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Infrastructures
Special Issues
Sustainable and Digital Transformation of Road Infrastructures
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Sustainable and Digital Transformation of Road Infrastructures

A special issue of Infrastructures (ISSN 2412-3811).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024 | Viewed by 6370

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hugo Silva

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
Interests: asphalt materials; bitumen modification; ecomaterials; waste incorporation; recycling; warm mix asphalt; advanced characterization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Joel R. M. Oliveira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
Interests: life-cycle assessment; maintenance and rehabilitation of road pavements; sustainability; pavement preservation; pavement recycling; warm mix asphalts; grouted macadams
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Traditional construction processes and materials used for road infrastructure no longer respond to the needs of a constantly changing society. Therefore, a sustainable and digital transformation of road pavements is essential to deal with limited available resources and the need for more efficient construction processes integrating sustainable and intelligent materials.

Road infrastructures are essential to how our society lives in a global market, and their sustainability is essential to ensure adequate living conditions for future generations. All current efforts to promote sustainability are crucial to meet most UN sustainable development goals.

The digital transformation of road infrastructures is also imperative to meet the challenges of competitiveness and productivity at the international level. Several digital tools have recently been developed to deal with the high amounts of data available and to support road construction and life cycle analyses. These tools will facilitate the introduction of the digital twin and building information modeling (BIM) concepts in road infrastructures, using research in cutting-edge digital areas such as augmented reality, sensing and monitoring, AI, machine learning, big data, and IoT, among others.

The present Special Issue aims to gather a series of manuscripts related to sustainable road infrastructures and their digital transformation. We invite submissions on recycled, bio-derived, and alternative sustainable materials; low energy-consuming technologies; and the life-cycle assessment of road paving technologies and materials. The road infrastructure of the future should be prepared for the demands of climate change and sustainability challenges. New digital technologies and intelligent materials are essential to achieve that objective, as they sense and monitor the road to obtain real-time data and improve asset management. Therefore, manuscripts focusing on digital twins, BIM, augmented reality, sensing and monitoring, AI, machine learning, big data, IoT, or the social aspects of their use in transport infrastructure are welcome. Additionally, papers concerned with the policies and implementation of sustainable and digital practices would be appreciated.

Dr. Hugo Silva
Dr. Joel R. M. Oliveira
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Infrastructures is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • recycling
  • waste incorporation
  • warm mix asphalts
  • bio-binders
  • life-cycle assessment
  • circular economy
  • energy-efficient technologies
  • road monitoring
  • sensors
  • building information modeling
  • digital twins
  • artificial intelligence
  • machine learning
  • Internet of things
  • big data

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 10787 KiB  
Article
Towards Sustainable Road Pavements: Sound Absorption in Rubber-Modified Asphalt Mixtures
by Freddy Richard Apaza, Víctoriano Fernández Vázquez, Santiago Expósito Paje, Federico Gulisano, Valerio Gagliardi, Leticia Saiz Rodríguez and Juan Gallego Medina
Infrastructures 2024, 9(4), 65; https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures9040065 - 25 Mar 2024
Viewed by 962
Abstract
In the last decade, various asphalt paving materials have undergone investigation for sound attenuation purposes. This research aims to delve into the innovative design of sustainable road pavements by examining sound absorption in rubber-modified asphalt mixtures. More specifically, the impact of alternative sustainable [...] Read more.
In the last decade, various asphalt paving materials have undergone investigation for sound attenuation purposes. This research aims to delve into the innovative design of sustainable road pavements by examining sound absorption in rubber-modified asphalt mixtures. More specifically, the impact of alternative sustainable materials on the sound absorption of asphalt mixtures across different temperatures, precisely crumb rubber (CR) derived from recycling of end-of-life tires, was investigated. The acoustic coefficient and its Gaussian fit parameters (Peak, BandWidth, and Area Under the Curve) were evaluated. Five different types of asphalt mixtures were studied, encompassing dense, discontinuous, and open mixtures with 0%, 0.75%, and 1.50% CR incorporated through the dry process (DP). The results of sound absorption indicated a slight influence of crumb rubber at temperatures ranging from 10 °C to 60 °C, particularly in mixtures with high void content. On the other hand, as expected, the void content proved to be highly correlated with sound absorption. These findings facilitated the establishment of predictive models that correlate acoustic absorption spectra with the characteristics of asphalt mixtures. As a result, these models will be valuable in the design of the next generation of sound-absorbing pavements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Digital Transformation of Road Infrastructures)
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21 pages, 17818 KiB  
Article
Conceptual Design of Public Charging Stations for Freight Road Transport
by Jakub Hospodka, Jindřich Sadil, Helena Bínová, Kekula František, Hykš Oldřich, Hykšová Magdalena and Neubergová Kristýna
Infrastructures 2024, 9(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures9010007 - 27 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1627
Abstract
We present a comprehensive methodology for a two-step approach to address the task at hand. The first step involves the optimal placement of charging stations, while the second step focuses on determining the necessary capacity of the charging stations based on traffic factors. [...] Read more.
We present a comprehensive methodology for a two-step approach to address the task at hand. The first step involves the optimal placement of charging stations, while the second step focuses on determining the necessary capacity of the charging stations based on traffic factors. This methodology is applicable to countries, states, or specific areas where the placement and optimization of charging stations for truck road transport are being considered. We identify the key inputs required for solving such a task. In the results section, we demonstrate the outcomes using a model example for the Czech Republic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Digital Transformation of Road Infrastructures)
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18 pages, 3248 KiB  
Article
A Big Data System Architecture to Support the Monitoring of Paved Roads
by Jorge Oliveira e Sá, Francisco Rebelo, Diogo Silva, Gabriel Teles, Diogo Ramos and José Romeu
Infrastructures 2023, 8(12), 167; https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures8120167 - 24 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1564
Abstract
Today, everything is connected, including the exchange of data and the generation of new information. As a result, large amounts of data are being collected at an ever-increasing rate and in a variety of forms, a phenomenon now known as Big Data. Recent [...] Read more.
Today, everything is connected, including the exchange of data and the generation of new information. As a result, large amounts of data are being collected at an ever-increasing rate and in a variety of forms, a phenomenon now known as Big Data. Recent developments in information and communication technologies are driving the generation of significant amounts of data from multiple sources, namely sensors. In response to these technological advances and data challenges, this paper proposes a Big Data system architecture for paved road monitoring and implements part of this architecture on a section of road in Portugal as a case study. The challenge in the case study architecture is to collect and process sensor data in real time, at a rate of 500 records per second, producing 15 GBytes of data per day, using a real-time data stream for real-time monitoring and a batch data stream for deeper analysis. This allows users to obtain instant updates on road conditions such as the number of vehicles, loads, weather, and pavement temperatures on the road. They can monitor what is happening on the road in real time, receive alerts, and even gain insight into historical data, such as analysing the condition of structures or identifying traffic patterns. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Digital Transformation of Road Infrastructures)
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23 pages, 11968 KiB  
Article
Installation and Use of a Pavement Monitoring System Based on Fibre Bragg Grating Optical Sensors
by Francisco J. P. Rebelo, Joel R. M. Oliveira, Hugo M. R. D. Silva, Jorge Oliveira e Sá, Vânia Marecos and João Afonso
Infrastructures 2023, 8(10), 149; https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures8100149 - 13 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1561
Abstract
The evolution of technological tools, namely affordable sensors for data collection, and the growing concerns about maintaining roads in adequate conditions have promoted the development of continuous pavement monitoring systems. This paper presents the installation and use of an innovative pavement monitoring system, [...] Read more.
The evolution of technological tools, namely affordable sensors for data collection, and the growing concerns about maintaining roads in adequate conditions have promoted the development of continuous pavement monitoring systems. This paper presents the installation and use of an innovative pavement monitoring system, which was developed to measure the effects of vehicle loads and temperature on the performance of a pavement structure. The sensors used are based on fibre Bragg grating optical technology, collecting data about the strains imposed in the pavement and the temperature at which those measurements are made. The site selection for the system’s installation and the essential installation details to ensure successful data collection are addressed. A calibration procedure was implemented by performing falling weight deflectometer tests and passing preweighed heavy vehicles over the sensors. In addition to validating the system installation, the results obtained in the calibration confirmed the importance of adequately choosing the distance between sensors. Differences of 50 mm in the position of the load may cause differences of about 20% to 25% in the resulting strains. These results confirmed the importance of increasing the sensor concentration in wheel paths. Furthermore, for loads between 25 kN and 65 kN, raising the temperature by 8 °C caused an increase of about 20% in the horizontal tensile strains measured in the pavement. In summary, it was possible to conclude that this innovative system is capable of capturing the effects of temperature and vehicle speed on the response of the pavement, which may be considered an advantage of this type of monitoring system when compared to those that are only used to determine the loads applied to the pavement or to characterise the type of vehicle. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable and Digital Transformation of Road Infrastructures)
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