Continued reading

Materials Reference Library

SHRP Asphalt Research Program

The Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) was established as a product-oriented research and development program. The program's focus was on the development of performance-based specifications and associated test methods and devices. In particular, the objective of SHRP's Asphalt Research Program was:

“To improve pavement performance through a research program that will provide increased understanding of the chemical and physical properties of asphalt cements and asphalt concretes. The research results would be used to develop specifications... [and] tests… needed to achieve and control the pavement performance

The Materials Reference Library (MRL) was established to house the asphalt cement and aggregate used in the research studies conducted under SHRP. The asphalt binders selected for inclusion in the project represented a wide range of field performance histories, crude oil sources, refinery practices, and physical/chemical properties. As a result, 32 different types of asphalt cement were sampled from sources across the U.S. Similarly, aggregate was collected and stored from 11 sources throughout the country. The selected aggregates exhibited drastically different chemical, physical, geologic, and petrographic properties. Samples of both asphalt cement and aggregate are still available upon request from the MRL.

The following links provide additional information regarding the SHRP Asphalt Research Program:

http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/shrp/SHRP-A-311.pdf

http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/shrp/SHRP-90-007.pdf

The Long Term Pavement Performance Program was also established under SHRP as a comprehensive 20-year study of in-service pavements. Under this program over 2,400 asphalt and Portland cement concrete pavement test sections across the U.S. and Canada have been rigorously monitored.Pavement materials (cores and uncompacted mixtures) have been sampled from many of these test sections and are currently stored at the MRL. In fact, a significant re-sampling effort was recently completed on the Specific Pavement Study (SPS) projects to ensure sufficient material was available to the pavement community.

In addition to materials, the MRL houses film and distress maps produced during the collection and interpretation of automated surface distress data collection on LTPP sites.

The LTPP website can be found at: www.fhwa.dot.gov/PAVEMENT/ltpp

WesTrack

WesTrack was constructed as an experimental road test facility to perform large-scale accelerated field testing of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) as part of an FHWA research study. The project objectives were twofold: to further the development of performance-related specifications (PRS) for HMA construction by assessing the impact of variations in materials/construction properties on pavement performance; and to field verify the SHRP SUPERPAVE™ Level III mixture design process. The facility consisted of a 1.8 mile oval track with 26 test sections and was located in Nevada. Asphalt cement, aggregate (stockpiles and blends), uncompacted mixtures, cores, and slabs sampled from WesTrack at various stages of loading are available at the MRL. Click here to view the available inventory.

Additional information regarding WesTrack can be found at: www.westrack.com

Asphalt Research Consortium

The Asphalt Research Consortium (ARC), under a cooperative agreement with FHWA, is in the process of constructing recycled asphalt pavements (RAP) and warm mix asphalt (WMA) test sections. Materials will be sampled from both projects and stored at the MRL. An inventory will be developed and available soon.

Complete details on all of the ARC activities can be found at: www.arc.unr.edu

Other Projects

The MRL houses a collection of materials from a variety of other FHWA sponsored projects.
VIEW CURRENT INVENTORY>>.

VIEW CURRENT INVENTORY>>

LTPP

Material Reference Library Contractor - Nichols Consulting Engineers - 1885 S. Arlington Ave., Suite 111 - Reno, NV 89509 (775) 329-4955
Site designed and maintained by NCE - Contact webmaster@nce.reno.nv.us

VIEW CURRENT INVENTORY>>

LTPP
Twenty
Years