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Contacts191014 31/1 Mayakovskogo Str., St.Petersburg, Russia
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About PENOPLEX / Transport construction / Transport construction Modern civilizations on Earth actively engage in resource exchange. The quality of communication lines has become of paramount importance. Russia has a large system of roads and railroads that play an important role in organizing freight shipping. The problem of protecting roads from the elements is a universal problem that needs addressing. Soil freezing and heaving being one of the biggest problems contributing to the damage of the road pavement. The pavement can become damaged in cold temperatures as a result of the following factors:
PENOPLEX® is the future of Russian roads. Protecting the pavement from frost heaving poses one of the biggest problems to road construction specialists. Using PENOPLEX® – extruded foamed polystyrene, a high-quality new generation insulating material – allows for a successful elimination of it. The mechanism of frost heaving
In highly urbanized areas, the problem is complicated further because of the presence of service lines and utilities that have an additional negative impact on underground water by heating soils of roadbeds. PENOPLEX® boards have significantly simplified the task of addressing the problem of frost heaving in roads. Reliable protectionWhen used in a roadbed, PENOPLEX® works as a temperature barrier between layers of roadway and the soil underneath. The use if PENOPLEX®, keeps the soil in the above freezing temperature zone. The soil does not freeze and thus is not prone to frost heaving. In permafrost regions, PENOPLEX® provides a similar effect. The insulant layers of PENOPLEX® preserve permafrost layers and eliminate roadbed sinking.
Thanks to its physical and mechanical properties, PENOPLEX® has a low water absorption rate (no more than 0.4% of the volume over a period of 30 days). This is due to the texture of extruded polystyrene that consists of enclosed cells. PENOPLEX® is an excellent insulant. Its thermal conductivity does not exceed 0.03 W/(m×°C) and remains constant even in high humidity. Its high strength – no less than 50 tons per square meter – allows for using it for the construction of all types of roads. PENOPLEX® does not decompose and can server efficiently as a part of a roadway for many decades. This is one of its main advantages over regular foamed polystyrene, which quickly loses its properties and deteriorates when exposed to severe changes of temperature and humidity. What are the advantages of PENOPLEX® boards for road construction?
Roads constructed using PENOPLEX® have a longer service life, because frost heaving does not damage pavement. In addition, the insulant works as a separating layer and ensure even loads along its surface. Road overhauls are needed less often. Economic studies demonstrate that in many cases it is cheaper to use PENOPLEX® for road construction than using traditional methods. Geography of roads constructed using PENOPLEX®Examples of successful protection of roadways from soil heaving are the Moscow-Kiev highway, Kaluga-Tula highway (Kaluga Region); the Amur highway between Chita and Khabarovsk (Amur Regions), M-2 Krym from Serpukhov to Tula, M-4 Don near Kashira, Moscow Region. PENOPLEX® has been successfully used in Northwest Russia for the reconstruction the bypass of the M-10 Russia highway near Tosno, Leningrad Region. In permafrost regions, PENOPLEX® insulating boards protect roadbeds from thawing and roadway sinking. Examples include the Purovsk-Yagenetta section of the federal Surgut-Salekhard road and a section of the Korotchaevo-Purovsk highway (Yamalo-Nenetsk Autonomous District). Recently, PENOPLEX® boards were used for the construction of a road in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The clients were the representatives of local authorities – the Directorate for the Construction of Roads of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). It is good to know that the local authorities understand that it is cheaper to invest in a good road design than it is to spend much more money on frequent patching. Results of studiesIn 2003, FGUP SoyuzDorNII conducted a series of studies on experimental sections of Kashira beltway and Serpukhov-Tula highway using PENOPLEX® boards. The studies demonstrated that the use of PENOPLEX® was advantageous. The soil did not freeze under the layer of insulation. The strength of the supporting structure was evident from the fact that no cracks had been found on the pavement surface. A comparative analysis of different materials showed that in its insulating properties, 1 cm of PENOPLEX® boards equals 30 cm of sand. Russian Railways praised PENOPLEX®The first large-scale client of the PENOPLEX® plant launched in 1998 in Kirishi was the Ministry of Roads and Communications of Russia. A layer of PENOPLEX® boards was capable of protecting railroads from frost heaving. PENOPLEX® has been used as a frost protection layer in renovation and overhaul of the roadbed of railroads in Russia for the past seven years. PENOPLEX® has proven its advantages and is now used in thirteen railroads in Russia: Oktyabrskaya, Moskovskaya, Gorkovskaya, Kujbyshevskaya, Sverdlovksya, Zapadno-Sibirskaya, Vostochno-Sibirskaya, Severnaya, Yuzhno-Uralskaya, Zabaikalskaya, Sakhalinskaya, Krasnoyarskaya, and Dalnevostochnaya. The combined length of the tracks that have been renovated using PENOPLEX® is over 1300 km (approximately 300000 cu. m of PENOPLEX®). In 2004, the Siberian National Roads and Communications University conducted an inspection of the conditions of railroad tracks of the Zapadno-Sibirskaya Railroads. The inspection showed that PENOPLEX® boards had successfully eliminated soil heaving under railroad tracks and were technically and economically feasible. PENOPLEX® on the streets of St.Petersburg
The future or Russian roadsAbout 380000 cu. meters of PENOPLEX® boards have been used in road construction since 1999. This includes city street, highways, airports, oil platforms and other facilities of the oil and gas industry. Each year, the demand for PENOPLEX® keeps growing. Since 1998, the production volume of the Kirishi plant has increased by several times. In 2005, a new plant for the manufacture of PENOPLEX® boards was launched in Perm, and in June 2006, the company will open a third plant in Novosibirsk.In Europe, where the quality of roads has traditionally been very high, the use of extruded polystyrene have long ago become a standard. Will it become as popular in Russia? With the introduction of PENOPLEX® boards to the Russian market, the answer to this question becomes increasingly positive. |
In broad terms, frost heaving is a process by which certain soils accumulate water during thaws, which then freezes during cold seasons and forms ice, thus expanding by approximately 9%. This, in turn, expands the soil in the direction of the least resistance – that is in the direction of the pavement. Depending on the depth of frozen soil, which varies from one region to another, frost heaving can be 3 to 15 cm. Frost heaving causes cracks in pavement, which increase over time and damage roads.
How does it work?
The main advantage is the ability to use local soils prone to heaving in the upper layers of roadway without replacement. Traditional methods of road construction requires digging out and replacing local soils with stabilized imported soil. This requires great time and cost expenditures. PENOPLEX® allows for reducing the volume of earth digging work and thus reduces construction time.