The BIM (Building Information Modeling)-Based Approach for Road Pavement Maintenance

2019

The recent developments of road pavement survey technologies guarantee acquisition of detailed data regarding the main functional and structural indicators, at a very high frequency and levels of accuracy and precision unconceivable few years ago. The relevant information, regarding surface distresses too, is thus available in economical, high-speed and high-resolution forms, with limited disturbance on traffic and road agencies issues. However, the availability of such a mass of data poses interesting questions concerning the most efficient processing and analysis methods, for optimizing maintenance operation planning. Unfortunately, the PMS adoption is not very common and widespread, as t…

Using Genetic Algorithms for Optimizing the PPC in the Highway Horizontal Alignment Design.

2016

Various studies have emphasized the interesting advantages related to the use of new transition curves for improving the geometric design of highway horizontal alignments. In a previous paper, one of the writers proposed a polynomial curve, called a polynomial parametric curve (PPC), proving its efficiency in solving several design problems characterized by a very complex geometry (egg-shaped transition, transition between reversing circular curves, semidirect and inner-loop connections, and so on). The PPC also showed considerable advantages from a dynamic perspective, as evidenced by the analysis of the main dynamic variables related to motion (as well as rate of change of radial accelera…

Project duration evaluated using affine arithmetic

2016

A civil engineering work can be performed by organizing the available resources (manpower, equipment and materials) in many different ways. Each different configuration results in a realization time and a cost that a building company has to bear. To produce reliable duration forecasts and money savings, it is essential to take into account all the uncertainties involved in the project operations. Generally, since it is impractical to process numerous uncertain variables - also undefined from a statistical point of view -, traditional probabilistic methods involve application difficulties for complex environments such as construction sites. To properly handle this issue, the authors propose …

Hybrid Procedure for Automated Detection of Cracking with 3D Pavement Data

2016

Pavement cracks are considered a major indicator of pavement performance. Because traditional manual crack surveys are dangerous, time consuming, and expensive, technologies have been developed to collect high-speed pavement images, and numerous algorithms have been proposed to detect cracks on pavement surface. The latest PaveVision3D Ultra system (3D Ultra) has been implemented to achieve 30-kHz three-dimensional (3D) scanning rate for 1-mm resolution pavement surface data at highway speed up to 100 km/h (60  mi/h). This paper presents the application of a hybrid procedure for automated crack detection on 3D pavement data collected using 3D Ultra. The procedure combines three different me…

Potentialities of a Highway Alignment Optimization Method in an I-BIM Environment

2019

The BIM (Building Information Modeling) approach potential in the civil engineering field opened novel scenarios in the design idea concept, from planning to executive and constructive phases. The related advantages are numerous and not only limited to a real-time interaction among the involved subjects, that can actually operate in an optimized 3D shared environment. Owing to the sharing information philosophy and to the features of various "smart objects" combined in the project, this innovation reduces potential errors and increases the effectiveness of the design solution in terms of both functionality and cost. Despite these advantages, the highway alignment design problem remains very…

An ANN model to correlate roughness and structural performance in asphalt pavements

2017

Abstract In this paper, using a large database from the Long Term Pavement Performance program, the authors developed an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to estimate the structural performance of asphalt pavements from roughness data. Considering advantages of modern high-performance survey devices in the acquisition of road pavement functional parameters, it would be of practical significance if the structural state of a pavement could be estimated from its functional conditions. To differentiate various road section conditions, several significant input parameters, related to traffic, weather, and structural aspects, have been included in the analysis. The results are very interesting and …

Automatic crack detection results using a novel device for survey and analysis of road pavement condition

2019

To accurately schedule maintenance operations, it is crucial to monitor the pavement state and, thus, evaluate the structural and functional indices during its entire service life. In particular, surface conditions (cracks, potholes, patches, rutting, etc.) must be properly checked – especially in terms of detection, identification, and classification of distresses – for avoiding reaching dangerous values for users (overpassing safety thresholds). However, monitoring and survey activities can be so costly (not only in economic terms, but further considering the execution time) to discourage their execution, with evident drawbacks for a proper maintenance management and the related intervent…

How is the Driver's Workload Influenced by the Road Environment?

2017

Abstract This paper focuses on the study of the driver's workload while driving on a rural two-lane road with different traffic flows. The aim of the research is to examine a parameter that could be representative of the driving effort, quite sensible to the external factors that cause disturbance to the regular driving activity. To solve this problem, the authors used a specific instrumented vehicle for monitoring some physiological parameters of the driver (as the eye movements and the Galvanic Skin Resistance), referring their values to the road context. The results are very interesting and confirm that knowing the workload is useful to improve the road safety only if it is related to th…

ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT VISUAL STRATEGIES OF 'ISOLATED VEHICLE' AND 'DISTURBED VEHICLE'

2017

This paper analyses the driver’ visual behaviour in the different conditions of ‘isolated vehicle’ and ‘disturbed vehicle’. If the meaning of the former is clear, the latter condition considers the influence on the driving behaviour of various objects that could be encountered along the road. These can be classified in static (signage, stationary vehicles at the roadside, etc.) and dynamic objects (cars, motorcycles, bicycles). The aim of this paper is to propose a proper analysis regarding the driver’s visual behaviour. In particular, the authors examined the quality of the visually informa-tion acquired from the entire road environment, useful for detecting any critical safety condition. …

Road Functional Classification Using Pattern Recognition Techniques

2019

The existing international standards suggest a methodology to assign a specific functional class to a road, by the values of some features, both geometrical and use-related. Sometimes, these characteristics are in contrast with each other and direct the analyst towards conflicting classes for a road or, worse, one or more of these features vary heterogeneously along the road. In these conditions, the analyst assigns the class that, by his capability and experience, he retains the most appropriate, in a very subjective way. On the contrary, the definition of an automatic procedure assuring an objective identification of the most appropriate functional class for each road would be desirable. …

Compaction of Open-Graded HMAs Evaluated by a Fuzzy Clustering Technique

2015

The aim of this paper is the proposal of an expeditious procedure to be used during the execution of an asphalt layer for improving the compaction task. This procedure, based on a fuzzy clustering technique, starts from the knowledge of some information recorded by ordinary measuring instruments and provides an aid to the decision-maker on the number of roller passes needed to achieve a specific density at a certain temperature. This result can be deduced with great rapidity during the paving operations on site without waiting for the time spent in the core extraction and in the subsequent laboratory analysis. In this way it is possible to identify more precisely which aspects of the execut…

Laboratory and in-situ tests for estimating improvements in asphalt concrete with the addition of an LDPE and EVA polymeric compound

2019

Abstract Pavement deformation is a critical issue in the design of pavement structures and the related mixture. Asphalt concretes may be very sensitive to this problem, in compliance with the viscoelastic behaviour of the adopted bitumen. To improve the material performance, many attempts have been made to introduce in the mixture other materials as “modifiers” or “additives” for increasing the permanent deformation resistance and the elastic modulus of the material. Among the different possible materials, polymers determined significant improvements in the road pavement performance. In this paper, the authors tested the adoption of a specifically engineered polymeric compound, in order to …

Time reduction for completion of a civil engineering construction using fuzzy clustering techniques

2017

In the civil engineering field, there are usually unexpected troubles that can cause delays during execution. This situation involves numerous variables (resource number, execution time, costs, working area availability, etc.), mutually dependent, that complicate the definition of the problem analytical model and the related resolution. Consequently, the decision-maker may avoid rational methods to define the activities that could be conveniently modified, relying only on his personal experience or experts’ advices. In order to improve this kind of decision from an objective point of view, the authors analysed the operation correction using a data mining technique, called Fuzzy Clustering. …

Optimizing artificial neural networks for the evaluation of asphalt pavement structural performance

2019

Artificial Neural Networks represent useful tools for several engineering issues. Although they were adopted in several pavement-engineering problems for performance evaluation, their application on pavement structural performance evaluation appears to be remarkable. It is conceivable that defining a proper Artificial Neural Network for estimating structural performance in asphalt pavements from measurements performed through quick and economic surveys produces significant savings for road agencies and improves maintenance planning. However, the architecture of such an Artificial Neural Network must be optimised, to improve the final accuracy and provide a reliable technique for enriching d…

Apparato per tracciare lo stato della superficie di un pavimento e procedimento di bilanciamento dinamico di un tale apparato

2016

Un algoritmo PSO per l’ottimizzazione planimetrica dei tracciati stradali

2013

Questo studio propone un algoritmo di ricerca basato sulla tecnica di Intelligenza Artificiale di tipo Swarm (Particle Swarm Optimization - PSO) che consente di ottimizzare la geometria dei tracciati stradali, minimizzando una particolare funzione di costo che tiene conto di voci condizionanti la geometria del tracciato e di penalità relative ai vincoli presenti nel territorio. La pianificazione e la progettazione di un tracciato stradale costituiscono fasi intense di studio, fondamentali per garantire la sicurezza dell’infrastruttura. Definire un tracciato corretto, nel rispetto dei vincoli, può richiedere molto tempo e solo l’esperienza del Progettista e una approfondita analisi del terri…