Until today, asphalt compaction hasn’t followed a defined procedure. The material is well specified in the laboratory and fits well into the project. However, the compaction process is quite difficult. The operators have the information available on how to use their rollers. Parameters like high amplitude, low amplitude, static or dynamic mode oscillation or automatic compaction, as well as the required number of passes and the temperature range for compaction are known. But how does the reality look like? After the first compaction pass, the operator can already get lost because he is not able to find and define the locations where the requirements for compaction are fulfilled.
With the use of the MCA3000, this situation has completely changed. The system monitors all major compaction parameters, records them and delivers the data also to the display for the operator’s information.
After having seen the MCA3000 on the show and a first test trial in November 2016, Socogetra decided to run the first project with the system and bought 6 MCA3000-Fleets.
Having the major applications for the roller-fleet in mind, Socogetra installed the systems on:

2x BOMAG BW174 AD Tandem Vibration rollers with Asphalt Manager

2xHAMM HW90 Static Three-Wheelers 

 2x AMMANN AP240 Pneumatic Tired Rollers

The first mission for the system was the compaction of SMA on the N4 starting from Malmaison towards Bastonge.
Length: 9,000m
Width: 7m
Thickness: 3 cm
Compactors: 2X BW174 AD plus 2x HW90
Compaction: Each roller did 2 static passes plus one pass in Oscillation-mode with BOMAG

Paving crew at start position, waiting for asphalt. All rollers are equipped with MCA fleet and grouped to one team. In this case, all rollers can share the information from their own machine with those from their colleagues.

 Asphalt paving with MOBA BIG-Ski, a standard on main roads in Belgium

The roller fleet in operation. Pre-compaction with Static rollers. Final compaction with Oscillation rollers.

 
During the compaction process, the operator has the full information regarding the work in progress. Rolling speed, temperature, frequency, amplitude and compaction values are indicated on the info bar. On the left of the machine, all static passes made by the fleet are shown. Whereas the yellow symbol stands for the own machine and the white one for the machine of the group member. Easy to see on the left, the passes carried out in dynamic mode. The separation of static and dynamic passes allow the clear differentiation between the coverage in both modes.

 
By means of a touch on the screen, you can check the status of the GNSS signal and the orientation of the roller without interruption of data collection and mapping visualization.

 
After the work has been done, the data gets stored onto the USB-stick for reporting and post-processing.

With the stored data, a quick evaluation and job-report can be done with Windows Explorer. All important parameters will be shown as a PDF file, just minutes after the job has finished.

 
 
For a more thorough evaluation of the compaction, the data can be exported to the MCA office tool. With this tool the data can be shown on a map. A scalable grid allows for checking data in grids of 25 by 25 cm for instance. A pull-down menu allows for checking different parameters like IC-values, frequency, temperature etc. separately. Finally, with the help of the tool MCA data can be converted into a Veda compatible format and exported into for further evaluations.

 
All compaction data on the map

 
Data zoomed in for analyses. The grid, in this case, is 25x25cm and all passes are shown.

The complete course was paved in 5 days and with the support of the MCA3000, the compaction process was monitored over the full project. After a short introduction, the drivers have been able to use it without any further help for the full satisfaction of the contractor. The job was documented a 100%.
Result: the well- organized roller fleet created a homogeneous compacted layer with optimized compaction passes, increased compaction efficiency, improved workflow and less downtime.

 Improved efficiency – reduced cost – increased profit!!! 

 MCA3000