Engineering Commons^™

A New Materials And Design Approach For Roads, Bridges, Pavement, And Concrete, Alan Fuchs, Tathagata Acharya, Luis Cabrales, Jesse Bergkamp, Nyakundi Michieka

Mineta Transportation Institute

Increased understanding of demand for transport energy and how to improve road pavement materials would enable decision makers to make environmental, financial, and other positive changes in future planning and design of roads, bridges, and other important transportation structures. This research comprises three studies focused on pavement materials and a fourth study that examines energy demand within the road transportation sector. These studies are as follows:

1. A techno-economic study of ground tire rubber as an asphalt modifier;

2. A computational fluid dynamics analysis comparing the urban heat island effect of two different pavement materials – asphalt and Portland Cement …

Green Up Pavement Rehabilitation Design Tool, Dragos Andrei, Robert E. Kochan, Jose H. Perez

Mineta Transportation Institute

While designers produce pavement rehabilitation recommendations every day, for projects of all sizes, most designers have little information on the environmental impact of their recommendations. This research developed a new decision tool, called the “Green Up Pavement Rehabilitation Design Tool,” to allow the comparison of different rehabilitation solutions in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and to encourage sustainable practices such as materials recycling and the use of permeable, cool, and quiet pavement surfaces. The project aligns with the major goal of California Senate Bill 1, which is “to address deferred maintenance on the state highway system and the local street …