Federal Highway Research Institute

The picture shows an aerial view of duraBASt

Site

The site lies on the Köln-Ost motorway junction (BAB A3/A4). The entire site covers an area of around 25,000 square metres and has a total length of a good kilometre. There are different bridge structures, a tunnel-like situation beneath a bridge, noise barriers and drainage installations as well as open stretches of road. The site therefore represents an extensive miniature of today’s road traffic infrastructure and the direct road environment.

The spatial proximity to BASt and to the Cologne/Bonn metropolitan region promotes networking with national and international partners from the areas of science, industry and politics.

Test and demonstration sections

The duraBASt demonstration and test sections are located in the central area of the site, with a further three demonstration sections in the northern part. The available areas have been constructed in a way that permits individual sections to be operated independently of each other. The demonstration and test areas have a maximum length of around 100 metres and are between four and five metres wide.

The picture shows the MLS30 at duraBASt

The full-scale test and demonstration sections on the duraBASt are installed under realistic conditions using standard road building machinery, and can subsequently be subjected to load. The tests are conducted under actual weather conditions. The accelerated traffic load tests are performed using BASt’s own Mobile Load Simulator (MLS30).

Embedded sensor technology monitors the behaviour of the road constructions to be examined, and the behaviour is checked at regular intervals using non-destructive test methods (Falling Weight Deflectometer, ground penetrating radar, monitoring of the condition of the road). Tests using destructive methods are then possible for final validation and assessment.

Innovative road constructions that have been developed in the course of the “Roads in the 21st Century” research programme and by partners in industry are currently being tested in projects.

The duraBASt increases the opportunities for the successful and prompt transfer of innovations to building practice, and therefore for the sustainable adaptation of the road transport infrastructure to future challenges. The successful testing of innovations or the demonstration of innovative building projects provides a way of introducing the application of these new technologies in the road network. These opportunities may similarly be used by industry when realising and testing its own innovative solutions.

Further information can be found at Demonstrators & Tests. Please contact us if you want us to test your ideas.

Reference sections

The condition of federal trunk road surfaces is recorded regularly in Germany using fast-moving measurement vehicles. The key role of BASt is the coordination and monitoring of this nationwide recording process.

Reference areas with defined features and surface properties – such as evenness, skid resistance, textured and substance characteristics (surface) – are available on the duraBASt for quality assurance when approving measuring systems and measurement vehicles. The metrological and technical properties of the measuring systems and measurement vehicles are tested here.

The reference sections are also used to further develop measuring systems for monitoring the condition of road surfaces on federal trunk roads.

Further information can be found under Reference sections.