Paving a cement-treated base

Henan | Xuchang

In a megacity like Xuchang in Henan province, the infrastructure has to be designed for high efficiency. One project which contributes to this is the expansion of National Highway 107 in greater Xuchang, which involved constructing new road surfaces. The motorway, with a total width of up to 33.2m, is to help cope with the high traffic volumes in future. To achieve high and lasting quality along this stretch of road, the best equipment was used at every step, even to place the cement-treated base: the contractor, Tecfure Group working on behalf of the Xuchang Municipal Highway Bureau Construction Unit, chose to deploy two robust and reliable VÖGELE SUPER 1880 L tracked pavers. These multifunctional pavers for CTB and asphalt are very successful in China. This large-scale job site in Xuchang illustrates why that is:

“We really had a tight schedule on this job,” said Jia Chaoju, deputy general manager of the Xuchang Municipal Highway Bureau Construction Unit. “We had to pave the cement-treated base course over a 45km section in just 30 days. There was no question that everything had to work like clockwork on a job like this if we wanted to successfully reach our goal for this part of the overall project. Together with the Tecfure Group, we found a way to achieve our objective.” The Xuchang Municipal Highway Bureau Construction Unit didn’t leave anything to chance, and that includes job-site logistics: A total of 2 mixing plants and 16 lorries were used to supply the 2 SUPER 1880 L pavers with mix. But the VÖGELE pavers also made a key contribution to the achievement. “On this job site, we covered the entire length of the section with only 2 pavers. Such a feat is only possible when the equipment functions flawlessly. And considering the nature of cement-treated base, this is something you can't take for granted.”

The SUPER 1880 L meets all the prerequisites for high-quality CTB paving. The Heavy-Duty kit, with its sound design and proven performance, makes the leading VÖGELE equipment resistant, even to large-grain-size gravel; the CTB material in Xuchang had a grain size of up to 40mm. In addition to the paver, VÖGELE also designed the special screed to be highly robust. The SB 300 HDT Fixed-Width Screed – where "HD" stands for “Heavy-Duty” Kit and "T" for “tamper” – achieves an extremely high degree of density, even when paving CTB in thick layers, thanks to the special geometry of the tamper with its particularly flat planing angle.

This improves compaction as well as evenness when processing coarse material. With this machine technology, the paving teams were perfectly equipped to successfully complete construction work on National Highway 107. The pavers worked in echelon, i.e. with 2 SUPER 1880 L pavers operating alongside one another in a slightly staggered formation.

When paving abrasive materials like CTB, a lot of contractors and users shy away from using premium machinery. Consequently, the cement-treated gravel frequently is spread by excavators, wheeled loaders or graders. But pavers have an advantage over these machines because they work continuously and therefore offer major cost-cutting potential. Particularly in China, where countless new roads are being built, it is critical for machine fleets to be equipped to meet the demands of CTB paving. And the multifunctional SUPER 1880 L paver delivers here, without compromising on the range of applications.

This tracked paver can just as effectively pave hot asphalt. To do so, the machine combines the best of two worlds: in addition to the Heavy-Duty kit and the screed in the HDT version, this Universal Class paver also incorporates the innovative highlights of its “big brother”, the SUPER 1880-3 L, which sets the standard for asphalt paving in China. Both VÖGELE Universal Class pavers have a 158kW diesel engine, electronically controlled separate hydraulic drives provided for each crawler track, an extra-long material hopper and a maximum laydown rate of 1,000t/h.