Asphalt concrete paver selection guide

With the vigorous development of high-grade highways and urban roads, asphalt paversplay an important role in road construction, and the requirements for asphalt pavers are getting higher and higher. How to choose an Asphalt concrete paver with superior technical performance, strong reliability, good applicability and good economy is particularly important. In the previous article, we learned about the cost-saving performance of the paver. Today, let's take a look at what aspects to start with when purchasing a paver?

Applicability analysis and performance evaluation

(1) Do not blindly pursue the multifunctional paving of the paver

① Paving quality requirements: A good asphalt surface layer has high requirements for the screed plate and automatic leveling system of the paver, and the components are precise. Once the paving base stabilizes the material, the screed plate and feeding system will produce very large wear, which will seriously affect the construction quality of the surface layer.

② Different materials require different ground adhesion of the paver.

③ The load of the paver varies greatly when paving different materials: the load when paving the base material is generally 30% to 40% greater than that when paving the asphalt material. The wear of the machine in each aspect per unit time is much more serious, causing great damage to important mechanical parts such as the engine, ironing plate, and feeding mechanism, reducing the effective service life of the machine, which is not economically cost-effective. In summary, the choice of the paver for municipal road paving should meet the requirements of high paving accuracy, flexibility of use, and economy, and should not be too much pursued for the multi-functional operation of the paver.

(2) Scientific setting of paving width and paving thickness

The selection of the width and thickness of the asphalt paver should weigh many factors and be determined comprehensively, including: the actual needs of the project, the production capacity of the asphalt plant, and the quality requirements of paving. The paving thickness of the paver is generally between 0 and 300 mm, which can fully meet the construction requirements and the configuration tends to be consistent. The larger the thickness, the smaller the pre-compactness, and the construction flatness and compaction cannot be guaranteed. Do not blindly pursue the paving width. It is a misunderstanding to improve the flatness by paving the whole width. The reasons are as follows:

① The paving width is large, and the spiral distributor has to transport the mixture for a long distance. It is inevitable that the coarse and fine materials will be separated, which will affect the road quality and cause early damage.

② When the weight and power of the paver are constant, the larger the width, the smaller the average vibration force on the material layer, the smaller the pre-compacted density, and the increased rolling workload of the roller; due to the low initial compaction density, the flatness is seriously affected when the heavy roller cannot closely follow up the rolling; after the material cools down, the compaction is affected; and small rollers are prone to push and crowd, affecting the flatness.

③ The surface of wide paving looks flat, but the density in the middle and the edge is different, and the lateral flatness cannot be guaranteed after the roller is rolled.

In summary, it is recommended that the paver for municipal roads should be selected as a model below 9 m. The production capacity of the paver and the asphalt concrete mixing plant should be roughly matched. The theoretical production capacity of the paver is Q = hB VρK (1) where h is the thickness of the paving layer; B is the paving width; V is the paving speed; ρ is the paving density; and K is the time utilization rate (0.75-0.95). Take ABG-325 as an example: the paving width is 9 m, the paving layer thickness is 0.1 m, and the paving speed is 5 m/min. Its theoretical production capacity is 550 t/h. The current production capacity of the mixing equipment cannot meet the continuous operation needs of the paver, which increases the number of shutdowns for waiting for materials, which will seriously affect the flatness of the road surface. Adjustments should be made to the paving width, thickness and paving speed of the paver.

(3) Reasonable selection of screed mechanism

The selection of screed plate should be considered from the following three aspects:

① The selection of mechanical widening screed plate and hydraulic telescopic screed plate: Mechanical widening screed plate is often used for wide paving and heavy base load paving due to its good overall rigidity and strong deformation resistance. At present, most pavers use hydraulic quick connection and disassembly mechanism, which has improved the defect of troublesome disassembly and assembly. The width of the pavers is often adjusted, so it is advisable to use hydraulic telescopic models.

② The selection of vibration method: Due to its limited impact force, a single rammer is difficult to achieve an initial compaction degree of more than 90%, which affects the flatness of the road surface and is rarely used alone; the double rammer design and the single rammer plus hydraulic vibration pressure beam design can meet the requirements of pre-compaction degree. When choosing, there is no need to excessively pursue double rammers. The vibration beam can greatly accelerate the fluidity of the mixed material under the screed plate, reduce the wear of the screed plate, and achieve material uniformity and flatness.

③ The selection of heating method: The electric heating patented by Vögele is known for its convenient and uniform heating, but it increases the engine load and is relatively prone to failure. Both types of screed plates have their own advantages and disadvantages.

(4) Selection of automatic leveling system

The leveling system should be selected comprehensively according to the construction road conditions: in narrow areas and small-scale construction, the skid will not collide, which is an ideal choice for municipal road construction; in construction sections with many obstacles, the use of mechanical longitudinal slope sensors to detect steel fibers is also a common and easy choice for municipal road paving; and for large-scale and long-distance paving, multi-probe ultrasonic digital leveling instruments and long-distance laser longitudinal slope sensors can ensure the overall flatness of longer sections.

In summary:

(1) It is unrealistic to require the paver to have multifunctional paving. Professional paving of stable base and professional paving of asphalt mixture are economical and scientific in terms of mechanical maintenance and operation costs.

(2) There is no need to blindly pursue the technical advancement and high-end configuration requirements of the paver. As long as the production capacity, paving width and technical performance meet the use requirements, there is no need to make too high requirements.

(3) The improvement of the functions of the feeding mechanism and the ironing mechanism is the key to ensuring the paving performance; the choice of the leveling system should be adapted to local conditions.

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