When winter is at its peak it is hard to remember summer commutes filled with road construction — but make no mistake, this winter will bring about road maintenance work.

When that time comes, think of the AET Pavements Group. Our experienced pavement engineers, technicians, and laboratory staff provide pavement surfacing and subsurface investigations, pavement materials engineering and pavement design for new construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance.

Our team is renowned for subsurface geotechnical engineering, pavement design, construction rehabilitation, and maintenance of paved surfaces and highway materials. Their experience is compounded by support from our internationally recognized construction materials testing division.

Our Saint Paul labs are AMRL /AASHTO (now known as the AASHTO Accreditation Program) certified and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers audited. We perform many pavement design and rehabilitation services on projects across the U.S. including the use of emulsion and foamed asphalt stabilized cold in place recycling (CIR), and emulsion and cement stabilized full depth reclamation (SFDR)mix designs, field investigations, and quality control testing during construction. (For more information on foamed asphalt check out our 2014 article on pavement rehabilitation)

Performing bituminous, CIR, and SFDR mix designs requires more than exciting laboratory equipment, it requires knowledge and experience. Our Pavements Group has more than 30 years’ experience in mix design work. We offer you more than the basic tests for extractions, gradations, and Gyratory or Marshall mix designs. We can provide the equipment and skilled engineers and technicians who have worked across the Upper Midwest (as well as states as far as remote as Alaska and on projects in India and Vietnam) for many state Departments of Transportations (DOTs), local units of government, consulting engineers, and contractors.

Here is a summary of the five most requested field and laboratory services from our knowledge leaders:

• Falling Weight Deflecometer (FWD) testing: This device is used to measure pavement strength, the information is then used to aid in designing pavement rehabilitation projects.
• Disc-Shaped Compact Tension Testing (DCT): a newer test used to obtain the fracture energy of asphalt mixture
• Semi-Circular Bending Testing (SCB): a newer test, used to determine the low temperature fracture energy and toughness of asphalt mixtures
• Profilographing: a test for ride ratings to determine how smooth the road is. Our technicians and equipment are certified by DOTs.
• Hamburg Wheel Rut Testing: a test designed to determine the rutting and stripping resistance of a bituminous mix design (below).

Our experienced team hopes that knowing about these tools and resources will help smooth your road to successful pavements. For more information visit our pages on Pavements and Laboratory Services.