The University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) selected Tensar International and its partners the winners of the 2018 CTS Research Partnership Award for their work on geogrid usage in paved road infrastructure, Tensar International said in a press release. The award recognizes a new pavement design and analysis tool, which enables geogrid benefits to be quantified using an aggregate-geogrid interaction model of an unsaturated granular material containing geogrid. The pavement design analysis tool was created in Itasca Consulting’s PFC3D software and is now available to all PFC3D users.
The CTS selected the collaborative research initiative, “Geogrid Reinforced Aggregate Base Pavement Design,” comprised of nine separate projects. The award recognizes the coordinated effort of a team comprised of university engineers and scientists, private sector experts and commercial product leaders who joined forces to enhance the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s flexible pavement design methods and capabilities.
“We are proud to be part of the elite team honored with the 2018 CTS Research Partnership Award,” said Scott Edgecombe, executive vice president and general manager for the Western Hemisphere at Tensar International. “Our business is deeply rooted in creating research-based innovations to improve the quality of our nation’s infrastructure. It is only through collaboration with transportation industry experts like our fellow award winners that we will substantially enhance our country’s roads.”
The award-winning team includes representatives of the Minnesota Department of Transportation and other agencies, Braun Intertec and Ingios (field measurements and analyses), the University of Minnesota (unsaturated geomechanics and analyses of granular materials), Tensar International (development of geogrid modeling methodology) and Itasca (expertise and the commercial software framework in which the new pavement design package resides). The 2018 CTS Research Partnership Award was presented at the CTS Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on February 22, 2018.