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• Kent-Stein Foundation donates to Phase II of ETRC
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• Association's gift upgrades asphalt lab

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Association's gift upgrades asphalt lab

Ninety-six percent of all roads in the U.S. are surfaced with asphalt. And the total revamping of asphalt technology, known as Superpave, prompted Iowa State to upgrade its asphalt teaching and research lab.

ISU's civil engineering program and the Asphalt Paving Association of Iowa (APAI) teamed together to purchase high-tech research and testing equipment such as a gyratory compactor, bending beam rheometer, direct shear rheometer, pressure aging vessel, rolling thin film oven, NCAT ignition furnace, direct tension tester, and a viscometer.

Asphalt application has been the same since WWII, said CCE Assistant Professor Brian Coree. In the old system, engineers used the same mix for an Iowa road as for a highway in New Mexico. With Superpave, New Mexico and Iowa would have entirely different mixes appropriate to their environmental and traffic conditions, but retain the same long-lasting performance.

"Asphalt roads in the past had a typical lifetime of 18 to 20 years," said Renee White, technical representative with APAI. "New Superpaved roads will have five to 10 more years of life."

She said Superpave pilot projects are taking place all over the U.S., and about five states pave 100 percent of their asphalt road projects with the new Superpave technology. "Students need to be armed with this new asphalt technology," said White. "We're really excited about this lab and how it will provide students with more knowledge and more options in the work force."