Bari airport expansion works
Puglia Airports renewed and extended the flight runaway paving of Bari Airport in March 2018. The surface and deep redevelopment of the paving of the Airport runway represent a challenging infrastructural work, especially for the strict time (track dimension recalculated superficially 2500 x 45 mt of which 1800 x 45 mt performed in 8 days). The contractor: R.T.I. MATARRESE decided for this application to use Pittini Group’s Granella® thanks to its reliability and the just in time service provided on the building site.
After scarifying the worn covering, the track surface was restored with stabilized material; then it was the turn of the paving of bituminous conglomerates which have been sprayed of acid emulsion for a total surface of 104,530 square meters. In particular, the wear layer (carpet) has provided for the mixture with modified bitumen, the use of Granella® with a grain size of 8-14 at 50% and a grain size of 4-8 at 5%. A total 3.300 m3 of Pittini’s Granella® 4-8 mm and 8-14 mm was supplied.
The runway made with Granella®
Granella® is a true example of circular economy, whereby scrap is turned into a product.
The steel obtained from ferrous scrap melting in the electric furnace also generates a by-product – the so-called “slag” – whose chemical properties are similar to those of effusive rocks.
The materials obtained from this process have enhanced physical and mechanical characteristics compared to high grade aggregates from effusive origin such as basalt, diabase and porphyry, which are usually used to prepare high performance special bituminous concrete (highly adhering, sound-absorbing and drainage road surfacing). The better combination of micro- and macro-roughness increases adherence values in road pavements, thus improving safety.
Furthermore, Granella® offers a two-fold advantage in terms of environmental protection: from the one side, it results from recycling and enhancing an industrial by-product that otherwise would be considered as waste; on the other side, it is a valuable replacement to natural raw materials that, in this way, are no longer overexploited. This product is oriented toward an increasingly sustainable use of resources.
