Lack of Data Retards Road Progress
Page 60
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THAT rule-of-thumb methods still I persist in the field of road construction, is the inference gained from a perusal of the annual report of the Road Research Board for the year ended March 31 last, which was published this week. Dr. R. E. Stradling, director of research, in his survey of the present position regarding materials and methods of construction, states that, although there has been a rapid advance in the methods adopted, absence of scientific knowledge still leads to the wasteful expedient of hit or miss procedure.
It is the aim of the Road Research Board to eliminate the need for working by trial and error, and the results of its experiments have revealed important directions in which progress can be made. Road failures, in many instances, have been shown to be due to the imposition on existing roads of loads far in excess of those for which they were designed. The failure of the foundations has been..the natural result.
The foundation is thus a vital factor in the life of the road, and its ability to withstand heavy wear depends on the supporting power of the subsoil. Knowledge of the properties of the subsoil is thus essential, states the report, and, before the best method of treating an existing road can be devised, careful investigations must he made. Tests are described which have been designed to enable the characteristics of soils to be ascertained, also methods whereby cores of undisturbed mateal chn be obtained from any site.
Practical methods for studying and measuring the shape of road aggregates have been obtained by the Laboratory, whilst useful information has been gleaned from a close investigation into the varying characteristics of concrete.
A34 Methods of mixing have received particular attention.
A description of the wide variety of testing apparatus in use by the Laboratory is included in the report, and the experiments in progress are fully de scribed. Space precludes reference to the many interesting machines and their uses, but these were fully dealt with in an article on the work of the Laboratory published in The Commercial Motor dated March 26 last.
The report is published by H.M. Stationery Office, and is priced at 2s. 6d.