Puma noticed the success of the GB5 mix and partnered with Effiage to bring GB5 to Australia.
AN INTERNATIONAL
EXAMPLE: GB5
PUMA BITUMEN IS PARTNERING WITH A MAJOR FRENCH CONSTRUCTION COMPANY EIFFAGE TO BRING GB5 BASE COURSE MIX TO AUSTRALIA. THROUGH A DEMONSTRATION WITH BORAL, PUMA IS HOPING TO EMBED THE MIX AS COMMONPLACE FOR AUSTRALIAN ROADS.
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n the early 2000s Eiffage, one of France’s largest construction companies, set out to create a road base course layer that featured both optimal aggregate interlock methods and the use of SBS rubber polymers. This research and development hoped to create a base course with fatigue resistant properties to improve the longevity of roads. In 2010, Effiage’s GB5 mix using these components was patented. Later that year the mix won an innovation award from SETRA, the French Department for Roads and Highways. As a result of this award, the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Development and Networks (IFSTTAR) performed accelerated testing on the base course mix. This included increased axle load testing, which put a high number of vehicle movements onto the pavement in a short amount of time. In this trial, four GB5 mixes with different properties were tested against an EME2 base course mix, all of which included Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP). After 10,000 loads at 6.5 tonnes, each of the GB5 mixes showed almost no cracking. When this was increased to 7.5 tonnes, only one of the GB5 mixes began to crack. 26
ROADS AUGUST 2020
The GB5 sections outperformed the EME2 control sections. This demonstrated impressive durability and fatigue resistance characteristics for the GB5 mix. Since this trial, around four million tonnes of GB5 has been used on roads across France, Spain and South Africa. As a major player in the Australian bitumen market, Puma Bitumen noticed the success of the GB5 mix and partnered with
Eiffage to bring GB5 to Australia. Puma’s Technical Manager Erik Denneman says GB5 is offered by Puma as an alternative to EME2, high modulus asphalt. A demonstration in July, in partnership with Boral Asphalt in Queensland, marked the first time GB5 mix was used on an Australian road. Prior to the demonstration, Puma and Boral performed Australian tests on the
Boral Asphalt laid the GB5 mix on a major project near Brisbane.
