Australian Asphalt Pavement Association (AAPA) International Knowledge Transfer (IKT) 2018 outreach to Asia

For the first time, AAPA and supporting partners will host delegates throughout South Korea, Japan and China – including attending the 5th International GeoChina Conference 2018.  This exciting program is outlined below.

This is an opportunity to discover tools that deliver value for money, efficiency gains and innovative solutions that can be implemented within Australia.

Tour Dates: 14 – 29 July 2018

South Korea 14 – 17 July

Japan 18 – 21 July

China 22 – 29 July

Detailed Program 

South Korea (14 – 17 July)

In South Korea delegates will explore the latest in smart construction, bitumen production for the Australian market and pavement management practice. This includes visits to:

  • The Korean Institute of Civil Engineering and Korea Expressway Corporation, to discuss:
    • Expressway management (financing and tolling)
    • Pavement management systems for the Korea Expressway
    • Construction and management of a test section on the Expressway
    • The Korean pavement performance monitoring program and its use in calibration of mechanistic empirical pavement design
    • Asphalt mix design specification and emerging asphalt technology in Korea
    • Warm mix and cold mix recycling of asphalt pavements in Korea
    • Site visit to warm mix recycling plant
    • Korean business models for roads management and delivery.
  •   Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co (Smart Construction Team) to discuss:
    • Self-compacting epoxy asphalt for bridges
    • Smart construction technology
    • Process control in Korea
    • Road worker safety practice in Korea
  • SK Energy to tour one of the largest bitumen refineries in the world to better understand:
    • Bituminous binder specifications across our Asian and Australasian region
    • How bitumen for the Australian market is produced
    • Challenges for bitumen production
    • Quality assurance practices, and
    • The scope of the global market, including options available to Australia.

Japan (18 – 21 July)

In Japan delegates will explore state of the art asphalt production under strict environmental constraints, some of the best pavement recycling processes in the world and Japan’s push towards smart technology with a vision for autonomous road worksites in the future. The tour will be hosted by the Japanese Road Contractors Association and includes:

  • Visit to Kawasaki plant of Maeda Road Co LTD

This Kawasaki plant is representative of the latest facilities in Japan. It is used to manufacture high RAP mixes, cement asphalt mixes and stabilised road base materials. Discussion at the asphalt plant will include discussion on state of the art environmental controls at asphalt plants. 

  • Visit NIPPO corporation research institute

Nippo is the largest pavement construction contractor in Japan. NIPPO has developed many technical innovations which have been implemented in Japan and overseas. We will visit the research laboratory, which boasts the latest equipment.

  • i-construction EXPO at the Maintenance & Resilience Tokyo 2018

Maintenance & Resilience Tokyo is held annually. 565 companies exhibited last year, with approximately 38,000 registered visitors. The I-construction EXPO is one of 7 expositions at the event. The i-construction highlights the role of automation in addressing skill shortages in the industry.

  • Public Works Research Institute 

Tour of the facility and technical discussion with local experts on Asphalt recycling and Porous asphalt pavement technology in Japan

  • Safer worksites shifting from a 3K industry Kitanai (dirty), Kiken (dangerous) and Kitsui (hard) to a new 3K industry Kyuyo (salary), Kyuka (holiday / day off) and Kibou (aspiration / hope).

China (22 – 29 July)

The final leg of the tour is to China which includes:

  • The 5th GeoChina International Conference 2018, showcasing advancements in transport infrastructure design, construction, and safety management. The conference will attract an international au­­­dience and includes many papers on flexible pavement design for roads and airports. The conference will also include a China-Australia summit, which will be an opportunity to share the latest developments in flexible pavement technology.
  • Meeting with Zhejiang Highway Associationwhich controls a total length of highway of 47,000 klms. The Zhejiang Highway Association is currently committed to building the latest in smart roads, noting:

“Travelling in a self-driving vehicle at 150 kilometres per hour along an intelligent highway which offers automatic charging and toll-paying functionality on the go will no longer be a sci-fi concept in China in a few short years.  A super highway, extending 161km, equipped with intelligent transportation systems to support autonomous vehicles, is expected to break ground by 2022 in Zhejiang province.”

  • A visit to the Zhejiang Communications Construction group, a contractor with wide experience in Design/Build and Finance/Operate/Maintain contracts on the Chinese highway network (which is a toll network). ZCCC manages 3000 klms of highways in Zhejiang province alone.
  • A site visit to a bridge with self-compacting epoxy asphalt.
  • A site visit to the Ammann Group Manufacturing facility in Shanghai, where the asphalt production plant for the Australia is fabricated, as well as a state of the art asphalt plant to observe and discuss the future direction of asphalt plant technology, including:
    • Smart technology for process control at asphalt plants
    • RAP processing in modern asphalt plants
    • Engineering controls to comply with environmental regulations.
  • Discussions with leading pavement research centres from South East University and Tongji University to discuss their:
    • Accelerated pavement testing programs
    • Perpetual pavement design concepts
    • Sponge City
    • Bituminous binder specifications
    • Use of recycled materials
    • SMA use for airport surfacing and associated specifications.

Registrations close 30 April 2018

COST $17,710 (+GST where applicable)

Download flyer here.

Note: Details outlined in the itinerary above may be subject to change.  Should this occur, the itinerary will be immediately updated.

For further information, please contact Erik Denneman: erik.denneman@afpa.asn.au or 03 8416 4501.