Lightly-Bound Stabilised Materials in Low Traffic Environments

Overview Austroads Ltd is seeking a consultant to undertake a research project on lightly-bound stabilised materials in low traffic environments, to provide pavement design guidance enabling thickness design for lightly bound stabilised base materials. About AustStab has offered to be a contributing partner to the Primary Consultant and will make data available from 19 existing project sites within Campbelltown City Council (CCC) in NSW for the generation of empirical evidence of success (or not). Purpose The purpose of this project is to provide pavement design guidance to enable thickness design for lightly bound stabilised base materials in low traffic environments. Low traffic environments, for this project, are considered to have Design Equivalent Standard Axles (DESA) less than 1.0E+06 and are generally those assets managed by local councils. The guidance is intended to support pavement designers, consultants and asset owners, particularly Local Government Authorities (LGAs) with limited access to specialist pavement design expertise, in assessing and justifying the use of LBSM rehabilitation treatments. Objectives The intended benefits include more cost-effective pavement rehabilitation and improved use of existing pavement materials. The research outcomes are intended to be twofold: Develop a practical mechanistic-empirical procedure for designing LBSM base layer thickness in lightly trafficked rehabilitated pavements Establish criteria for reducing or omitting the minimum 150 mm supporting layer requirement Scope Lightly bound materials are cementitiously stabilised materials with a 28 day UCS of between 1MPa and 2MPa, with construction completed within the allowable working time. The scope includes: Updating sections 7.5 and 10.7 of the Austroads Guide to Pavement Technology Part 5: Pavement Evaluation and Treatment Design (AGPT Part 5) to include the structural design of lightly bound stabilised materials (LBSM) for low traffic pavements Following the format of the current LBSM modelling guidance in the Austroads Guide to Pavement Technology Part 2: Pavement Structural Design (AGPT Part 2), so that designers can obtain a base layer thickness using mechanistic-empirical analysis Developing an associated technical basis report Investigating the need for a minimum 150 mm supporting layer beneath LBSM base and establishing technically justified criteria for determining whether a supporting layer is required and, where applicable, its thickness Producing a technical basis report Producing an updated edition of the Austroads Guide to Pavement Technology Part 5: Pavement Evaluation and Treatment Design (AGPT Part 5) Delivering a webinar Providing project data with a populated metadata spreadsheet Contractor Requirements All submissions that are research project based must adhere to the Austroads style requirements and the Australian Government Style Manual. Consultants engaged to deliver research reports for Austroads are required to use a standard report template designed to ensure clarity, consistency and accessibility across all published outputs. The full template will be provided upon contract commencement, however the following outlines the key requirements tenderers should be aware of: General Formatting and Style Reports must follow the Australian Government Style Manual, particularly in relation to inclusive and accessible language, grammar, punctuation and capitalisation (for example sentence case for most headings), and referencing and attribution Use pre-defined Austroads styles for all headings, body text, tables, figures and captions; manual formatting (for example changing fonts or colours directly) is not permitted The Table of Contents must be auto-generated and kept updated The report must be logically structured, with each section contributing to the report's purpose The report must be consistent, with no conflicting information or contradictions The report must be thorough, with all aspects of the agreed scope fully addressed and justified Content Development Guidelines The Summary and Section 1 (Introduction) are mandatory for all reports Reports must include appropriate referencing for external sources, data and studies Any copyrighted material used must have documented permission and be properly acknowledged A qualified editor must review the report before submission to ensure correct grammar, spelling and readability Figures and Tables All figures and tables must be sequentially numbered All figures and tables must include a clear caption inserted using the Microsoft Word Insert Caption tool Technical Details Specific instructions are included for each section within the template, including expected content, structure and formatting Reports must avoid "style corruption" often caused by copying and pasting formatted text; authors must verify styles remain consistent with Austroads' format Reports should be reviewed to ensure there is no duplication, ambiguity or omission of scope elements Contract Terms and Conditions A Master Services Agreement outlining Austroads' Terms and Conditions is included as part of this tender. Instructions to Tenderers All submissions are to be submitted as a PDF at a maximum size of 10MB All submissions are to include a completed Tender Proposal Coversheet The naming convention for submissions is: [your Company name] – [Project No.] – [any internal reference numbers]