7/27/2009 Leslie Sweet
Eighth International Conference on the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways, and Airfields convenes on campus.
Written by Leslie Sweet
By Leslie Sweet
The Eighth International Conference on the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways, and Airfields (BCR2A) convened on the U of I campus from June 29-July 2.
The conference attracted academics, researchers and practitioners involved in transportation geotechnics, pavement and railroad engineering disciplines, and those concerned with the many issues pertaining to the bearing capacity and mechanistic-based design of highway and airfield pavements and railroad track structures.
More than 250 attendees traveled from 32 different countries to attend this conference, which provided a forum to promote efficient design, construction and maintenance of the transportation infrastructure. (See topic list below.)
Many attendees arrived a day early to participate in the four pre-conference workshops; topics included: Climatic Effects on Pavement Infrastructure, FAARFIELD/Designs for New and Rehabilitated Airport Pavements, Pavement Interlayer Systems, and Railroad Track Design including Asphalt Trackbeds.
CEE faculty who were involved in the conference included: Erol Tutumluer (Conference Chair), Imad Al-Qadi (Conference Co-Chair and Highway Area Coordinator), David Lange (Airfield Area Coordinator), and Chris Barkan (Railroad Area Coordinator. Bill Buttlar, Jeff Roesler, Riley Edwards, and Marshall Thompson served on the Organizing Committee.
Photos: Faculty present Professor Emeritus Marshall Thompson with an award of appreciation for his contributions to the BC2RA conference’s history. L to r: J. Riley Edwards, David Lange, Jeff Roesler, Sam Carpenter, Bill Buttlar, Imad Al-Qadi, Marshall Thompson, and Erol Tutumluer.
Erol Tutumluer welcomes attendees to the conference banquet.
BCR2A'09 Conference Topics
- Subgrade Soils
- Granular Materials
- Asphalt Mixtures
- In-situ Measurement Techniques & Developments
- Modeling & Methods of Functional Testing
- Backcalculation Analyses of Deflection Measurements
- New and/or Innovative Techniques in Compaction & Construction
- Structural Evaluation & Performance Prediction
- Structural Design Systems for New Construction & Rehabilitation
- Bearing Capacity Designs for Challenging Conditions & Load Effects
- Bearing Capacity Designs for Climatic Conditions
- Reinforcement of Structural Layers
- Utilization of Recycled Materials
- Railroad Track Structures
- Full-Scale Testing
More information about the conference is available at www.BCR2A.org.
Conference proceedings are available from Taylor & Francis (ISBN: 9780415871990, ISBN-10: 0415871999, Publisher: CRC Press, Editors: Tutumluer and Al-Qadi).