Industry News

Featured App: Airfield Steel Calculator

Thursday, 21 August 2014 20:37

ACPA’s Airfield Steel Calculator is a useful resource for engineers, designers, estimators, and others who need a quick means of calculating the amount of embedded steel required for airport pavements.

To use this online resource, the user enters the concrete pavement thickness (using either English or metric figures); the coefficient of AirfieldSteelCalculatorsubgrade/subbase friction; and the distance to the nearest free edge.  Next, the user enters the weight of the concrete and allowable tensile strength to obtain the estimate, which is expressed as either area per unit width or as a percentage of the cross-sectional area.

To view this and other computer and smartphone apps, as well as design tools used for concrete pavements, visit ACPA’s apps library at http://apps.acpa.org/apps.

StreetPave Patch Addresses Minor Issues

Wednesday, 20 August 2014 21:22

ACPA has released a cumulative patch (Patch 8) for its StreetPave design & analysis software for street and local road pavements.   As with all previous patches, this is “recommended,” although not required.

The minor revisions made with this patch include: 

  • Fixed issue where concrete overlay type and various life cycle cost inputs were not sastreetpaveving to project files.
  • Updated reports to remove ‘number of lanes’ field that is no longer used.
  • Updated metric reports to show kilonewton (kN) units for axle loads in the cracking/faulting table.

The patch is available for both Windows 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.   To download the patch, click here to visit the StreetPave landing page.  This same page allows users to download a free, full-featured evaluation version of the software or to acquire a license for the program.

 

FAA Releases Updated Advisory Circular

Wednesday, 20 August 2014 20:18

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently released an updated version of its Advisory Circular (AC) covering  “Standards for Specifying Construction for Airports.”   This is an important document for airport paving contractors, consultants, and owners’ representatives involved in pavement construction or rehabilitation.

The latest version  is FAA AC 150/5370-10G, which supersedes AC 150/5370-10F.   The revised AC includes the agency’s concrete pavement guide specification, P-501.  Following are some of the highlights, including revisions:

  • The new AC includes numerous text edits and revised notes to the engineer.   The general intent of the P-501 specifications is still the same as in the previous version, however.
  • Directions to the Engineer are contained in the “Advisory Circular Engineer Notes,” which are shown between lines of asterisks.  These notes are intended to explain the options available to the Engineer when preparing a specification, and the appropriate changes and additions that must be made. 
  • Where numbers, words, phrases, or sentences are enclosed in brackets [  ], a choice or modification must be made.  Where blank spaces [  ] occur within sentences, the appropriate data must be inserted.  Where entire paragraphs are not applicable, they should be deleted.  Additional sentences may be added if necessary; however, the design engineer should not modify the construction standards in the Advisory Circular.
  • Also, the engineer’s notes should not be included in the final project specifications.  In addition, the design engineer should not change guide specification without the approval of the FAA, a process that requires filing a modification to the standard.  

Click here to download the complete version of  FAA AC 150/5370-10G.   For questions about the advisory circular or related issues, please contact Gary Mitchell, P.E. at 704.766.0851 or gmitchell@acpa.org. 

 

ACPA Education & Training Opportunities

Monday, 18 August 2014 21:07

Check out these upcoming education & training opportunities:

Webinar: Improving Control Joint Quality with Improved Saw Cutting – Wednesday, November 5.

Check back next month for more opportunities for classroom-style and web-based training programs in 2015.

 

 

Webinar: All About Concrete Pavement Joint Design & Construction

Monday, 18 August 2014 17:13

Register Online!

All About Concrete Pavement Joint Design & Construction 

Friday, September 19, 2014 
Noon to 2:30 p.m. (CENTRAL)  |   1 to 3:30 p.m. (EASTERN)  |  10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (PACIFIC) 

Presenter:   
Eric Ferrebee, EIT, Technical Engineer, American Concrete Pavement Association

Overview
Proper design and construction of joints are critical to both the short- and long-term quality.   With that in mind, ACPA presents this comprehensive Meganar™ to provide essential information about the design and layout of joints, as well as recommended best practices in joint construction.

The first part of our program begins with basic details about the reasons to joint concrete pavements, as well as joint-spacing principles.   The Meganar also will cover the basics of saw cutting; proper curing; types of joints; and examples of joint locations.   The program also will cover dowel bar and tie bar considerations; specialty joints; and the basics of sealing or not sealing joints.

Next, the program will cover details for construction, including placing steel; locating and identifying dowel locations; joint forming; saw cutting, cleaning, and recommended practices for final preparation of joints (whether sealed or not sealed).   The course also will include details on proper header construction (formed or sawed), along with other pertinent information.

During and after our web-based program, ACPA will provide details about several web-based resources that can be used during the joint design/layout and construction processes.   ACPA also will provide brief details about a draft pavement dowel bar location & alignment specification.  (This topic will also be covered in greater depth later this year.)

PDH Credits
The American Concrete Pavement Association will award 2.5 professional development hours (PDH’s) to those wishing to complete an optional “evidence of learning exam” following the webinar.   Participants interested in earning PDH’s are responsible for determining the applicability of any training programs toward licensing requirements in their respective state/province.   ACPA strongly recommends checking these requirements in advance of taking this course.

Registration Rates
To register online for this event, please follow this link:  http://www.acpa.org/upcoming-webinars-meganars-and-workshops.   Please select either the “individual” or “group” registration option.

 Government Member Non Member 
HoursIndividualGroupIndividualGroupIndividualGroup
2.530755012580200

 

Important:   Government employees must contact ACPA directly to receive the government discount.   Please contact ACPA: 

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