This paper is a presentation of the construction of a trial 300m-stretch of highway for heavy vehicles with high performance "HPAP" porous concrete in Villamayor in Salamanca, Spain. This new structural typology is aimed at making construction concepts and procedures for traditional concrete surfaces more flexible; improving surface characteristics and safety significantly; reducing costs to make flexible surfaces more competitive; and especially, so that businesses involved in paving highways with chipboard will be able to use both their manpower and machinery to build both flexible and rigid with the same quality guarantees. High performance" HPAP" porous concrete is made with materials similar to those used in conventional concrete but to different granulometric specifications and compositions. Optimal dosage is reached with a method established by the "Equipo de Investigacion Pavimentos R1 gidos del IET" (IET research group on rigid pavements). It is manufactured in factories that make conventional concrete and which have a kneading room, is transported in tub-like trucks and can be applied with a spray bar, and, unlike flexible surfaces, it does now require any post compacting. The percentage of interconnected cavities exceeds 15%, the flexible strength resistance is no lower than 40 kp/cm2 (at 28 days) and the rolling noise threshold is below 78 db. After almost three years of use and more than 4,000,000 13-ton axes supported, the behaviour of the surface can be qualified as excellent. (A)
Abstract