June 30th and July 1st, 2022 Representatives of Federal Autonomous Institution “Russian Road Research Institute (FAI ROSDORNII) and representatives of the Indian Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) under the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) discussed prospects for mutually beneficial scientific and technical cooperation between Russia and India. The countries actively develop bilateral relations including political, economic, scientific and technical cooperation.
The conference was opened by Artur Romanenko, Deputy General Director of FAI ROSDORNII. He underscored the importance of joint work aimed at improving the road transport industry of the two countries. To date, Indian-Russian relations enjoy all prerequisites for further progressive development.
“Nowadays, India and Russia have regained self-confidence based on rapid economic growth, while lots of developed countries are suffering from an economic downturn. India and Russia, as growing economic powers, are playing an increasingly important role on the world stage,” remarked Mr. Romanenko.
In-charge Director of the Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI) Shri U.K. Guruvittal presented main activities of the Institute.
“CRRI plays an important role in the road and transport sector of the country, our specialists develop standards and specifications in the road sector and implement them in conjunction with the Indian Road Congress (IRC), as well as the Indian Bureau of Standards (BIS),” noted Shri U.K. Guruvittal.
He added that the Indian Institute aims to become the world leader in integrating innovations to face the challenges of the transport sector. Institute-based research activities are carried out in the areas of transport planning and simulation, road construction, development of road building materials, and geotechnical engineering.
The key representative of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr. Rama Swami Bansal, delivered a speech about the work of its members in terms of the development of transport technologies and the study of innovative solutions of Indian scientists. According to her, the Department of DSIR under the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Government of India provides comprehensive support to innovation developers.
Mikhail Belov, Deputy Head of the Department of Intelligent Transport Systems of FAI ROSDORNII, outlined the importance of the large-scale deployment of ITS to improve the economic situation in Russia and India, as well as to modernize transport corridors at their national borders. The need for the emergence of "smart" road systems is also determined by the environmental situation. In both countries there are lots of cities with high building density and busy highways. Intelligent distribution of traffic flows in large settlements will reduce emissions harmful to the environment.
“Our Institute has developed a concept for the creation and operation of a national network of ITS on public roads. Also, at the premises of FAI ROSDORNII, Competences Center in the field of ITS was established, and there is work underway to create pilot zones for testing "smart" technologies. Their full-scale deployment on Russian roads has moved closer to materialization,” commented Mikhail Belov.
Senior Principal Scientist of the Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI) Dr. Kayitha Ravinder dwelled on the practices of applying ITS systems in India. He specified Institute's specialists engagement in comprehensive studies of traffic and transport testing methods for managing traffic interchanges and traffic simulation, as well as their involvement in conducting road safety audits.
The conference participants commented that the approaches to the development of intellectual technologies in Moscow and New Delhi are largely similar. The parties will be able to share specifics of the processes and innovative technologies in the course of further cooperation.
R&D solutions of FAI ROSDORNII could find wide deployment in the transport sector of various countries. Dr. Alexander Konorev, Head of Directorate for Advanced R&D Methods, shared with his colleagues the features of automated weight and dimension (WIM) control developments in the Russian Federation.
The federal project "Comprehensive Measures for Road Sector Development" within the national project "Safe High-Quality Roads" provides for the creation of a federal automated system for the weight and dimension (WIM) control of vehicles to reduce damage caused to the road surface by overloaded vehicles. FAI ROSDORNII conducts technological monitoring of installing such points and develops the Preliminary National Standard “Public Automobile Roads. Automated Points of Weight and Dimension Control (WIMs). Design Requirements.”
“By the end of 2024, it is planned to install 235 automatic weight and dimension control points (WIMs) on federal roads and 366 more on regional and municipal roads. Such facilities will provide autonomous control over the parameters of vehicles without reducing their speed. The mechanism will reduce the total number of violations of the permissible weight of freight transport vehicles from 35% to 8%,” said Alexander Konorev.
Dr. Serghey Mironchuk, Deputy Head of Directorate for Advanced R&D Methods of FAI ROSDORNII, spoke about accelerated methods for testing pavements, which are carried out by the Institute in different regions of Russia. For this purpose, by order of FAI ROSDORNII, the country's first wheel load simulator "Cyclos" was developed.
The facility simulates unidirectional traffic by cyclic movement of four carriages equipped with single or dual wheels with adjustable axle load. “Cyclos” reproduces up to 70 thousand load applications per day - up to 13 tons per axle. This allows to determine the strength and wear resistance of the road surface in the shortest possible time - not exceeding 90 days, depending on the pavement type.
“Cyclos” test results help developers to increase the durability of roads, improve methods for designing and calculating pavements, and choose the best pavement options at the design stage.
Dr. Alexander Kulizhnikov, Head of Directorate for Road Designing Methods, presented the paper “Non-destructive testing of road pavements and roadbeds” on the use of the high-speed ground-penetrating radar (GPR) inspection technology of the road structures.
Developments on extending pavement service life are also popular in India. Dr. Rajib Garg, Chief Scientist of the Bridge Engineering and Construction Department at the Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI), presented the main activities of his division. Its scientists develop new materials for construction, analyze stability of bridges in hazardous conditions, and are engaged in road designing.
Dr. Pradeep Kumar, the Senior Principal Scientist of the Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI), told about the work on the design of non-rigid and mixed pavements for roads and airfields, and about damage assessment.
The expert pointed that in India special pavement additives are used for bituminous binders, as well as cold and warm mixes for porthole patching.
In-charge Director and Chief Scientist of the Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI) Shri Guruvittal shared information on how remedial measures are used by the Geotechnical Engineering Department in the construction of roads, embankments, reinforced and non-reinforced slopes.
The speaker noted that the properties of soils should to be properly studied prior to utilization in road sector. Employing geosynthetics in road construction was duly shown in the informative coverage by Shri Guruvittal.
Summarizing the insights of the conference, the parties expressed their readiness to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Concluding the event, Viktor Ostrikov, Head of Directorate for Public Relations of FAI ROSDORNII, expressed his gratitude to the Indian colleagues for participating in the conference, emphasizing the scientific novelty of their approaches to solving topical problems the road industry is facing, praising their informative reports and offered the Indian party further cooperation invites in organizing scientific and practical events.