Road Works

High temperature in laying bituminous pavement

In general, bituminous materials are also broadly classified into two types, namely bitumen macadams and hot-rolled asphalts. During compaction, the increase of temperature causes the reduction of viscosity of binder. The binder acts as a lubricant among aggregates particles because it is mobile in a fluid state under high temperatures. The internal resistance between the bituminous materials is drastically reduced resulting in the formation of a mixture with better aggregate interlock. Bitumen macadams mainly contain continuously graded aggregates. Compaction of this type of bituminous material is eased with an increase of mix temperature as the lubricating effect of reduced viscosity of binder helps in the rearrangement of aggregates. The aggregate of hot-rolled asphalt are not well graded. With a rise in mixing temperature, the binder will stay unset and the mixture has little resistance to compaction.

Local vehicle parapet strong enough to contain vehicles

The majority of local parapets are 1.1m high and they are designed to resist impact from a 1.5ton car moving at a speed of 113km/hr. In some locations such as in the vicinity of railway lines, barriers with 1.5m high are provided to contain a vehicle with 24ton at a speed of 50km/hr. The impact situation for vehicles varies from event to event and they are dependent on the speed, size and angle of incidence of the impacting vehicle. Though full-scale crash test is the simplest way to prove their performance, computer simulation has been used extensively owing to its lower in cost. Based on the results of computer simulation and crash tests, it is established that the said parapets comply with international standard for safe usage. Mechanism of compaction by paver, steel-wheeled roller and pneumatic tire rollers Paver, steel-wheeled roller and pneumatic tire roller compact bituminous material by using the following principles:

(i) The static weight of the paving machines exerts loads on the bituminous material and compresses the material directly beneath the machine. The compacting effort increases with the period of contact and larger machine weight.

(ii) Compaction is brought about by the generation of shear stress between the compressed bituminous material under the machine and the adjacent uncompressed bitumen. 

Mechanism of taking up loads for concrete paving blocks 

The paving for concrete blocks consists of closely packed paving blocks in pre-determined patterns and the tiny joint spaces between individual blocks are filled with sand. The presence of sand avoids the displacement of a single block unit from the remaining blocks. Moreover, the horizontal interlocking provided by the arrangement of paving blocks in special patterns (e.g. herringbone pattern) prevents any single block from moving relative to one another. For instance, vertical loads acting directly on one concrete paving block are not only resisted by the block itself, but also by the blocks adjacent to it.