Changing Face of Compaction & Compaction Control for Road Building

Jul 8, 2015 | Compaction Control

Changing Face of Compaction & Compaction Control for Road Building – A Global Review

Compaction is one of the most important processes in roadway construction. A uniform base and subgrade is a key ingredient in maximising pavement performance and the stiffness is a major contributor to this uniformity, whether it is in pavements, road embankments or bridge abutments.

This article challenges Australian road authorities and peak bodies to embrace an integrated approach combining Intelligent Compaction with the measurement of modulus for evaluating compaction using the Light Weight Deflectometer.

Road & Civil Works Australia Magazine Feb 2013

Changing Face of Compaction & Compaction Control for Road Building - Road & Civil Works Australia Magazine Feb 2013

 

The PANDA probe is giving us and the construction team very useful insight with immediate feedback on the compaction being achieved on a major new rail construction project in QLD. We have two teams working daily using PANDA DCP’s and the Automatic Hammer on the rail formation, enabling real time decision making with confidence, based on the highly repeatable results.

Federico Velasquez

Senior Geotechnical Engineer, CMW GeoSciences

I felt the training was very thorough. If anyone doesn’t know how to use a PANDA after that session, they shouldn’t be using one at all.

Sam Bamford

Laboratory Division Manager, Protest Engineering

The Light Weight Deflectometer (LWD) was first used in 1998 by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) at the Minnesota Road Research Project. Starting in 2005 the LWD has been used by Mn/DOT as an acceptance tool for the compaction of roadbed and miscellaneous embankment and trench construction, culvert treatments and other tapered construction.

Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT)

Insitutek Blogs

It’s always rewarding when we can bring both our “test” and “improve” capabilities to the same project.

This was the case with a recent case study for the application of TERRA-3000®, our clay soil stabilisation product in the City of Ballarat, VIC, which we tested using the Light Weight Deflectometer.

A bridge approach transition zone is the area where a road or railway track transitions from the rigid structure of a bridge to the flexible embankment or road pavement, aiming to minimize abrupt changes in stiffness and potential issues like differential settlement.

The 5th International Conference on Transportation Geotechnics (ICTG), held in Sydney, marked a milestone in the geotechnical and transportation engineering community. Organized by the UTS Transport Research Centre (UTS-TRC), this prestigious event brought together over 450 delegates from 30 countries, making it a truly global gathering for experts in the field.