Professor Abd El Halim Omar Abd El Halim was one 5 nominees in the category “Expertise” for the first Arab Ambassadors’ Awards intended to honor Arab descent Canadians with outstanding achievements in their respective fields. The ceremony took place in June, 2013 at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Nuran AbdulMunim
Nowadays, South Stormont witnesses a geart revolution in roadwork.. After decades of roadblocks, a Carleton University professor was finally making inroads with his innovative road-paving method, a process he said would drastically not only reduce potholes but also prevent and extend the life of roadways everywhere.
Dr. Abd El Halim, professor of transportation engineering, had gotten a lot of attention recently for his Asphalt Multi-Integrated Roller – AMIR for short, named after Halim’s son.
OAPC.. The Ontario Asphalt Pavement Council organized an entire day of seminars and demonstrations to allow member of the road maintenance industry to learn about the AMIR TRAK asphalt compactor, which is being designed by a partnership between Carleton University, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO), and the Tomlinson Group – which has operations in Cornwall.
* Side-by-side!
If you were to look at the AMIR TRAK and a more conventional asphalt compactor side-by-side, you may not realize they are meant for the same job. Instead of driving on two large metal cylinders to press and flatten freshly laid asphalt, the AMIR TRAK has a set of rollers on either end that run a large rubber belt over them – like an extremely wide and flat tank tread.
* Extremely prone!
Asphalt is extremely prone to cracking, with surface cracks often forming almost immediately after it is laid. These cracks will eventually lead to the deterioration of the road over time. So the fewer cracks there are after compaction, the longer the road will last before it requires maintenance or replacement.
* No cracks!
The large and flat contact area provided by the AMIR TRAK’s design is proving to be extremely effective at doing the job with almost no cracks.
* Undeniable buzz!
On Thursday, representatives from municipalities, companies and government departments arrived at the South Stormont Township offices to learn about the new machine and see it demonstrated on the Country Road 12 overpass over Highway 401. There was an undeniable buzz about the machine and is possibilities for reducing the cost of road maintenance for their budgets and taxpayers.
* Dr. Abd El Halim.. The inventor!
The machine is the invention of Dr. Abd El Halim, who is currently a professor at Carleton University’s civil and environmental engineering department. According to Halim, the inspiration for the AMIR TRAK’s design came to him 35 years ago from a most unexpected place: pizza dough.
At the time, Halim was a student participating in an experiment using polymers to reinforce asphalt. The formula worked well in the lab, but cracks formed within 20 minutes when it was rolled outside.
Other experts suggested the formula was flawed, but Halim was not so sure. “It was enough to for me to open my eyes,” he said.
He poured some more of the asphalt in front of his own home, and the hairline cracks returned after being rolled by a compressor. When he mentioned this to the foreman, it almost started a fight.
* Why asphalt cracks!
He spent the next year trying to figure out why asphalt cracks when you roll it, and the answer came when he watched his wife rolling out pizza dough. Pizza dough is elastic and doesn’t crack, but when flour dusted on top, lines from the rolling were visible on the surface. It was another eye-opening moment.
* Pizza & asphalt!
“Everyone blames the asphalt mix, and they never say anything about the rollers, which haven’t changed in 150 years. And if it’s not the mix, it’s the operator or the weather – anything but the rollers, ” he said. “What I saw from the pizza that it was the roller. I formed a theory that any time you roll asphalt using a circular shape (like a cylinder), you will cause cracks.”
* A flat surface instead of a rounded one!
Halim put his theory to the test by coming up with new design for an asphalt compactor that used a flat surface instead of a rounded one to press the asphalt and settled on a system using a rubber belt over rollers. He created a prototype using an old Russian asphalt roller with no engine.
* Amazing!
The resulting asphalt was amazing, he said, but the new design didn’t go anywhere because he didn’t have the money to develop the idea any further. It stayed that way for decades until a few years ago.
AMIR TRAK asphalt compacter being developed at Carleton University and manufactured by Tomlinson Group.
* Mas production!
Halim had a chance encounter with a representative from MTO who he told about his old idea. Intrigued, the representative got the ministry to help develop the design as a joint project with Carleton University. Soon after Tomlinson Group brought its capital to the project, and now the machines are nearly ready for mass production.
* South Stormont first!
It’s hoped the overpass on County Road 12 in South Stormont will be one of the first of many roads to use the next generation of asphalt compression.
