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The National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT)\u2019s Test Track recently crossed 10 million miles driven. Opened in 2000 as a testing facility for asphalt research, the track has provided pavement engineers across the USA with an outdoor laboratory where they can experiment with pavement designs while avoiding risks associated with damaged pavements on real-world roadways.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Test Track has always been an indispensable research tool to help highway agencies and the asphalt industry answer questions and prove the viability of technologies,\u201d said NCAT Director Randy West. <\/span><\/p>\n The Test Track offers researchers a unique chance to design, implement and show their findings on asphalt technology in one location, and has saved state departments millions of dollars each year with its results. <\/span><\/p>\n A Bridge Between the Real World and Laboratory<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n NCAT\u2019s Test Track is a 1.7-mile oval where research is conducted on experimental asphalt pavements. Located on a 309-acre site about 15 miles east of Auburn\u2019s main campus, the track is comprised of 46 200-foot test sections funded as a cooperative project among highway agencies and asphalt industry sponsors. The track was designed and built to simultaneously evaluate the performance of a range of roadway cross-sections and materials, and use those findings to improve sustainability, safety and cost effectiveness of roadways.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe serve as a bridge between the real world and the laboratory,\u201d said Test Track Manager Jason Nelson. \u201cWe utilize real drivers in real trucks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The track\u2019s test sections are classified in three different ways: structural experiments, surface mix experiments and pavement preservation studies. Multi-depth temperature probes are installed in each test section, and are paired with an on-site automated weather station, to aid in characterizing how the test section responds to loading and environmental changes. These variables allow researchers to quickly analyze and implement their findings into improved pavement designs.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn a three-year research cycle, you can put a design life\u2019s worth of traffic in a couple years,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to wait 10 years, 20 years. You know what that pavement\u2019s going to do out in the real world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Research cycles at the track last for three years and are broken down into three phases. The first phase focuses on construction, with research sponsors making on-site visits to ensure the sections satisfy their research needs. Various parameters are measured during the construction process to capture properties of the sections.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGreat research can be done in the lab and with computer simulations, but there is no substitute for proving that a new material or design method works on the Test Track,\u201d West said. \u201cOur sponsors know that if we can prove something works on the Test Track, it is ready for implementation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In the second phase, each section of the track endures rigorous heavy truck traffic in a period of two years. Each section of the track is subjected to 10 million equivalent single axle loads, which simulates long-term wear and allows researchers to deliver highly technical results to state highway departments quickly. <\/span><\/p>\n The final phase of the cycle involves forensic analyses of damaged sections on the Test Track to determine the contributing factors to pavement distresses. At the end of each cycle, test sections may remain in place for additional evaluation, or are replaced to support new research.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe spend billions of dollars on roadway infrastructure in this country every year, so we have to do controlled experiments to see what works and doesn\u2019t work,\u201d said NCAT Associate Director and Research Professor Buzz Powell.<\/span><\/p>\n Besides asphalt testing, the NCAT Test Track is used for a variety of transportation-related projects including the development of new heavy vehicle suspension systems, truck platooning, evaluation of alternative fuels, improved tires, a vehicle rollover prediction system, advanced propulsion systems and improved vehicle electronics and safety. <\/span><\/p>\n The site of the track also has special geological characteristics that lend themselves to other engineering research studies.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis site is unique because there is really shallow rock on the west end, but then really deep clay on the east end,\u201d Powell said. \u201cIt\u2019s a national geotechnical experimentation site.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2022\/12\/NCAT-Track-Aerials-5-of-5-1-web.jpg\")
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