The Asphalt Airfield Video Series showcases content from the Asphalt Paving Handbook to help practitioners designing, producing, and constructing airfields for the FAA.
Common QA/QC Lab Tests
Ensuring airport pavements meet the highest standards is critical, and quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) lab tests play a key role. This video explores common ASTM lab tests like ASTM D2041, D2726, D6307, D2172, and D5444, which measure asphalt density, binder content, and aggregate gradation. It also discuss the tools used in these tests, including Marshall hammers and gyratory compactors, and how control charts help contractors monitor material quality during construction.
Echelon Paving
Echelon paving reduces longitudinal joints, which are prone to early deterioration, by using two or more paving trains working side by side. This method ensures a seamless bond between mats, resulting in uniform density and better long-term performance. This video covers the benefits, challenges, and key techniques for echelon paving.
Loadout from the Plant to the Truck
Learn how to properly load haul vehicles to avoid mixture segregation, ensuring consistent physical and thermal properties of the mix. This video covers essential steps, including truck bed inspection, release agent application, and proper loading techniques to maintain material quality during transport.
Reporting, Ticketing and Tracking
Accurate documentation is crucial for construction projects. This video highlights the three key reports—plant reports, field reports, and daily diaries—needed to ensure quality and track progress. Learn how to record essential details like asphalt mix temperature, compaction data, weather conditions, and more. We also explore the role of e-ticketing for real-time asphalt delivery tracking and how these records help optimize project performance.
Communication on Airfield Projects
This video explores how strong communication and thorough planning among contractors, airport staff, the FAA, and airlines make complex airfield paving projects possible. Learn the importance of pre-construction and pre-paving meetings, safety planning, and nightly briefings that keep operations running smoothly—even amid changing weather and flight schedules.
Coring
Pavement cores are essential for verifying asphalt thickness, density, and overall construction quality. This video outlines the step-by-step process for collecting and testing cores, from determining sample frequency and selecting random locations to using diamond bit coring equipment and proper extraction techniques.
Segregation at the Asphalt Plant
Aggregate segregation can weaken asphalt pavement by reducing density and increasing air voids and permeability. Learn how to identify the causes of segregation, from the plant to the paving site, and discover best practices.
Control Strips for FAA Jobs
A control strip is a critical first step in asphalt paving that ensures materials, equipment, and construction practices will meet project specifications. This video explains how control strips validate mix quality, placement methods, and rolling patterns before full production begins.
Longitudinal Joint Construction
Longitudinal joints are critical to pavement durability, especially on airfields where heavy aircraft loads and high speeds demand top performance. This video outlines the importance of proper joint construction, the differences between hot and cold joints, and step-by-step best practices for achieving strong, smooth seams.
Screed Controls
Whether you're paving a runway or a roadway, understanding grade control systems is crucial for high-quality results. This video explains the importance of grade control and how different systems—from manual adjustments to advanced laser and GPS setups—affect pavement elevation, thickness, and smoothness. Learn how tools like joint matchers, skis, stringlines, and cross-slope controls work, and why a well-prepared base layer is key to avoiding issues like ponding or roughness.
Materials in a Job Mix Formula
Asphalt is a carefully engineered mix designed for strength, flexibility, and long-term performance. This video breaks down the essential components of an asphalt mix design, including aggregate, binder, air voids, and additives. Learn how each ingredient impacts pavement durability, rutting resistance, and cracking, and why fine-tuning these elements through a Job Mix Formula is critical for FAA-compliant airfield pavements.
Balanced Mix Design for Airfield Mixtures
Balanced Mix Design (BMD) is a performance-based approach to asphalt mixture design that goes beyond traditional volumetric methods. This video explores how BMD uses lab tests—like rutting and cracking resistance—to create mixtures tailored to real-world traffic, climate, and pavement conditions.
Production at a Drum Mix Plant
Take a behind-the-scenes tour of a drum mix asphalt plant and discover how raw materials are transformed into high-quality pavement. This video walks through each step of the production process—from cold feed bins and moisture measurement to aggregate mixing and binder incorporation inside the rotating drum.
Yield Calculations
Accurate yield calculations are essential for successful asphalt paving projects. In this video, experts walk through the key steps to estimate how much asphalt is needed, from calculating area and volume to using mix density and converting to tons.