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State Enterprise Transport and
Road Research Institute under the Ministry of Transport and
Communications of the Republic of Lithuania was established
on 2 December 1993. The Institute analyses possibilities for
rational use of funds allocated for the construction, repair
and maintenance of roads; prepares investment projects and
feasibility studies for the Cohesion and Structural Funds;
performs monitoring of project implementation stages to
ensure they are in compliance with the European Union
requirements.
Certificate No. 0474 issued by
the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania
gives the right to the Institute to design and investigate
various transport and communication structures of special
importance, including roads of national significance,
bridges, viaducts, railway and road tunnels, culverts,
wharfs, transport terminals, sea and river quays, railways,
arterial city streets and their intersections. Certificate
No. 1510042652 testifies the compliance of the Institutes
quality management system with the Standard LST EN ISO 9001:
2001 (EN ISO 9001 : 2000).
Roads shall ensure safe and
convenient driving conditions. For this purpose the
specialists of the Institute carry out comprehensive
investigations of road conditions. In recent years simple
investigation devices have been replaced with modern
equipment, and the measurements of road pavement indices
correspond to international standards.
After the Transport and Road
Research Institute acquired the Falling Weight Deflectometer
DYNATEST FWD 8000 (Fig. 1), the moduli of elasticity of
structural pavement layers have been identified by
non-destructive measurements.
For the measurements of road
and street pavement quality the Institute uses modern Skid
Resistance Tester SRT-3 (Fig. 2) and Laser Profilometer 5051
RSP DYNATEST for measuring pavement roughness.
In 2006 the specialists of the
Institute started working with the Mobile Road Survey
Laboratory RST 28 (Fig. 3) manufactured by the Swedish
company Ramboll. This system enables integrated measurements
of road geometrical indices and pavement surface defects:
pavement texture, cross falls and gradients, radii of
horizontal curves, linear distance from the road beginning
and GPS coordinates, roughness, cracks, ruts and other
defects. Data on pavement roughness is used to determine the
International Roughness Index IRI.
Based on laser technology,
progressive mechanical and optical solutions, the system
gives a detailed view of road pavement surface. Data
management is not complicated; objective and reliable
information on pavement surface condition and driving
comfort is obtained.
All measuring devices are
mounted on the front bar of a measuring vehicle, digital
video cameras for capturing pavement defects in the rear
part of the vehicle.
Data on pavement cracks is
recorded by video cameras. The recorded images are
automatically analyzed, giving information on various crack
properties. Pavement cracks are represented in graphical
maps, spreadsheets or easily understandable grid form.
Measurements are taken within the width of a traffic lane,
when travelling at a speed of 90 km/h, under various
illumination conditions. Results of crack measurements is an
excellent source of information about pavement condition.
One of the advantages of the
Mobile Road Survey Laboratory is a possibility to identify
pavement texture of existing roads and streets as well as
all surface defects. Another advantage is a possibility to
measure road parameters before pavement reconstruction and
to obtain reliable and latest data.
The measuring results are used
to determine the residual pavement life, to make the list of
road sections to be repaired, to select the most suitable
repair works, to estimate investment demand in order to
achieve a certain level of pavement quality, to control
pavement condition or to define the quality of maintenance
works.
For surveying road traffic
flows the automated counters-classifiers are used with the
help of which the specialists of the Institute determine
traffic volume, classify traffic composition according to
different vehicle classes, measure vehicle speed.
Road pavement indices,
qualitative parameters and any other required information is
collected and saved in the Lithuanian Road Information
System. The collected data are used for justification of
road maintenance costs, preparation of investment projects,
evaluation of road network condition and selection of road
construction and repair technologies.
A large attention is paid to
road traffic safety: our safety specialists identify general
statistical indices of traffic accidents, black spots and
other high-accident locations, carry out the analysis of
accident causes at the locations of highest accident
concentration, give proposals on how to reduce the number of
accidents on Lithuanian roads and streets, analyzes the
effect of traffic safety improvement measures.
Bridge specialists solve tasks
related to strength, rigidity and reliability of road
structures. They design bridges, viaducts, tunnels and
culverts, carry out their major inspections, identify
degradation extent, loadcarrying capacity and residual life
of road structures.
Static and dynamic testing of
bridges is carried out by the mobile Bridge Test Laboratory
(System 6149) (Fig. 4). Until now the impact of dynamic
loads on our bridges was only seldom investigated, using one
or another old-time vibrograph. Measuring devices and
software of the Bridge Test Laboratory are convenient to use,
reliable and effective tools for monitoring technical
condition of bridges. They are essential for identifying the
indices of rigidity and dynamics in new and old bridges,
their changes in a course of time due to the increased
traffic volume, loads, speed of trains, also after
reconstruction or strengthening of a bridge, transportation
of heavy-weight cargo, etc.
The main index of bridge
dynamics is the frequencies of self oscillations, describing
the degree of bridge sensitivity to dynamic impacts. Earlier
the results of bridge tests showed the frequency of only the
lowest, i.e. the first, form of oscillations. Today, thanks
to the new laboratory, we are able to identify also the
frequency of the second form of self oscillations. This is
especially important for railway bridges, since the second
form of oscillations can also cause a resonance situation.
Environmental specialists of
the Institute carry out environmental impact assessment of
the planned transport infrastructure objects, environmental
quality monitoring within the impact zone of the newly built
and existing roads.
With an increasing competition
on the market, high efficiency of Transport and Road
Research Institute is the essential condition for successful
activities. The standards of ISO series as well as good
management practice of the Institute determine not a
momentary result but a continuous assurance of quality,
stability, efficiency and productivity of works.
Dr Giedrius
Šiaudinis,
Director of Transport and Road Research Institute,
I. Kanto str. 25, P.O.Box 2082, 44009 Kaunas,
Lithuania
Tel.: + 370 37 226638, Fax.: + 370 37 205619
E-mail: tkti@tkti.lt, www.tkti.lt
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