On Thursday July 14th, G3 Quality (G3) hosted the CalAPA Asphalt Pavement 101 Training Classwith Roger Smith. This 4.5-hour training featured an intense teaching of the basics in asphalt technology. The Class Trainer, Roger Smith, a former senior engineer with the Asphalt Institute, and Caltrans TransLab is now a consultant specializing in asphalt pavement materials and led the class through the basics of asphalt pavement including; pavement structure and terminologies, asphalt binders, aggregates, asphalt mixes, plants and mix delivery, paving and rolling, and acceptance specs and testing. Attendees of the event included industry representatives from; Scott Equipment, City of Lake Forest, Manhole Adjusting Inc., RMA Group, BSK Associates, RJ Noble, Hazard Construction, County of San Bernardino, and Alliance Geosynthetics.
Following the training, attendees were invited to a lunch and learn tour of G3’s laboratory specifically demonstrating and discussing the test procedures and processes that were taught by Roger in the class. G3 Internal Quality Manager Matt Ramos, and President Chris Gerber led the group through the G3 lab showcasing a variety of our equipment and services that are required by Caltrans and many local agencies to determine the Quality and performance of hot mix asphalt pavements. The Hamburg Wheel tracking device was demonstrated, which measures the rutting and moisture susceptibility of a HMA or RHMA mixtures. The test is performed by rolling a steel wheel, at an applied load rate of 158 lbs, across the surface of laboratory prepared specimens immersed in a specified temperature water bath for 25,000 cycles. Samples of good and bad results were presented to the group, for discussion of potential causes and solutions. The group also received a demonstration of a G3 Quality Superpave mix design being prepared, the laboratory specimen compaction process using a Gyratory Compactor, and a variety of tests utilized in the analysis of aggregates, binder and hot mix asphalt testing procedures. The tour finished up with a presentation of the Inertial Profile truck mounted system from Nick Schaefer of Surface Systems & Instruments (SSI). Nick walked the group through all the components of this new high speed profiling system; laser, accelerometer, and the SSI operating system. Nick also facilitated a conversation of the smoothness spec in California opening a lively discussion related to specification compliance, paving process, milling and overall evaluation of exisiting pavement smoothness. G3 Quality and SSI partner together with all its clients to properly asses existing pavement smoothness, develop pre-pave grinding plans and partner with our clients to articulately present the information to Caltrans for mutual solutions.
We would like to thank Tony Grasso and CalAPA for the opportunity to host the group, and we look forward to hosting more seminars and events in the future. If you are interested in having G3 host an event for your group or interested in the services we provide, please contact G3 Marketing Director Bart Reitano at 562/321-5569 or breitano@g3quality.com
