When it is cold and the construction site are far away, we usually console ourselves with the idea that the mixture is hot inside so the cool crust may be somehow stirred into the hot mix and warmed up in the paver. The mix really is hot inside, as shown in Figure 11.12. Typical cracks in the cool crust formed on the surface of the transported mixture and its deeper cooling down by the truck’s sideboards may also be noticed. That is why it is always worth using trucks that have well-insulated boards and are tightly covered.
In cold seasons there are little chance that delivered mix will have thermal uniformity. Usually after discharge of the mixture into the paver hopper there are many cool or poorly heated fragments in the mixture. Frankly, it is not wise to be under the illusion that the cool pieces can be stirred into the mix and warmed up and that the mixture will again be homogeneously hot (though the use of MTV vehicles can help—see Chapter 10).
