THE TECHNIQUES OF PAVING TODAY, BASED ON THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR ANCESTORS

 In Product aplications
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Product aplications

The bridges and Roman roads, abundant throughout the Spanish geography, are historical references which testify the possibilities of granite as a material suitable for the paving of the streets in our cities.
The Roman Empire based and staged its expansion in Europe and North Africa, in about 90000 km of roads which, according to some historians, were built during its rule.

These roads show, in addition to the excellence of the stone, a high aesthetic value as well as construction techniques that, to some extent, could be considered valid currently.

A section of a Roman road has, in general, two different typologies: driveways with a layer made up of natural stone tiles and others where the layer was made up of a soil more or less granular to which the layers of stone were joined in order to prevent the erosion of the paving.

The first were in the streets of the cities and its immediate environment, where the surface tiles were intended to avoid the strong emission of powder that the other types of roads – with the bearing layer of granular materials – emitted when the carriages equipped with metal rim wheels were passing through.

A Roman road was made up of four layers starting from the natural esplanade: Pavimentum, Nucleus, Rudus, Statumen

The typology of this constructive system is surprisingly similar to the current roadways in the sense of having, in both cases, a configuration in four layers, where the Pavimentum would be the tread layer, made up of tiles or pavers, the Nucleus would be a bed of sand as a seat, the Rudus would be a structural base and the Statumen would be a sub-base which can be optional.

For the transport of goods, the Romans used large and solid carts provided with four-wheels, in order to better distribute loads that sometimes reached unthinkable values to be considered at present.

The type of wheel rimmed with metal fences and narrow profile used with these tonnages, what originated heavy concentrations of tensions, suggests that the Romans already used a very refined technology for the construction of its terrestrial communication net.

What it is today difficult to analyze in those roads, well for lack of information, or because surely it was not taken into consideration, it is related to the effects of pressure on the pavings, originated by the intensity of the traffic, and which today are evaluated in terms of equivalent axes, during its service life, all as necessary concepts which must be defined in determining the thickness and characteristics of the constituent layers of the system.

With regard to implementation techniques, little more is known, apart from the rudimentary techniques of compaction used, but not ineffective.

But the Roman roads, as well as a technological example of good constructive practice, above all represent a model of the importance which historically has had the natural stone as a material suitable for the construction of pavings in our towns.

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