The new FGSV M FP Guideline – 40 years Code of Practice on unbound concrete block pavement and slab pavement

The code of practice on pavements using concrete blocks and slabs in unbound design (M FP) published by FGSV (Forschungsgesellschaft für Straßen- und Verkehrswesen - German Research Association for Roads and Traffic) in 1983 for the first time, will be released in a revised version this year. So this code of practice is one of the oldest and most established guidelines on unbound concrete block pavements and slab pavements.

The revision which started in August 2021 was necessary, among others, to make adjustments which were required by the newly published ATV DIN 18318 in September 2019 and the newly published ZTV Pflaster-StB (Zusätzliche Technische Vertragsbedingungen zur Herstellung von Pflasterdecken im Straßenbau – Supplementary Technical Conditions of Contract for Installing Paving Block Surfaces
in Road Construction) in March 2020. The current draft to the new M FP has not yet passed the relevant committees so that the below-mentioned amendments cannot be considered as binding yet.

Planning information on soil indicators as well as fundamental information on connections to buildings will be incorporated in the construction principles. A comparatively extensive description on the mechanical behavior of unbound concrete block pavements will be given in a separate chapter.

The rigid stance taken over the past more than 20 years in respect of building materials for the bedding course will be abandoned and bedding materials with non-graded grain size distribution, such as crushed gravel 1/3 or 2/5, for example, will be recommended for applications with low loads provided that positive experiences have been made regionally. This will be added by a series of “warnings” stating what has to be considered when using crushed gravel as bedding material. In respect of the mechanical strength of bedding and joint materials, the adherence to the MM_DE value ≤ 25 according
to the TP Stein StB (technical test regulations for aggregates in road construction) part 5.5.3 (modified Micro Deval Test Method) will be recommended for the block pavement with a traffic load starting from 0.3 Bk.

The new M FP guideline is expected to be published in the second half of 2023.