About comparing the data provided:
What is important?
Which grade does my project require?
When comparing the products' known physical characteristics, please bear in mind that "resistance to pressure" is less relevant than is typically and mistakenly presumed for all types of traffic, whether for pedestrian traffic, vehicular traffic livestock/equine traffic, construction traffic, aeronautic traffic, sports/athletic fields, and so forth.
Most common misperception is that "harder" equates into "stronger" - whereas the exact opposite is true:
Increased rigidity equates into increased proneness to fracturing,
whereas increased flexibility equates into resistance to fracturing when exposed to strong dynamic forces.
Some examples follow ...
[insert frame flexible_vs_rigid_traffic_surface_pavement.htm]
Sum: If the vehicular traffic surface is more flexible, then it will more readily survive the extreme/severe horizontal and rotational torsion dynamics resulting from the drive mechanisms (i.e. the vehicles' drive axles and steering axles, or the livestock's hooves, or the human's soles).
Resistance to Pressure at the Surface (i.e. 'compressive strength' or 'loadbeaing capacity'):
A. Compressive strength is highly relevant for stationary objects.
All four of the ecoraster grades exceed the loadbearing requirements for any/all vehicles allowed, in the United States of America, on all federal and state roadways, as well as other developed nations.
B. Compressive strength is only minimally relevant to pavement engineering for vehicular traffic surfaces, it determines: "When the vehicle is stationary, will the pavement and/or the pavement driving surface support the weight of the stationary object?"
C. More highly relevant to vehicular traffic surfaces are the tensile strength + resistance to horizontal forces (i.e the forces exerted by vehicles in motion). The relevant defining questions are: " "When the vehicle is moving (NOT stationary) ...
D. Most relevant factor: FHWA Studies and Documentation regarding the relevant factors in the durability + expected lifespan of traffic pavements and surfaces ... ? more...
Defining the word "pavement."
A. the word "pavement" refers to the entire engineered structure, from its supporting base (the earth) to its traffic surface (i.e. conventional paving driving surfaces might be concrete, asphalt, gravel, dirt, or other).
B. the word "pavement" does not only refer to the smoothe driving surface.
1 - RIGHT: the "real pavement" (example is a typical pavement for an asphalt driving surface roadway);
note above that:
(i) only the top 1-2 inches of "the pavement" is the applied asphalt driving surface ... ? more...
2 - RIGHT: another typical, conventional driving surface. (example is an alternative typical asphalt design)
please note, in the above pavement design:
(i) that only the top 2-4 inches of the overall pavement (up to 24 inches or more, depending upon the pavement engineering model) is the traffic driving surface itself (in this case, asphalt);
(ii) that the "true pavement" is the entire pavement engineering design: up to 24 inches in overall depth;
(iii) and that up to 90% of the excavated + designed + executed base, as well as the prepared subgrade, entirely depend upon and derive from: the choice of the finished smoothe driving surface, asphalt;
(iv) and that the consideable, major elements within the design are engineered specifically in order to compensate for the known physical weaknesses of the asphalt;
(v) resulting in a very costly and entirely avoidable design which may be avoided: simply by avoiding the use of a rigid, impermeable, fracture-prone conventional traffic surface (i.e. conventional or porous asphalt, or conventional or permeable concrete, etc.).
3 - below is a typical traffic surface design utilitzing ecoraster.
figures 3.1: permeable engineered grass vehicular traffic surface [parking lot, fairground, city parks, etc.] design.
figure 3.2: permeable engineered stone roadway design.
C. Pavement Engineering sciences are ongoing and rapidly evolving disciplines ...
1 - because: the earth is not static, and the vehicular traffic is not static,
therefore: neither may the engineering of traffic surfaces on the earth remain static; and that
2 - because: ecoraster does not possess the known physical weaknesses of conventional paving,
therefore: the correct execution of a thoughtfully designed traffic surface utilizing ecoraster will avoid the costly, substantial design elements which are required in rigid or impermeable paving designs.
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