A Comparison of Solar and Conventional Pavements Via Life Cycle Assessment

The sustainable and green development of roads is lately receiving significant attention. As a multi-functional road capable of both accommodating traffic loads and generating clean energy, solar pavements exhibit a strategic opportunity for the future path of development in the road engineering. Although solar pavements have significant environmental benefits during their operation, they can lead to increased carbon emissions during the process of material preparation, construction, maintenance, etc. Therefore, it is essential to implement the framework of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to investigate their potential environmental impacts and/or benefits. Hence, this paper systematically anal…

VIRTUAL REALITY AND BIM FOR INFRASTRUCTURES

Abstract. Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been widely adopted in the construction industry as a means of improving project efficiency, reducing errors, and facilitating collaboration among stakeholders. However, its potential for the infrastructure sector has not been fully explored. Infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges, tunnels, and airports, are often complex and require the integration of multiple systems and disciplines. BIM has the potential to provide a digital representation of the infrastructure project, allowing for improved design, construction, and maintenance. This paper aims to explore the potential benefits of BIM in the infrastructure sector, examine the c…

Investigating the Multi-Recyclability of Recycled Plastic-Modified Asphalt Mixtures

Although the benefits of asphalt recycling have been scientifically proven and several best practices are being implemented, further research is required in specific and specialized areas. One of these circumstances is the recycling of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavements (RAPs) that contain asphalt modifiers such as elastomers and/or plastomers. Following the principles of the circular economy and considering the sustainability implications of asphalt mixtures, this paper deals with the multi-recyclability of asphalt mixtures containing 50% RAP with and without a recycled plastic asphalt modifier and rejuvenating agent. The recycled plastic asphalt modifier was made of hard recycled plastics and wa…

European National Road Authorities and Circular Economy: An Insight into Their Approaches

The pavement engineering industry, having realized the significance of the impacts that it imposes on the environment through the production, construction and management of its products and assets, has been driven towards a more sustainable and circular way of operating. This has partly been through asphalt recycling, which is an area that many road authorities have prioritized. However, not all the National Road Authorities (NRAs) and/or sector stakeholders seem to be adequately familiar with the Circular Economy (CE) concept. This paper attempts to assist the transition of NRAs to a more circular way of doing business, by analyzing the current situation of CE within national/regional auth…

A Top-Down Approach Based on the Circularity Potential to Increase the Use of Reclaimed Asphalt

Resource depletion and climate change, amongst others, are increasingly worrying environmental challenges for which the road engineering sector is a major contributor. Globally, viable solutions that comply with the principles of circular economy (CE) are being investigated that can replace conventional asphalt mixtures in a post-fossil fuel society. The use of reclaimed asphalt (RA) is a widely used and well-established method to reduce the environmental and economic impacts of asphalt mixtures while increasing their circularity. However, RA’s market supply and demand have not yet been systematically analyzed and established. Moreover, the actual circularity potential and the opportu…

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF BIO-BASED ASPHALT MIXTURES: LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY, LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Increasing the Circularity of asphalt mixtures: Integrated Sustainability and Circularity Assessment as a progress monitoring tool towards more Circular and Sustainable asphalt pavements

Sustainability and Circular Economy (CE) are two concepts that lately have been profoundly linked to each other. The road engineering industry has gradually been adapting practices that are considered both circular and sustainable. However, not all of these practices entirely consider the whole life environmental and circularity assessment and implications of asphalt mixtures.; which in turn leads to doubtfully circular and sustainable approaches. For this reason in this thesis, after analysing the ways that National Road Authorities implement and communicate CE through questionnaires and web searches, a Material Circularity Index quantifying framework, based on the proposed methodology of …

Exploiting 3D Modelling and Life Cycle Assessment to Improve the Sustainability of Pavement Management

Today road agencies worldwide face difficult decisions for construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of their road infrastructure as they try to balance limited budgets. This is further complicated rising environmental concerns over equipment and techniques used for these practices. This has led agencies to consider alternative approaches for smarter and sustainable pavement asset management systems. This paper considers the use of a low-cost 3D image modelling distress identification and classification proposal for data acquisition and analysis. To establish its environmental friendliness, a case study in Palermo, Italy, is considered wherein a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) exercise is do…

Examining the critical factors that influence the success of construction and demolition waste reverse logistics operations

The reverse logistics (RL) performance of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) differs significantly between countries. Although some countries are successfully circular, other countries are still far behind; with C&DW being largely directed to landfills or being illegally dumped. There is a lack of guidelines on the requirements for transitioning countries towards C&DW diversion, and little attention has been given to the factors that influence the success of C&DW RL and increased circularity. This study aims to develop a framework that helps in structuring and assessing the success of C&DW RL on a regional level and serves as a guide for transitioning developing co…

Interpreting Life Cycle Assessment results of bio-asphalt pavements for more informed decision-making

Due to emerging climate challenges, engineers are looking to replace the conventional asphalt pavements by utilizing bio-materials combined with Reclaimed Asphalt (RA). However, there is insufficient record in the literature assessing their environmental performance. This study addresses the analysis of the results obtained from a life cycle assessment exercise of asphalt pavements containing bio-materials and RA within their binder courses, developed within the BioRePavation project. The aim is to analyze the environmental benefits achieved, by means of hotspot mapping and sensitivity analysis of the most impactful factors of their lifecycles. Two alternatives are compared to a conventiona…

STATE OF PRACTICE IN THE C&DW SECTOR WHILE PURSUING CIRCULAR ECONOMY: THE ITALIAN RECYCLED MATERIALS MARKET IN ROAD ENGINEERING

Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) is mainly produced during the construction, demolition, or renovation activities of engineering structures and it accounts for a remarkable amount of the total C&DW generated, as it is estimated to be around 30%. This proportion differs across countries belonging to different types of economies and tends to be greater in countries with developing economies reaching 74% of total annual production. There is a plethora of applications that C&DW can be used for under a circular economic model and in this research study a focus is being given in the utilization of C&DW within the pavement engineering sector, and more specifically, in the u…

UN APPROCCIO BASATO SULLA MODELLAZIONE 3D E IL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT PER UNA GESTIONE SOSTENIBILE DELLA MANUTENZIONE STRADALE

Among several goals of the road agencies, one of the most relevant is the maintenance and rehabilitation of the road pavement. The growth of traffic, the longstanding lack of funding and, sometimes, an emergency-based planning of intervention, are common drivers leading to low level of pavement conditions in terms of ride quality and safety. In addition both cost and environmental concerns due to monitoring stage are relevant issues within the management system of local and urban road network, especially. With the purpose of implementing sustainability in the road pavement management, this paper provides an approach based on coupled low- cost 3D image modelling distress identification and L…

Investigating the Viability of Multi-Recycling of Asphalt Mixtures through a Preliminary Binder Level Characterization

The incorporation of reclaimed asphalt (RA) in hot mix asphalt mixtures is widely considered a sustainable solution for road infrastructure development. Under the scope of the circular economy (CE), the multiple recycling capability of RA has to be assessed in order to ensure its performance at each recycling cycle and also its viability with different additives. The performance of asphalt mixtures with RA strongly depends on the type of rejuvenator, binder, and their degree of blending in the mix. For this reason, it is essential to know the properties of the aged binder extracted from RA to better understand its rheological properties and optimal dosage of rejuvenation to design a satisfa…

Comparing the Material Circularity Index of the Italian and Spanish motorways: A case study over the Mediterranean basin

Closely following the attempt of the pavement engineering industry to comply with the principles of Circular Economy (CE) while simultaneously promoting its principles, it can be detected that a significant effort is being made towards the minimization of the energy and raw materials usually utilized. In this regard, Reclaimed Asphalt (RA) is a product that exhibits a tremendous exploitation potential. Knowing that by definition CE is restorative [1], regenerative, and aims to keep products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times [2], i.e. it supports the “re-circulation” of materials and energy within the same or alternative product systems and thus the e…

Pavement life cycle management: Towards a sustainability assessment framework in Europe

Pavement Life Cycle Management is a 2-year international project aiming at supporting European National Road Authorities (NRAs) to introduce sustainability in their practices by providing training on Life Cycle techniques and a user-friendly package to support their widespread implementation. The first task in Pavement Life Cycle Management (Pave-mentLCM) project is the creation of a Sustainability Assessment (SA) framework that complies with EN15643-5 and consequently include the three pillars of sustainability, use a life cycle ap-proach and use quantifiable sustainability performance indicators. This paper presents the first steps towards the creation of the framework which includes the …

ISIM - INFRASTRUCTURES & STRUCTURES INFORMATION MODELING: A NEW CONCEPT OF BIM FOR INFRASTRUCTURES

The application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in infrastructure and structural projects, known as Integrated Structural and Infrastructure Modeling (ISIM), has gained attention in recent years due to its potential to revolutionize the construction industry. By providing a digital representation of the built environment, BIM allows for improved collaboration and communication between project stakeholders, leading to enhanced project outcomes. The ISIM approach is centered on the creation of a digital twin, a three-dimensional model of the infrastructure or structure, which serves as a virtual replica of the physical asset. This digital twin provides a platform for analysis, decision…

Towards more sustainable airfield pavements using life-cycle assessment of design alternatives

Airports are critical infrastructures and their success is paramount to development through tourism, trade and connectivity. Within the airport, the runway pavement must always be in a pristine condition. Consequently, pavement design and maintenance decisions are vital. Authorities must make decisions concerning preferred materials for design and maintenance. Decisions should be balanced by both economic and environmental factors. This paper considers a case study at Falcone Borsellino Airport (PMO), Palermo, Italy, where air traffic has been steadily increasing. Different pavements are proposed: flexible Asphaltic concrete designs with both traditional Asphaltic concrete and using reclaim…

Towards More Sustainable Pavement Management Practices Using Embedded Sensor Technologies

Road agencies are constantly being placed in difficult situations when making road maintenance and rehabilitation decisions as a result of diminishing road budgets and mounting environmental concerns for any chosen strategies. This has led practitioners to seek out new alternative and innovative ways of monitoring road conditions and planning maintenance routines. This paper considers the use of innovative piezo-floating gate (PFG) sensors and conventional strain gauges to continuously monitor the pavement condition and subsequently trigger maintenance activities. These technologies can help develop optimized maintenance strategies as opposed to traditional ad-hoc approaches, which often le…

From Buildings' End of Life to Aggregate Recycling under a Circular Economic Perspective: A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment Case Study

The demolition of buildings, apart from being energy intensive and disruptive, inevitably produces construction and demolition waste (C&Dw). Unfortunately, even today, the majority of this waste ends up underexploited and not considered as valuable resources to be re-circulated into a closed/open loop process under the umbrella of circular economy (CE). Considering the amount of virgin aggregates needed in civil engineering applications, C&Dw can act as sustainable catalyst towards the preservation of natural resources and the shift towards a CE. This study completes current research by presenting a life cycle inventory compilation and life cycle assessment case study of two buildin…

Understanding the current state of practice in the construction and demolition waste sector through the lenses of circular economy: The Italian recycled materials market for the road construction sector

Construction and demolition waste (CeDw) is mainly produced during the construction, demolition, or renovation activities of civil engineering structures and it accounts for a remarkable amount of the total C&Dw generated, as it is estimated to be around 30%. This proportion differs between countries belonging to different types of economies and tends to be greater in countries with developing economies reaching 74% of total annual production. There is a plethora of applications that C&Dw can be used for under a circular economic model and in this research a focus is being given in the exploitation of C&Dw within the pavement engineering sector, and more specifically, in the uti…

Uncertainty analysis of life cycle assessment of asphalt surfacings

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of asphalt pavements are associated with significant uncertainty resulting from variability in the quantity and impact of individual components, the quality of data for each component, and variability of asphalt durability. This study presents a framework to quantify and incorporate the uncertainty of LCA and asphalt durability data into LCA of asphalt surfacings. The suggested framework includes: estimating the uncertainty of asphalt production processes by the pedigree matrix method, conducting a deterministic LCA, applying Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) to estimate the probability density functions (PDFs) of the considered impacts using the uncertainty data,…

The Sustainability of Reclaimed Asphalt as a Resource for Road Pavement Management through a Circular Economic Model

The transition of the road engineering industry to a circular way of doing business requires more efficient and sustainable resources, energy, and waste management. The rates in which reclaimed asphalt is being recycled or reused in the asphalt mixture production process constitutes a crucial parameter in this transition. This paper aims at establishing a further step towards the combined circularity and sustainability of asphalt pavements, by introducing a framework for quantifying their Material Circularity Index. The framework is based on the methodology proposed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and accordingly tailored for the context of asphalt pavements. This study, thus, attempts to…

Integrating Circularity in the Sustainability Assessment of Asphalt Mixtures

Rising concerns about the impacts that the road engineering industry is imposing to the environment have redirected national road authorities to firmly re-consider the sustainability implications of their operations. Lately, though, sustainability has established a forceful correlation with the Circular Economy and its principles. The road engineering industry, therefore, is moving towards more circular approaches. However, this is occurring without the assessment of the potential impacts of such a transition. For this reason, in this study, a composite indicator, namely, Environmental Sustainability and Circularity indicator (ESCi), for investigating the potential effects that increased ci…

Increasing the Use of Reclaimed Asphalt in Italy towards a Circular Economy: A Top-Down Approach

This contribution concerns recommendations which could be made to Italian regulatory bodies to improve their use of reclaimed asphalt (RA) in the road engineering sector. It is essential for the use of RA to be established as a standard practice since it has been proven that it can serve as an end-of-waste product that complies with the principles of a circular economy within both an open- and a closed-loop approach [1,2]. Several aspects will be covered, starting with an analysis of European nations whose economies can be classed as “more circular” compared to Italy’s. This refers to nations which have a high usage of RA. Furthermore, nations which have clear regulatory guidelines on the u…