In a way, the world of the concrete road and motorway construction is slowly forward. It takes time for the job to be done properly. In other ways, the construction of the transport infrastructure of this country has drastically accelerated. One could say that the continued introduction of the technology has made it possible for the contractors of the concrete road and the motorway construction industry.
Although it is less a trend and a traffic jam, there is a lot of work, but not enough people to do everything. Through material price fluctuations, tariffs and the affected capacity work pool, the number of places have increased. There is still a lot of construction work and it doesn't seem to slow down. The work is there – it is the way this work is done.
“One of the trends we see is how our contractors become more efficient – how to do the jobs faster,” says Kevin Garcia, General Manager – Civil Specialty Solutions at Trimble. “Sometimes this means that buying the latest and best machines with integrated efficiency, higher performance and easier to use. In other cases, technology is used. Every chance gives the possibility to improve efficiency and productivity, the industry will find it.”
Saitless construction has been on the construction site for some time. The string line, the management of the trucks and the navigation of the safety factors in the rear -view mirror of concrete plasters for a while.
With rare exceptions, it is either a string or digital in concrete plasters. While the adoption may have been (anecdotic) in the range of 25 to 30 percent 10 years ago, it is good north of 50 percent. It is rare, says Garcia, to see a concrete highway paving job where you do not use technological technology.
This assumption will probably increase.
Enabling digital technology can offer better control over planning and project management when working. Access to the data required in the returns, have the concrete required for the order, a recommended paving rate and a better size of the concrete stamp capacity. The use of e-ticketing has also accelerated from the Covid pandemic and offers the contractors a digital way of the system, time, delivery rates, etc.
“The latest trend we see is still pretty early, but now there are success moves in the way [contractors] Enter the data to do the jobs, ”says Garcia.
The traditional topographical survey with someone standing on the side of the road and measuring points is time -consuming, not to mention the associated security risks. The data collected could be for miles and several lanes could be wide. Instead, mobile mapping units in the industry have gained great popularity. Claims are able to map during the live traffic and not to set a preserved next to the live traffic. For comparison, 8 hours can take in 15 minutes until half a street is examined one and a half miles.
This technology was developed to significantly shorten the time for the recording of the information, to improve security, but also to enable many data points for other stakeholders in the project.
Trimble
Garcia explains: “Usually the contractor needs only one surface and some location control if you think about machine control to know where you are. You can then go out and execute. You can build the street.
With some mobile mapping units, however, you can collect signage, overhead lines, fire hydrants and more. The 360 camera and the Lidar package are looking for everywhere. “
Often, the contractors deal more than anything with “the vertical”: where the road has to be, how thick the concrete has to be paved, the crosshang etc. are more than just recorded that data for the owner or the engineer who has designed the project can be valuable and potential conflicts and conflicts can meet in construction conflicts. The use of this digital twin throughout the project can be critical.
This data can also be queried at a later point in time if metadata is required: data, the contractors involved, the mixing design, the weather conditions, the pavement depth, etc. that historical data can provide a better picture of which this costs for and the lifespan of the constructed financial value will be under normal application cases.
The challenge for the industry is to collect data about the physical world – not just the road surface, but everything. While everyone can get into a vehicle that is a mobile mapper on it, record and drive, but what is recorded will be “relative accuracy”. What is recorded is the building facade, the curb and barrier wall, the surface and the stripes, but Garcia says how exactly the data is collected when you refer to a physical point or a stroke on the ground.
As with any measurement job, checks must be carried out. In short, don't measure with a broken ruler.
Trimble
For this purpose, various instruments are available to the contractors.
- Terrestrical scanning – the terrestrial scanner is adjusted to a tripod to collect (or to record) a section and then move the road down.
- Mobile Mapping – The mobile mapper is physically mounted on a vehicle and collects “look” directly down. Depending on the unit, it can be 12 feet wide or a single -lane track. Other models can record several lanes at the same time.
- Depending on the quality of the devices, another type of mobile card systems uses a 360 camera and can record everything when driving on the middle lane of a three-lane motorway both the left and right lanes, the overhead lines.
Regardless of this, the scan needs to need additional control points (known points at which the system is anchored) to let the paving stones run through the job exactly. Not only is the survey, the slope and the grade of the pavement of the patch, but also helps to control the machine within millimeters of accuracy.
Trimble
CAD & Modelle position
If Mobile Mapper has taken the front seat in front when changing a 10-hour process of the data dot collection to 10 minutes (an exaggeration), the fashion position and the use of this data are to the CAD system. There must be a digital technology to do this footwork. Something must inform contractors where the tip of the road surface will be. Model optimization and AI are used here to help in this regard.
“When I know what my crosshang, my thickness and my smoothness has to be, the computer will be better and better able to give a first pass,” says Garcia. Then optimize the designer and/or the operator only small things instead of the entire project.
While it has not yet been heavily adopted in the freeway, some advanced contractors use an extended reality view of the website with a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet.
Security
One of the biggest effects of mapping technologies in road and highway construction had an impact on security.
If an intergovernmental interstate is interviewed, one can close a lane, surround the surveyor with security pins and redirect traffic. While it is still next to the living traffic, it is a reality – there will always be vehicles, even at night. Instead, there are two advantages with mobile mapping technologies. First, you don't put a mistake out there. Second, you do not close a lane, costs the time, costs money and disturbs the general public.
Instead, the surveyor can be in a safer environment that drives with the flow of traffic without disturbing the public.
Trimble
Miles
Consider the future of the mapping of technology in concrete plasters for technologies in consumer vehicles. Where everything was done manually: the accelerator pedal, the brakes, the indicator, the headlights. After a while we had a speed control and then the adaptive speed control. Then, lane instructions. And automatic high and even automatic headlights. Today there are crash warnings and automated driver aid systems, etc., while the construction industry is behind the consumer world, it is fair to say that it has the same expectations.
Modern concrete paving stones already have integrated systems to control steering, grades and increases. “What we cannot control is when the vibrators have to be in and off. How is the water spray or water that has to look? Is the texture correct?
If the digital twin is created with the metadata, a lot of this burden is likely to be trained. This information is also coupled with additional vital data from the system, the mixture, the temperature, the water content, the schedule of the schedule, the trip of the truck, the paving stones on this day and more. Suppose a street begins years after the placement, and the engineers find that the mixture was switched off a bit with the mixture on that day. Having this data can very well offer the opportunity to find out where this mix was otherwise delivered to check and consider repairs.
“There are a lot of things that happen to an engineering day, so we are dependent on technology to solve this problem. I think you will see AI and design optimization will be a big deal in the future,” says Garcia.