Propex Concrete Systems (Australia) has become a SIlver Sponsor of ASCP. Propex supplies and supports a wide range of steel and synthetic fibres for the concrete construction industry.

Visit their web site at www.fibermesh.com for more information. Their logo and direct link to their web site will be on our Sponsors page soon.

The ASCP Bulletin Board is now accessible from this web site. It provides a general forum for members, a forum for the National Executive, and forums for special ASCP work groups.

Any visitor to the web site can see the forums, but cannot necessarily access them. To access the forums, it is first necessary to become a registered user which is done on the first page of the Bulletin Board. Click "Register" then agree to the Terms & Conditions, then provide user name, password etc as instructed. Once you are registered, it is up to us to assign you to a user group (if you are an ASCP member).

Registered users will be able to read the Member Forum, but cannot take part in it. Members of ASCP can fully access the Members Forum, and can see the Special Work Group forums.

We hope that you find this facility beneficial.

This forum, held on 8 September in Sydney, included Australian and International pavement equipemnt suppliers as exhibitors and presenters. Over 80 members and guests registered for the event and there was much discussion with all of the exhibitors.

The several panel discussions addressed concrete batching equipmeent, slipform pavers, and diamond grinding. Copies of the presentations can be found on the Resources section of this web site.

There was some lively and interesting discussion about the comparisons between continuous batch plants and Batch style plants. It is expected that there will be further developments regarding continuous batch plants in the near future.

ASCP welcomes Seovic Civil Engineering as a recent Bronze Sponsor.

ASCP welcomes URS Australia as a recent Bronze Sponsor

FHWA invites submission of abstracts by 15 October 2008 for its conference on Preservation, Repair & Rehabilitation of Concrete Pavements to be held in Missouri USA from 22 - 24 April, 2009.

For more details, refer to the Events page of this site where this event is listed.

Aran Group has joined ASCP as a Bronze sponsor. Aran's primary focus is on the metering and mixing of cement bound materials.

More information about Aran can be found on their website at www.aran.com.au

Volumetric Concrete Australia has joined ASCP as a Silver sponsor. Their primary focus is on the rapid repair of concrete pavements and they will be presenting at the September 8 forum.

They are a new company and are currently developing their web site and logo.

Downer EDI Works has joined ASCP as a Bronze sponsor. Downer will be providing information about diamond grinding at the September 8 forum.

Justin Moss's paper titled "Pavement flexural fatigue capacity, and the influence of mix charging sequence" has won the Eldon J Yoder Award for Best Paper at the ISCP Conference last week.

The paper was written on a project that Justin undertook as part of the Advanced Concrete Technology Course conducted through Cement Concrete Aggregates Australia by the Institute of Concrete Technology UK. The research component was funded under the RTA's Technology Development Program.

Justin's work extended previous overseas research which indicated that you can gain significant benefits in mix characteristics (especially strength) merely by varying the charging sequence. Justin's work introduced several advancements including demonstration of substantial benefits in flexural fatigue performance from the modified charging sequence. He did this by testing fatigue specimens in accordance with ASTM C1550 which was developed by Dr Stefan Bernard of Technologies in Structural Engineering (TSE) here in Sydney.

At the June Forum which focussed on LCS, a number of recommendations were made regarding the need for industry to develop and present a case for possible changes to specifications and acceptance criteria.

ASCP’s President, Mark Hoskins, agreed to establish a special working party to explore these issues.

A group is now being formed, and members who have a specific interest in this topic are invited to apply to join this group. Please apply to the Executive Director by email, briefly indicating your interests and your ability to contribute.

At its last meeting, the ASCP National Executive spent some time discussing the need to develop a Training Strategy to address the concrete paving industry’s needs in this regard.

While there are some training courses provided by RTA, CCAA and others, there would appear to be little related to engineers, project managers, and supervisory personnel.

Moreover, there does not exist a comprehensive statement of training requirements nor their providers for the complete range of personnel and functions for concrete pavement design and construction. ASCP is aware that many organisations may provide their own training for their staff.

The National Executive proposes to establish a Working Party to

1. Identify training requirements

2. Identify the providers of training courses and their suitability to meet our industries needs,

3. Where shortfalls in available training are identified, development of courses to bridge these gaps.

The desired outcome will be an ASCP recommended Training Strategy and Framework that will provide for those in the industry a clear path to follow to continue their development in the field in a structured manner.

ASCP President, Mark Hoskins, welcomes input on this important subject from members, and invites members with a special interest in this matter, and with an ability to contribute, to apply to join this working group. To apply, please email your interest and ability to contribute to the Executive Director.