German road laying equipment manufacturer Vöegle has completed the track for the “Zaventem Proving Ground” at Toyota Motor Europe’s R&D facility in Belgium.
A Super 1800-2 from Vöegle has completed the circuit’s slalom courses, braking test course, ice course and bump course.
Using a AB 500-2 Extending Screed a total area of 51,500m² had to be laid by the machine.
In a preparatory phase, disused buildings on the site were demolished and land was filled up and levelled. Four layers were then placed in total after stabilizing the soil with cement: a 30cm crushed-stone layer containing portions of recycled material was planned for the sub-base. This was followed by an 8cm base of AC 32 T S and AC 22 T S asphaltic concrete and a 4cm binder course of AC 16 B S asphaltic concrete.
The surface course, also 4cm thick, was made of AC 11 D S asphaltic concrete. Numerous detailed tests had been carried out before starting the job in order to find out the ideal mix compositions. The aggregate used for the mix came from different quarries in order to meet the special requirements of the job.
The Super 1800-2 had to maintain a minimum pave speed of 3.5m/min as stopping during the paving process was out of the question to ensure the track met with Toyota’s specifications.
“The machine had to be just right,” affirmed project manager Felix Brühl for Strabag AG.
According to Vöegle, the Super 1800-2 was selected for its laydown rate of 700 tonnes/h for paving the long stretches of track and its compact design for the tight bends.
Since the proving ground was built in several relatively short sections, the paver worked alone despite the huge overall area.
“Most of the time the pave width selected was 5m, although sometimes the screed was extended to 6m,” reported Brühl. “All the main tracks were paved without bolt-on extensions.”
