Pre-Conference Tutorials

Pre-conference technical tutorials organised by the Asphalt Academy in association with the SANRAL Chair in Pavement Engineering will be held on the afternoon of Saturday 11 and the morning of Sunday, 12 September as shown in the programme below:

Note:

• The Tutorials are organised independent of the CAPSA'04 registration at the costs shown and are not limited to those attending the CAPSA'04 conference.
• The Tutorials will be run in parallel on the dates shown and only two Tutorials may be booked per individual for the different days.
• For details on the content of the various Tutorials, please visit the CAPSA'04 website as indicated in the Contact Details.

The Tutorials are aimed at engineers and technologists who wish to augment and update their knowledge of bitumen and asphalt technology. A degree or diploma in Civil Engineering plus several years experience in pavement engineering is recommended.
Click here for Registration Form

The Tutorials will be held at the Sun City Conference Centre. Exact locations will be communicated on registration.

Attendance of 1 Tutorial - R 900 (including VAT)
Attendance of 2 Tutorials - R1 650 (including VAT)

This course will be conducted in English.

Enrolment will be limited. Registration, will be accepted on a first received basis and only confirmed by payment of the course fees. Return the attached registration as indicated on the form.

Course Coordinator: Ms Pat Loots
Telephone: +27-12-8412436
Fax: +27-12-8412350
E-mail: patloots@iafrica.com
Website:http://asac.csir.co.za/capsa

TUTORIAL T1 : Binder Rheology

The prediction of mechanical properties of bituminous material has developed significantly with the introduction of test apparatus such as the Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) in recent years. In order to understand binder behaviour, both unmodified and modified, it has become more important for practitioners to understand rheology of binders and how the rheological properties are used in good practice.

The objective of this tutorial is to introduce the delegates to binder rheology and the rheology of asphalt mixes and provide an update of the “state of the art”. This will include:

• some of the fundamental theory of rheology
• description of the old and new rheological test methods, including conditioning and ageing procedures,
• interpretation of rheological results including black diagrams and master curves,
• appropriate rheological models,
• unmodified versus modified binder rheology,
• the link between rheology and performance,
• variability and QC in rheological testing.

Insights will also be provided on differences in rheological testing between Europe, America and South Africa as part of the tutorial.

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TUTORIAL T2 : Asphalt Mix Design

Asphalt mixes continue to be refined in practice depending on the functional properties and engineering properties that are required. Mix design methods continue to evolve, providing a closer link between laboratory prediction and in-service performance. This tutorial aims to provide a background to the evolution of mix design and to expose delegates to the “state of the art” of asphalt mix design, highlighting good practice.

This will include exposure to:

• Asphalt mix properties for consideration e.g. durability, rut resistance etc
• Types of Mix Design Methods
• Typical Asphalt Mixes (Base and Surfacing) – technical versus function properties, southern Africa mixes versus elsewhere
• Spatial Composition of Asphalt Mixes
• Practical test procedures for mechanical properties
• Performance related versus performance based testing

The tutorial aims to provide insights into differences that exist in mix design approaches between Europe, America and South Africa.

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TUTORIAL T3 : Asphalt Construction and Constructability

Mix type and composition,
• Environment (temperature, rain etc)
• Site conditions (base type and condition)
,
• The paver, and
• Compaction equipment

The above factors will be addressed with cognisance being given to assessment criteria i.e. riding quality, layer thickness, level, compaction, permeability etc. Constructability issues pertaining to these factors will be covered, including the role of Knowledge Based Systems KBS in training and forensics. Types of joint construction will be discussed and overall guidelines for trouble shooting, provided.

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TUTORIAL T4 : Cold Mix Technology

Southern Africa has experienced a growing use of cold bituminous mixes for road rehabilitation projects using Cold In-place Recycling (CIPR). As a result, the design guides for the use of these materials have been developed further in the past four years. This tutorial aims to expose the delegates to the latest thinking with regards to the design and construction of pavements incorporating these materials, including:

• Mix design with bitumen emulsion and foamed bitumen mixes, including test methods and classification of cold mixes using the SA method,
• Pavement design using cold mixes
• Construction and contractual aspects (specifications, QA/QC etc)

Performance functions for cold mixes developed from Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS) testing will be covered as a background to the design functions.

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TUTORIAL T5 : Flexible Pavement Design

It is generally accepted that analytical, pavement design tools i.e. mechanistic-empirical methods, provide more appropriate designs than purely empirical (Structural Number) or experience based designs. This tutorial will provide a background to flexible pavement design using the mechanistic empirical tools that have been developed in various countries. The tutorial will include:

• The basic principles of flexible pavement design including stress and strain distribution in multi-layer systems,
• Material characterisation for FPD including unbound, cemented and asphaltic materials,
• Environmental considerations: Traffic analysis, climatic influences etc.
• Input parameters in designs and performance (transfer) functions for mechanistic analysis and layer thickness determination, and
• Statistics and reliability calculations

The South African mechanistic pavement design method will be discussed within the context of the points above, together with other relevant design methods from Europe and elsewhere.

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TUTORIAL T6 : Seals and Thin Surfacings

Southern Africa has used surface seals very effectively in the recent decades. However, local practises have been prevalent in different regions. In 2001, South Africa published a seal design guideline TRH3 that reconciles and unifies the different design approaches. This tutorial is based on TRH3 and includes:

• Types of seals and their composition
• Pre-design investigation
• Appropriate seal selection criteria
• Theory and methods of seal design, with examples

In addition, thin surfacings are being used more frequently used in southern Africa, especially for more heavily trafficked roads than seals can handle. The generic composition of thin layers (less than 40mm) will be discussed as well as aggregate and bituminous binder requirements. Placement and compaction of these mixes will also be covered.

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TUTORIAL T7 : Deflection Analysis using FWD and Backcalculation

/Falling Weight Deflectometers (FWDs) are used for pavement assessment at network level and project level in Pavement Management Systems and for rehabilitation designs. This tutorial will include something for practitioners with little FWD backcalculation experience. Topics will include:

• Review of backcalculation theory and assumptions
• >Linear and non-linear material properties applicable for backcalculat
• Theory of FWD as a pavement deflection measurement tool
• Sources of measurement errors in deflection measurement
• Backcalculation case studies (linear and non-linear)

New software that incorporates automated and manual backcalculation functions, will be used in the demonstrations. The application of backcalculation outputs in rehabilitation designs will also be discussed.

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