Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/692436
EquipmentWorld.com | June 2016 73 With equipment maintenance software that will turn a chaotic shop into an effi cient operation. Take control of your shop... § Preventative maintenance scheduling & alerting § Work order & time card management § Mechanic planning & scheduling tools § Parts inventory control & analysis § Fuel & fl uid tracking § Skills & certifi cation management § Low risk—Software comes with a 12-month money back guarantee! 1-800-683-3196 | www.HCSS.com Untitled-25 1 12/17/14 8:54 AM kit utilizes a rigid box construc- tion that creates a paving kit that is more than 50 percent stiffer than a traditional hanger and pan style with no deflection during paving," says Mike Rodriguez, CMI regional business manager. Real-time smoothness In the past few years, research under the second Strategic High- way Research Program (SHRP2) has examined how to determine the smoothness of concrete pavements in real time by analyzing the profile of the pavement while it is still wet and in plastic phase. Contractors can use instantaneous feedback to make adjustments as needed to the wet concrete, rather than having go back later and grind down the pavement to meet smoothness specifications. Two prominent pieces of equip- ment used in the testing included the GOMACO Smoothness Indica- tor (GSI) and the Ames Engineer- ing Real Time Profiler (RTP). The GSI's two sonic sensors and one slope sensor can be attached to paving equipment or attached to a standalone machine, and measure international roughness index (IRI) and profile index (PI). It was tested in Arkansas and Michigan. The RTP mounts directly on the paver and uses a laser to determine IRI and PI, and has a bump/localized roughness detection system. It was tested in Texas, Michigan and New York According to the SHRP2 report, researchers found both pieces of equipment were able to detect real- time smoothness and thus make ad- justments affecting ride quality and the final profile of the pavement. As a result, the report recommends contractors use the add-ons for pro- cess monitoring and improvement, making use of the data collected to adjust paving speed, vibrator frequency, the sensitivity of paver elevation controls and the frequen- cy of the oscillating correcting beam on pavers. Future developments Controls will continue to be a focus of slipform paver design and operation to create smooth pavements in the near future, manufactures say, along with advances in concrete mixes and specifications. "Even though stringless controls have been around a long time, they are still in their infancy when it comes to solving age-old chal- lenges inherent to stringline being set in cords," Lipari says. "This, in conjunction with higher quality concrete being used in concrete paving, is going to be the driver that make concrete pavements smoother than ever." "Roadbuilding specs are con- tinually being adjusted to closer tolerances and tighter specifica- tions, which pushes us to con- tinually refine our products," says Peters. "We are constantly trying to overcome the jobsite challeng- es our customers face."