on strong links with academia: Cox with UC Berkeley and Cooper with NTEC at Nottingham University. “It is the joint intention to be a customer focused bus

UK firm Carbolite has developed a new Asphalt Binder Analyser which it says simplifies and automates calculation of the asphalt binder content of hot mix asphalts (HMAs). Traditional binder content tests use solvents to extract the binder, whereas the ABA 7/35B Asphalt Binder Analyser uses a ‘loss on ignition’ test method. “This avoids the mess and chemical waste disposal issues of traditional solvent extraction based test methods,” said Carbolite’s product manager Alan Street. The ABA 7/35B Asphalt Binder

IPC Global has launched the EN Standards Tester, a servo-hydraulic testing machine which allows users to carry out all the most popular EN12687 tests for asphalt mixtures on one machine. The EN Standards Tester offers a cost-effective alternative to Universal Testing Machines (UTMs), said IPC Global’s chief executive officer Kieran McGrane. “This machine has been targeted at a specific number of tests, therefore it is more compact and more economical,” he explained. “UTMs are used mostly by research organis

As the shift towards performance-based pavement design continues, testing equipment manufacturers are responding with new solutions for their customers - Kristina Smith reports. CONTROLS Group is launching a new dedicated asphalt division, PAVELAB SYSTEMS. The move signals a desire on the part of the manufacturer to offer a more partnership-style approach, working with customers to provide them with the right asphalt testing solutions at every stage of a pavement’s design and construction. “The mission of o

A series of rural road rebuilds have improved transport connections in the Czech Republic, helping to boost connectivity and the local economy The roads around Brandýs nad Labem, some 25km to the southwest of Czech capital Prague are crucial arteries to the rural and agricultural areas of the country. An assessment by regional authorities indicated that these roads are in need of repair. That led to cold planing and paving work on a series of rural roads near Brandýs nad Labem. The regional authorities had

Dual layer paving offers benefits to wear life as well as major cost reductions - Mike Woof reports The concept of laying the binder course and wearing course at the same time is not new to the road construction market. Various contractors have been working on systems over a number of years, with several manufacturers helping directly with these projects. A number of firms have investigated this method but three manufacturers in particular, Dynapac and Vögele in Europe and Sumitomo in Japan, have made major

The Finnish contractor Lemminkäinen is currently working on a paving contract for Finavia, the company which maintains Finland's airports. The contract includes paving milling, as well as paving work for runway 3 and taxiways at Helsinki- Vantaa airport. Lemminkäinen began its operations on the €20 million paving contract in April 2012 and the work is expected to end in the autumn of 2014. Helsinki-Vantaa Airport is an important traffic hub for Finland, as well as for the region, with around 15 million pass

Most of the dual layer paving in Japan is performed by the Multi-Asphalt Paver, manufactured by SUMITOMO (S.H.I.) CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY CO., LTD (SUMITOMO) As per the introduction report to follow, this machine can simultaneously handle two different types of asphalt mixtures and can perform two kinds of paving methods. First one is Dual layer paving (it is called Dual Asphalt Pavement method), and the second is Multi Lane Pavement method. Hereinafter, paving methods using the Multi-Asphalt Paver will be