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Sustainability in Pavement Design and Pavement Management

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 45521

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Adelino Jorge Lopes Ferreira

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Coimbra, 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: pavement design; pavement maintenance management; maintenance and rehabilitation of pavements; pavement energy harvesting; pavement management systems; transport infrastructure management; road safety management systems
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Prof. Dr. João Santos

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Guest Editor

Department of Construction Management and Engineering (CME), Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET), University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
Interests: operational research methods applied to life cycle sustainability and resilience assessment; combinatorial optimization; metaheuristics; multicriteria decision analysis (mcda); data mining and statistical modelling; climate change and extreme events impacts on the new and existing civil infrastructure systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Boosted by the increasing global awareness of sustainability principles and the effects of climate change, an ever-growing number of governments, transport infrastructure management agencies and private infrastructure owners are all striving to make their business more sustainable. Within this context, road and airport pavements are a type of transport infrastructure particularly meaningful for consideration due to the existing long service life requirements, the considerable consumption of energy and non-renewable resources, and the significant generation of emissions and waste during their construction, maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R).

Moreover, ongoing efforts devoted to promoting sustainable practices often tend to focus on pavement design, paving materials selection, mixtures production and the construction activities. While these factors related to the non-operational life cycle phase are all worthy of consideration, there may be significant sustainability opportunities that are missed by neglecting the benefits resulting from considering, in an integrated way, the triple bottom line principles in the whole pavement’s life cycle, the recent advances in computational optimization and simulation techniques and the availability of cheap computational capabilities.

Articles are welcome on this Special Issue which enhance stakeholders' capacity to make strategic and more informed decisions regarding the design, construction, M&R and operation of road and airport pavements that would ultimately enhance the sustainability of transportation systems. Specifically, the studies of this Special Issue are expected to address cutting edge research and development in the following topics:

Pavement design methodologies.
Construction techniques and strategies.
Rehabilitation, preservation, and maintenance strategies.
Pavement Management Systems.
Pavement maintenance optimization models.
Pavement performance prediction models.
User costs models.
Life-Cycle Cost Analysis.
Life-Cycle Assessment.
Social Life-Cycle Assessment.
Life-Cycle Sustainability Assessment.
Triple Bottom Line Sustainability Analysis.
Context-Sensitive Life Cycle Inventory Data.
Multicriteria Decision Making Methods.
Artificial Intelligence applied to pavements.
System Dynamics.
Agent-Based Modeling.
Operational Research Methods applied to pavements.
Other advanced analytical and computational techniques applied to pavements.

Prof. Adelino Ferreira
Prof. João Santos
Guest Editors

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Keywords

Roads
Airports
Pavement Design
Pavement Management
Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Pavements
Sustainability
Life-Cycle Assessment
Life-Cycle Cost Analysis
Life-Cycle Sustainability Assessment
Optimization Models
Artificial Intelligence
Simulation Models
Operational Research Methods

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Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 7550 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Are Permeable Pavements a Sustainable Solution? A Qualitative Study of the Usage of Permeable Pavements

by Dansani Vasanthan Muttuvelu, Simon Wyke and Jes Vollertsen

Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 12432; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912432 - 29 Sep 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6993

Abstract

This paper contains an interview-based study focusing on permeable pavements as part of sustainable drainage systems. Climate change is causing pluvial flooding, according to the newest IPCC report. This mostly affects urban areas in cities due to: (1) limited capacity of existing drainage systems during heavy-intensity rainfall over a short period of time and (2) limited space for ditches in city areas. Permeable pavements are, therefore, sustainable drainage solutions which combine road infrastructure with water infrastructure. Are permeable pavements a preferable sustainable solution? To answer that question, 24 respondents were interviewed. The interview study was based on a semi-structured interview methodology. A lessons-learned experience was gathered, and the following conclusions were contrived: Firstly, official guidelines on how to construct, consult, and maintain permeable pavements are required. Secondly, more contractors should be able to offer the same product. Finally, official guidelines on the relationship between the contractors are required. These three indicators were extracted from the study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Pavement Design and Pavement Management)

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16 pages, 3902 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Predicting Pavement Structural Condition Using Machine Learning Methods

by Nazmus Sakib Ahmed, Nathan Huynh, Sarah Gassman, Robert Mullen, Charles Pierce and Yuche Chen

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8627; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148627 - 14 Jul 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2088

Abstract

State departments of transportation recognize the need to incorporate pavement structural condition in their pavement performance models and/or decision processes used to select candidate projects for preservation, rehabilitation, or reconstruction at the network level. However, pavement structural condition data are costly to obtain. To this end, this paper develops and evaluates the effectiveness of two machine learning methods, Random Forest (RF) and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), for predicting a flexible pavement’s structural condition. The aim is to be able to predict whether a pavement section’s structural condition is poor or not based on Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT), truck percentage, and speed limit. The structural condition of a pavement is considered poor if the Surface Curvature Index (SCI₁₂) is above 3.3. The models are developed using 950 miles of Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD) data collected along 8 primary routes in South Carolina. The performance of the machine learning models was compared with that of a logistic regression model. When the trained models are applied to the test data, the prediction results indicated that the XGBoost and RF models outperform the logistic regression model by 12% and 8%, respectively. XGBoost outperformed RF by 4%. With XGBoost found to be the best among the three models evaluated, its performance was examined using other poor structural condition threshold values; its prediction accuracy is found to be robust across the different scenarios. AADT and truck percentages are found to be significant factors whereas speed limit has no effect on a pavement’s structural condition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Pavement Design and Pavement Management)

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20 pages, 2201 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Comparative Study of Probabilistic and Deterministic Methods for the Direct and Indirect Costs in Life-Cycle Cost Analysis for Airport Pavements

by Peyman Babashamsi, Shabir Hussain Khahro, Hend Ali Omar, Sri Atmaja P. Rosyidi, Abdulnaser M Al-Sabaeei, Abdalrhman Milad, Munder Bilema, Muslich Hartadi Sutanto and Nur Izzi Md Yusoff

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 3819; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14073819 - 24 Mar 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3022

Abstract

Airports play a critical role in transporting goods and passengers and supporting the growth of the world economy. Airports spend huge sums annually to maintain and improve pavement functions by expanding the runways, taxiways, and aprons, and perform routine maintenance and rehabilitation of the existing pavements. Besides the traditional direct costs, a comprehensive airport pavement management system should also consider indirect costs such as fuel, crew, passenger delay, aircraft maintenance, and loss of airport revenue when conducting a life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA). Engineers, managers, and stakeholders can make better decisions on the appropriate pavement maintenance and rehabilitation strategies by performing economic analyses of the direct and indirect costs. This study performed probabilistic and deterministic LCCA to contrast the effect of direct costs vis-a-vis indirect costs in airport pavement management. A case study found that indirect costs could contribute up to 20% of the total costs when using Portland cement concrete (PCC), hot mixed asphalt (HMA), and crack seat overlay (CSOL). Previous research did not give much attention to maintenance since the researchers believed that routine maintenance makes up only an insignificant percentage of the LCCA. However, routine maintenance of HMA and CSOL makes up 10.2% and 14.2% of the total cost. The rehabilitation cost of PCC makes up 16.3% of the total cost, and the rehabilitation cost for HMA and CSOL makes up 25.4% and 35.2% of the total cost. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Pavement Design and Pavement Management)

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21 pages, 6161 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Linear Deformation and Unloading Stiffness Characteristics of Asphalt Mixtures Incorporating Various Aggregate Gradations

by Mujasim Ali Rizvi, Ammad Hassan Khan, Zia ur Rehman, Aasim Inam and Zubair Masoud

Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 8865; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13168865 - 8 Aug 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3008

Abstract

Optimum stiffness and linear deformation in the unloading phase are fundamental properties of asphalt mixtures required for the durability of flexible pavements. In this research, blends of six different aggregate gradations were used for two base course (BC) and four wearing course (WC) asphalt mixtures. Stability and indirect tensile strength of resulting asphalt mixtures were evaluated to relate to viscoelastic unloading deformation and resilient moduli (instantaneous (MRI) and total (MRT)) at 25 °C using a 40/50 binder for 0.1 and 0.3 s load durations. Results indicated that an increase in coarse aggregate proportion from 48 to 70% for BC has shown a 12% and 14% increase in MRT for 0.1 and 0.3 s load durations, respectively, and an increase in coarse aggregate proportion from 41 to 57.5% for WC has caused a 26% and 20% increase in MRI for 0.1 and 0.3 s load durations, respectively. The same coarse aggregate proportions showed an increase in linear viscoelastic deformation at 0.1 s load duration from 54.6 to 68.2% for WC and from 53.0 to 62.7% for BC, whereas for 0.3 s load duration linear viscoelastic deformation increased from 58.1 to 69.1% for WC and 64.3 to 69.2% for BC. The findings of this study will assist in the selection of aggregate gradations to be used in wearing and base course asphalt mixtures for pavement design, construction and maintenance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Pavement Design and Pavement Management)

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20 pages, 4863 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Innovative Model of Runway Sustainable Management on Smaller Regional Airports

by Boštjan Kovačič, Damjan Doler and Drago Sever

Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 652; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020652 - 12 Jan 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3144

Abstract

Airport runways are exposed to large traffic loads and other external factors which cause their transformation. Monitoring the state of the unevenness and determining the runway defectiveness is a complex procedure which includes fast and qualitative measurements of the execution of flatness, their evaluation and the determination of the level of runway defectiveness. For this purpose, an improved process of determining airport runway defectiveness is proposed, based on geodetic survey and the management information system prototype, which enables evaluating the results of the executed survey and suggesting the runway maintenance measures. A similar analysis of the considered data on the example of a smaller, regional airport in Maribor, Slovenia, was performed with the help of our own algorithm, which, on various platforms, enables the tabular and graphical display of surface irregularities. The algorithm prototype allows the automated monitoring and evaluating of the unevenness or runway states, determining their defectiveness and advising adequate action. With the help of the suggested method and developed information system prototypes, it is possible to confirm the demand for professionally adequate and on-time planning of necessary maintenance works, with which it is surely possible to prevent an eventual unexpected closing of the runway and related costs. The suggested method is also usable in evaluating the state of other traffic infrastructure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Pavement Design and Pavement Management)

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13 pages, 8599 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Detection of Road Surface Changes from Multi-Temporal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Images Using a Convolutional Siamese Network

by Truong Linh Nguyen and DongYeob Han

Sustainability 2020, 12(6), 2482; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062482 - 22 Mar 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3838

Abstract

Road quality commonly decreases due to aging and deterioration of road surfaces. As the number of roads that need to be surveyed increases, general maintenance—particularly surveillance—can be quite costly if carried out using traditional methods. Therefore, using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and deep learning to detect changes via surveys is a promising strategy. This study proposes a method for detecting changes on road surfaces using pairs of UAV images captured at different times. First, a convolutional Siamese network is introduced to extract the features of an image pair and a Euclidean distance function is applied to calculate the distance between two features. Then, a contrastive loss function is used to enlarge the distance between changed feature pairs and reduce the distance between unchanged feature pairs. Finally, the initial change map is improved based on the preliminary differences between the two input images. Our experimental results confirm the effectiveness of this approach. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Pavement Design and Pavement Management)

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16 pages, 3689 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Life Cycle Costs Analysis of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) Under Future Climate

by Yaning Qiao, Eshan Dave, Tony Parry, Omar Valle, Lingyun Mi, Guodong Ni, Zhenmin Yuan and Yuefeng Zhu

Sustainability 2019, 11(19), 5414; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11195414 - 30 Sep 2019

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 5424

Abstract

Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) has received wide application in asphalt pavement construction and maintenance and it has shown cost-effectiveness over virgin hot mix asphalt (HMA). HMA with a high content of reclaimed asphalt (RA) (e.g., 40%) is sometimes used in practice, however, it may have significant adverse effects on the life cycle performance and related costs. In particular, challenges may arise as the life cycle performance of RAP is also affected by local climatic conditions. Thus, it is important to investigate whether it is still economic to use RAP under future local climate, with consideration of life cycle performance. A case study was conducted for various road structures on Interstate 95 (I-95) in New Hampshire (NH), USA for the investigation. The case study utilized dynamic modulus testing results for local virgin HMA and HMA with 40% RA (as major material alternatives) to predict life cycle performance of the selected pavement structures, considering downscaled future climates. Then, a life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) was considered to estimate and compare the life cycle cash flow of the investigated road structures. Responsive maintenance (overlay) and effectiveness were also considered in this study. It was found that using 40% RA in HMA can reduce agency costs by up to approximately 18% under the 2020–2040 predicted climate and NH should consider this practice under predicted future climate to reduce agency costs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Pavement Design and Pavement Management)

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15 pages, 3252 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Incorporating Dynamic Traffic Distribution into Pavement Maintenance Optimization Model

by Xinhua Mao, Changwei Yuan and Jiahua Gan

Sustainability 2019, 11(9), 2488; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092488 - 28 Apr 2019

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2691

Abstract

An optimal pavement maintenance strategy can keep the pavement performance at a high level under budget constraint. However, the impact of changes in traffic distribution caused by maintenance actions on user costs is rarely investigated in existing approaches. This research aims to solve the optimization of pavement maintenance strategy using a multi-stage dynamic programming model combined with the stochastic user equilibrium model, which can simulate the dynamic traffic distribution in the life cycle. To deal with the proposed model, a heuristic iterative algorithm is put forward. Ultimately, a hypothetical network is established to test the model and algorithm. The testing results prove that the proposed framework has an advantage in assessing user costs comprehensively and can provide an effective and optimal pavement maintenance strategy in a 30-year life cycle, which improves the efficiency of budget and pavement conditions. Additionally, this research provides quantitative evidence of interdependency in a road network, i.e., pavement maintenance actions on links can interfere with the user costs and traffic flow distribution in the whole network, which should be taken into account in pavement maintenance decision-making. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Pavement Design and Pavement Management)

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Review

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21 pages, 1128 KiB

Open AccessReview

Flexible Pavements and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Review and Implications

by Yaning Qiao, Andrew R. Dawson, Tony Parry, Gerardo Flintsch and Wenshun Wang

Sustainability 2020, 12(3), 1057; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031057 - 2 Feb 2020

Cited by 69 | Viewed by 13530

Abstract

Flexible pavements and climate are interactive. Pavements are climate sensitive infrastructure, where climate can impact their deterioration rate, subsequent maintenance, and life-cycle costs. Meanwhile, climate mitigation measures are urgently needed to reduce the environmental impacts of pavements and related transportation on the macroclimate and microclimate. Current pavement design and life cycle management practices may need to be modified to adapt to changing climates and to reduce environmental impacts. This paper reports an extensive literature search on qualitative and quantitative pavement research related to climate change in recent years. The topics cover climate stressors, sensitivity of pavement performance to climatic factors, impacts of climate change on pavement systems, and, most importantly, discussions of climate change adaptation, mitigation, and their interactions. This paper is useful for those who aim to understand or research the climate resilience of flexible pavements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in Pavement Design and Pavement Management)

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