Difficult Russian question: Roads …
Not even traffic jams - namely, roads - these routes of "communications" for thousands and thousands of kilometers across Russia.
The intensity of road traffic in Russia is increasing like an avalanche, more and more traffic is carried out by heavy vehicles. All this exerts an exorbitant load on road surfaces and leads to a rapid failure of old highways and transport facilities. According to the Ministry of Transport, at least 60% of roads need urgent repairs today. The need for new interregional routes, backup routes, for the development of transcontinental highways with bridges, junctions, tunnels and the arrangement of roadside zones is even more acute.
It turns out that there is nowhere without good roads - it is necessary to build, and build according to the rules of the 21st century: using efficient technologies and with modern materials.
Foreign engineers and builders already 40 years ago found answers to many questions of interest to road workers and are ready to share their experience. Just in order to acquaint Russian experts in the field of road construction - representatives of RosDorNII, Dorservice, Stroyproekt Institute and AzProektStroy - with effective technologies in October 2012 by the Oslo Road Administration (Statens vegvesen) and the KNAUF Penoplast company an informational tour was organized to Norway, to the city of Oslo.
It is no coincidence that Oslo attracted the attention of specialists. The historical center of the capital, once densely built up with factories and plants, is currently being actively reconstructed, turning into a territory with recreational areas, residential buildings and new highways. The close location of groundwater and the abundance of uneven rock at the base of the site required an extraordinary design solution: the implementation of a continuous pile field with a combination of screw steel and concrete driven piles, united by a common monolithic reinforced concrete slab.
When constructing the embankment and the new route, over the monolithic top of the piles, which was the base of the roadbed, experts suggested laying expanded polystyrene, a material traditional for construction practice in Norway. In Russia, in such cases, bulk soils are used.
At the base of the two main highways of the new district, blocks of expanded polystyrene with dimensions of 2.5 × 1.2 × 0.5 m were laid. The road "pie" is:
- 2-4 layers of expanded polystyrene;
- monolithic slabs with a thickness of about 130 mm, which distribute the load;
- lightweight, porous aggregate mixed with soil to create a fertile layer for planting;
- a layer of aggregate without soil;
- gravel backfill;
- finishing asphalt concrete pavement.
It is interesting that the fertile layer for further planting of plants is covered over the entire area of the roadside, and not only where it is supposed to plant trees or arrange flower beds, since a homogeneous surface facilitates the operation and quality control of the road.
Johanna Solheim, International Road Authority Adviser for Norway, said that the choice of expanded polystyrene is based on the fact that this material, with its high compressive strength, does not create additional stress on the base. In addition, expanded polystyrene reduces the risk of soil freezing and their subsequent swelling.
This technology, new for Russia, aroused the greatest interest among the participants of the trip, since such complex soils are very common in Russia, but the use of expanded polystyrene in road construction is extremely rare due to inertia and lack of customer awareness. For example, Evgeny Madras, Chief Engineer of State Enterprise Dorservice, said that during the construction of an interchange in St. Petersburg, the use of expanded polystyrene blocks was considered as an option. However, despite the expected economic benefit of 20% of the project cost, the preference was given to the traditional Russian technology.
Viktor Serbin, Deputy Director of RosDorNII, explained how this barrier should be overcome: “The first step to applying such innovative solutions is to change the mind of the customer. Acquaintance with the implementation of such projects, the opportunity to visit the construction site, receive first-hand information and make sure that the material is trusted by European colleagues are very important; all this should contribute to our dialogue with the state, which, of course, feels the need to improve construction technologies. I am sure that the trip organized by the KNAUF Penoplast company will become a catalyst for this process."
A month earlier, in St. Petersburg, within the framework of the V Forum of Urban Planning, Architecture and Design A. City and the 16th International Exhibition "Baltic Construction Week" with the support of KNAUF Industries, an international conference "Architecture and Movement: City, Transport, Environment" was held.
The conference presented a new product based on expanded polystyrene - Knauf Geofom, developed specifically for the construction and repair of roads by specialists of the company "Knauf Penoplast" (Russian representative office of the international group KNAUF Industries).
Blocks made of dense polystyrene foam have been used for decades in road construction throughout Europe, outperforming other "light" materials in terms of basic indicators - for example, polystyrene is much lighter and has less water absorption and greater frost resistance than such material as foam concrete.
Expanded polystyrene from which Knauf Geof is made does not lend itself to biological effects. Its chemical composition does not change with temperature. A study by the Netherlands Fire Safety Center and a study on DIN 53 436 revealed that the smoke that comes from expanded polystyrene when burning is less harmful than smoke from burning other organic materials, such as spruce, spruce fillers or expanded cork.
This is a very light building material (from 15 to 24 kg / m3), so its installation is carried out without the use of expensive and complex equipment, which saves time and resources. Geofom is easy to use - blocks are easily cut right on the construction site using a saw, cut-off or special machine.
The possibility of 100% reuse makes it a new generation material that not only meets the requirements for efficiency, but also minimizes the impact on the environment: it allows you to reduce gas emissions into the atmosphere, does not pollute the soil, does not pose a health hazard.
According to experts, Knauf Geofom allows you to reduce construction costs, increase the durability of roads, simplify technologies and shorten the construction time for new routes. If these blocks are used, construction work can be carried out in unfavorable weather conditions, including in winter, which is especially important for Russia.
The main areas of application of Knauf Geofom blocks are road and railroad embankments, approaches to bridge abutments, embankment broadening, embankments in areas of possible landslide formation, repair of landslide embankments, strengthening railway embankments and retaining walls. In some cases, adding Geofom under the concrete slab limits the propagation of vibration. This quality is especially useful in the construction of tram lines located at a distance of less than 7 m from residential buildings.
Replacing part of the existing embankment with Knauf Geofom blocks is a reliable and effective solution to reduce compaction of embankments on compressible soils, such as: mountain roads, engineering structures on piles, transformation of rocky underlying rock into highly compressible soil. Typically, along with slope stabilization measures, the use of blocks allows for easier repair of roads damaged by ground movement. It is also suitable for the construction of new embankments on unstable slopes.
The story about the new road material for Russia aroused great interest. Reputable and well-known specialists in urban planning took part in the discussion of the future of transport systems and the presentation of Knauf Geofom: Vukan Vuchik (USA, professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania), Panu Lehtovuori (Finland, urbanist, professor of the Institute of Architecture in Otaniemi, co-founder of LivadyArchitects), Nikita Yavein (head of the St. Petersburg bureau "Studio 44"), Yuri Mityurev (first deputy chairman of the Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture, Chief Architect of St. Petersburg), Sergei Elizarov (General Director of the State Unitary Enterprise MO "NIIPI Urban Planning") and Alexander Baranov (specialist in transport development of territories "Urban planning laboratories").
For domestic builders and customers, it is important that Geofom has already passed a successful test at many sites throughout Europe for 40 years, for example: when constructing a road embankment in Neuchâtel (Switzerland), when laying tram lines in Grenoble and Nantes (France) and on several roads in France.
The E18 highway under construction (Ireland-Russia) and the reconstruction of the Lioran tunnel in France are striking examples of the effective use of this material in road construction.
The Lioran Tunnel was opened back in 1843 and is the oldest road tunnel in France. Stretching for 1,515 meters, it connected the northern, southern, western and eastern road directions. Over the long years of operation of the tunnel, accidents have happened more than once. Most of the accidents were caused by the lack of two-way traffic in the tunnel, which, in the event of an emergency evacuation, significantly complicated the work of the security services. This potential danger led to the decision to modernize it.
Several technical proposals were considered and, as a result, it was decided to build a new tunnel, connecting the old one with four galleries, which serve as sidings. Initially, it was planned to use stone blocks in the construction of embankments, but their large weight and laborious installation would create significant problems.
An innovation in the reconstruction of this complex road infrastructure facility was the construction of embankments up to 24 meters high using expanded polystyrene blocks, while embankments not exceeding eight meters are usually erected for this type of construction work. The construction of expanded polystyrene embankments lightened the upper part of the ventilation structure and made it possible to create a cushion and protection for the entire roof area. To complete the work, the slope was lined with stone slabs, which helped to organically fit this modern engineering structure into the mountain landscape.
The KNAUF Penoplast company produces KNAUF Geofom blocks of two basic sizes: 2500x1200x500mm for Moscow and 3000x1200x600mm for St. Petersburg, and the company's specialists have developed standard block laying schemes for solving various construction problems, in particular for embankments up to 16 meters high and more.
The company "KNAUF Penoplast" pays special attention to working conditions with dealers, manufacturers of building structures, system holders, architects, design organizations and construction and installation organizations. The necessary documents, certificates, test reports and standards of the organization with ready-made solutions are provided. Provides technical support for the application of KNAUF Therm products® in various systems.
Make the construction of Russian roads “easier” with Geofom!
