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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 21 September 2025 | Viewed by 16920

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Vítor Antunes

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Engineering, Lusófona University, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: bituminous mixtures design and technologies; circular economy; eco-efficient pavement solutions; life cycle analysis; life cycle cost analysis; materials characterization; multi-recycling capacity of bituminous mixtures; pavement design, modelling and maintenance; pavement materials; pavement performance; reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP); rejuvenation and ageing effects; reflective characteristics of bituminous mixture surface; sustainability; transportation geotechnics; testing and evaluation

Dr. Ana Cristina Freire

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Guest Editor

Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, Av. do Brasil, 101, 1700-066 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: pavement materials and construction technologies, including innovative technologies and alternative/recycled/sustainable materials; behavior assessment of road and airport pavements; circular economy; extreme weather events; mitigation of climate change effects; life cycle assessment (LCA); greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. José Neves

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Guest Editor

CERIS, Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Georesources, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: road and airfield infrastructure systems; pavement design and analysis; pavement materials; pavement construction and maintenance technologies; pavement management and performance; sustainability; safety; transportation geotechnics; testing and evaluation; quality management systems; intelligent transportation systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a new Special Issue “Sustainability in Pavement Materials and Design”, of the journal Sustainability.

Transportation infrastructures are fundamental for global development, promoting socio-economic opportunities, and enabling economies to operate more competitively. In particular, pavement construction and maintenance activities have contributed significantly to the 34% of construction and demolition waste of the total generated worldwide. The world economy needs to grow and develop; however, the paradigm must change to a sustainable development based on a responsible consumption of natural resources and eco-efficient design of new products and solutions. The design of eco-efficient pavements considering the use of recycled products and/or bio-based solutions is a step forward in the direction of sustainable economies. This approach is aligned with the circular economy of materials, which considers preventing waste by extending the life cycles of materials without downgrading their functionality. The multi-recycling capacity of materials also plays an important role. The use of rejuvenators can contribute to recovering materials’ properties, adding value to the materials and contributing to solutions with similar or better performances. A life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) is fundamental to validate the impacts of the new solutions.

This Special Issue focuses on eco-efficient pavement design and sustainable materials for paving solutions, aiming to reduce the use of natural resources and the amount of waste generated during construction and maintenance actions. It aims to cover eco-efficient design solutions that can ensure that sustainable development aligns with international goals, which is in line with the aim of the journal Sustainability.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include, but are not limited to the following:

Bio-Green-Circular economy by creating value to the products using bio-based solutions or recycled materials.
Eco-efficient pavement design considering the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources for the low-impact development of economies.
Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) of solutions.
Multi-recycling capacity of materials.
The application of rejuvenators to recover materials’ properties and add value.
Paving materials for bound and unbound layers.

Prof. Dr. Vítor Antunes
Dr. Ana Cristina Freire
Prof. Dr. José Neves
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

Bio-Green-Circular economy
circular economy
durability
eco-efficient pavement design
life cycle analysis
life cycle cost analysis
low-impact development
multi-recycling capacity
paving materials
rejuvenators
sustainability

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 8906 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical Evaluation of Suction Effects and Groundwater Table Variations on Long-Term Pavement Subgrade Performance

by Siva Ram Karumanchi, Anirban Mandal and Stanislav Lenart

Sustainability 2024, 16(21), 9469; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16219469 - 31 Oct 2024

Viewed by 557

Abstract

Over the past few decades, flexible pavements across the globe have seen a significant reduction in their service life due to climate changes. The flexible pavements with unsaturated subgrades undergo volumetric changes during the drying and wetting phases, affecting their long-term deformation behavior. These phases cause significant variations in matric suction and groundwater table depth. This study employs a coupled pore pressure-deformation analysis on flexible pavements to investigate the impact of groundwater table depth and suction variations in unsaturated subgrades. Finite-element simulations using the Abaqus and developed USDFLD code were validated against literature data. Sensitivity analysis was conducted by varying the suctions in subgrades during drying and subsequent wetting to evaluate the groundwater table depth. Furthermore, under heavy cyclic wheel loading, pavement-deformation analysis was conducted to investigate the influence of subgrade suction. The findings demonstrate that, after an initial drying phase at 5000 kPa suction, wetting over 180 days caused the groundwater level to rise from 5.45 m beneath the subgrade to the surface. This led to a 98% increase in surface-vertical deformations due to cyclic wheel loading after 180 days of wetting compared to the deformations during the drying phase at the same suction level. This assessment of groundwater-depth variations and long-term deformation behavior with the impact of suction improves the design and sustainability of flexible pavements. Full article

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

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18 pages, 1944 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Critical Review of Pavement Design Methods Based on a Climate Approach

by Juan F. Mendoza-Sanchez, Elia M. Alonso-Guzman, Wilfrido Martinez-Molina, Hugo L. Chavez-Garcia, Rafael Soto-Espitia, Horacio Delgado-Alamilla and Saul A. Obregon-Biosca

Sustainability 2024, 16(16), 7211; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16167211 - 22 Aug 2024

Viewed by 1668

Abstract

The design of flexible road pavements is a complex process as a result of the multiple variables that influence and interact in the models that allow the design of each layer. In recent years, a particular interest has been raised to ensure that climate is considered in pavement design due to temperature and precipitation that influence the deterioration of pavements, impacting their service life. This paper presents a critical review of flexible pavement design methods, from the first ones based on experience, such as empirical methods, to the most recent ones on mechanical–empirical methodologies, where, based on different principles, they determine the thicknesses of the layers that integrate the structure of a pavement to identify how these methods have included climate variables within their methodology. Through this review, it was identified that temperature is incorporated in the dynamic modulus of the asphalt mix, and precipitation and moisture are incorporated through the resilient modulus in the granular layers (base, subbase, and foundation soil or subgrade courses). As a result, it was identified that the most holistic way of integrating climate is through the Enhanced Integrated Climatic Model (EICM) from the Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). In many cases, climate is incorporated through parameters whose behavior is associated with temperature and precipitation but does not use the data of these climate variables directly from the project site. The practical incorporation of climate into design methods allows an increase in the certainty of results, ensuring additional climate-resilient pavement structures and increasing their durability and sustainability during their service life. Full article

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

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31 pages, 26063 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design and Construction Aspects of Concrete Block Paved Vertical Traffic-Calming Devices Located in Home Zone Areas

by Stanisław Majer, Alicja Sołowczuk and Marek Kurnatowski

Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 2982; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072982 - 3 Apr 2024

Viewed by 1006

Abstract

In recent years, speed reduction measures have been increasingly used, especially in heavily urbanised areas. If local conditions allow, traffic-calming schemes are implemented, which include a variety of traffic-calming measures (TCM). Some of the most common traffic-calming measures are concrete block paved vertical traffic-calming devices (VTCDs), including speed tables, speed humps, speed bumps and raised pedestrian crossings. Different design and construction recommendations apply to the respective VTCD types. The aim of this article is to examine the effectiveness of VTCDs in speed reduction and the impact of horizontal forces on pavement conditions, both within and beyond VTCDs, after over a dozen years of exposure to traffic. For this purpose, speed surveys were carried out on selected two-way streets running through home zones in Poland. The pavements on selected VTCDs were identified and visually assessed for damage, and subsidence areas were estimated using the terrestrial laser scanning (TSL) technique. The analysis resulted in the development of the Deviation Model 3D (DM3D), showing local deviations from the theoretical surface, obtained by superimposing the two models, the Real Surface Digital Terrain Model (RS DTM) and the Theoretical Surface Digital Terrain Model (TS DTM). A comparative analysis of the pavement surface condition and the magnitudes of horizontal forces allowed us to identify the locations of critical spots in VTCDs. The results were used as the basis for developing recommended pavement structures and deriving engineering recommendations for concrete block paving in VTCDs. Full article

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

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25 pages, 11997 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design of Concrete Block Paving in Home Zone Traffic Circle Areas

by Stanisław Majer, Alicja Sołowczuk and Marek Kurnatowski

Sustainability 2024, 16(5), 1973; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16051973 - 27 Feb 2024

Viewed by 875

Abstract

Contemporary street space upgrade or regeneration projects tend to include setting up home zones that are located in large city suburbs, smaller towns or spas. These home zones feature one-way streets, merging of a pavement and carriageway into one level surface and various traffic calming measures (TCM), including speed tables and traffic circles (TC). Concrete paving blocks are the preferred surfacing material. As part of this study, traffic surveys were carried out in a small seaside spa in Poland to determine the accelerations and decelerations of vehicles passing through four traffic circles that have different central island heights and different streetscape characteristics. A visual assessment of the pavement condition was also carried out. The pavement deformation changes were analysed using 3D models derived on the basis of the terrestrial laser scanning data obtained with the Trimble SX10 scanning total station. The existing pavement structure was analysed as part of this study. Next, the areas that require strengthening were identified based on subsidence and horizontal forces analyses, with the latter calculated from the observed decelerations and accelerations of the passing vehicles. Finally, design guidelines are given for concrete block surfacing in high traffic impact locations. Full article

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

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16 pages, 3273 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterization of Cold Recycled Asphalt Mixtures including Reinforcing Fibers

by Carlo Carpani, Edoardo Bocci and Maurizio Bocci

Sustainability 2023, 15(23), 16209; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316209 - 22 Nov 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1445

Abstract

In recent years, cold recycling techniques have been widely used all over the world thanks to their huge environmental advantages. However, their performances are lower than the traditional hot-mix asphalt, both for the longer time to develop the final mechanical properties, which leads to delays in the reopening to road traffic, and for the lower fatigue resistance. The present paper deals with the characterization of cold recycled asphalt mixtures (CRAM), made with 100% reclaimed asphalt pavement, where synthetic fibers were included to improve the fatigue performance. The investigation involved the analysis of the curing time, volumetric properties, stiffness, strength, rheological behavior and resistance to cyclic loading. The results showed that the use of synthetic fiber, with the optimum dosage, determined a higher CRAM performance, especially in terms of fatigue resistance. Full article

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

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21 pages, 6827 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Plastic Deformation Characteristics and Calculation Models of Unbound Granular Materials under Repeated Load and Water Infiltration

by Ning Li, Xueyan Zhou, Dongxia Hu and Jie Wang

Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14516; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914516 - 6 Oct 2023

Viewed by 944

Abstract

Unbound granular materials (UGMs) have advantages in their water storage and drainage capabilities in permeable pavement, which is a benefit for urban sustainable development. The plastic strain of UGM is a crucial mechanical property that affects its design and construction. During its service life, repeated load only, repeated load after infiltration, and simultaneous action with load and infiltration are the three inevitable working conditions that will impact plastic strain, especially dynamic water infiltration. How these working conditions influence plastic strain needs to be focused on and solved. This study conducted laboratory tests to investigate plastic strain considering factors such as loading strength and repetitions, as well as infiltration number and duration. The results showed that the plastic strain and plastic strain rate exhibited similar variations during the repeated load only test and repeated load after infiltration test. The plastic strain changed significantly with different infiltration numbers but had relatively small variations in terms of the plastic strain rate. Longer infiltration duration led to greater plastic strain. With the simultaneous action, the plastic strain presented different variation to the other two conditions. The first and second infiltrations had a more obvious influence on the plastic strain when infiltration was applied. Calculation models were established to predict the effects of loading strength and repetitions as well as infiltration number and duration on plastic strains. For the repeated load only test, an error of 4.6% was observed. In terms of the infiltration number and duration, the errors were found to be 18.5% and 8.5%, respectively. The power function and Sigmoidal Logistic model were used to establish calculation models under the simultaneous action test with a maximum error of 11.5% ranging from 100 to 60,000 repetitions. The proposed calculation models can characterize plastic strain under the three working conditions very well, which can help in the design and construction of fully permeable pavement. Full article

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

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22 pages, 9768 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigating Asphalt Self-Healing with Colorless Binder and Pigmented Rejuvenator

by Tiago Ribeiro, Ana Cristina Freire, Margarida Sá-da-Costa, João Canejo, Vinicius Cordeiro and Rui Micaelo

Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4556; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054556 - 3 Mar 2023

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2090

Abstract

Despite asphalt self-healing with encapsulated rejuvenators having been intensively researched over the last decade, there is still uncertainty about the performance advantages granted by this technology. As a way of adding to the existing set of research methodologies, this study aimed to test the feasibility of a visual method to investigate the working mechanism of encapsulated rejuvenators in the bituminous mixture. For this purpose, clear bituminous mixtures were produced using a colorless synthetic binder and a pigment was added to the rejuvenator incorporated in the calcium alginate capsules. The internal structure of the bituminous mixtures containing these capsules was inspected both on loaded and unloaded specimens. The colored rejuvenator was also directly added to cracked specimens and its distribution was studied, along with the interaction between the rejuvenator and the synthetic binder. The results show that the rejuvenator could modify the binder to a limited extent, and the bituminous mixtures containing capsules showed evidence of rejuvenator release. It is demonstrated that the aggregate gradation of mixtures has a significant effect on capsule damage and rejuvenator release. However, the pigment can be filtrated from the rejuvenator by the capsule polymer structure and the asphalt. Even though the methodology presented some constraints, it has been proven to be capable of achieving the initial goal, while also acting as an important first step in the visual study of rejuvenator release in asphalt. Full article

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

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13 pages, 1399 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Alternative Pavement Rehabilitation Solutions: A Case Study

by Christina Plati and Maria Tsakoumaki

Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2129; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032129 - 23 Jan 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3143

Abstract

In the context of sustainability, the pavement construction industry is taking a more holistic approach to environmental, economic, and social issues. In particular, pavements are believed to be responsible for up to 24% of total greenhouse gas emissions over the last century. Therefore, it is critical to include a tool to assess the environmental and health impacts of pavement construction or rehabilitation in the related design studies. This tool is called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). With this in mind, this case study examines two alternative solutions for the rehabilitation of an existing highway pavement: one using conventional materials and processes and one using conventional recycled materials and recycling processes. These two alternatives are ecologically evaluated using an LCA method to increase the importance of quantifying environmental and health impacts. By comparing the corresponding results, this study aims to quantitatively demonstrate how recycled materials and recycling processes contribute to the sustainability of pavements. As a final result, it is shown that the environmental and human health benefits are significant, even though the use of recycled materials and processes for pavements may be limited. Full article

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

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16 pages, 2190 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing RAP Multi-Recycling Capacity by the Characterization of Recovered Bitumen Using DSR

by Vítor Antunes, Fernando Moreno, Maria Rubio-Gámez, Ana Cristina Freire and José Neves

Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10171; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610171 - 16 Aug 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1550

Abstract

This paper addresses the changes in bitumen properties during multi-recycling cycles, both before and after ageing. The rheology of recovered bitumen was characterized using the dynamic shear rheometer. The softening point and penetration value were also determined. The analysis showed that the bitumen’s properties could be recovered even after more than one recycling cycle. The bitumen recovered from the second recycling cycle presented an average reduction of 45% in terms of complex modulus when compared with the first recycling cycle. The bitumen from the RAP mixtures presented a similar susceptibility to ageing. The analysis clearly showed that RAP has the potential to be multi-recycled. Full article

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

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19 pages, 8227 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Erodibility of Nanocomposite-Improved Unsaturated Soil Using Genetic Programming, Artificial Neural Networks, and Evolutionary Polynomial Regression Techniques

by Kennedy C. Onyelowe, Ahmed M. Ebid, Uchenna Egwu, Michael E. Onyia, Hyginus N. Onah, Light I. Nwobia, Izuchukwu Onwughara and Ali Akbar Firoozi

Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7403; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127403 - 16 Jun 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2080

Abstract

Genetic programming (GP) of four levels of complexity, including artificial neural networks of the hyper-tanh activation function (ANN-Hyper-Tanh), artificial neural networks of the sigmoid activation function (ANN-Sigmoid), evolutionary polynomial regression (optimized with genetic algorithm) (EPR), and intelligent techniques have been used to predict the erodibility of lateritic soil collected from an erosion site and treated with hybrid cement. Southeastern Nigeria and specifically Abia State is being destroyed by gully erosion, the solution of which demands continuous laboratory examinations to determine the parameters needed to design sustainable solutions. Furthermore, complicated equipment setups are required to achieve reliable results. To overcome constant laboratory works and equipment needs, intelligent prediction becomes necessary. This present research work adopted four different metaheuristic techniques to predict the erodibility of the soil; classified as A-7-6, weak, unsaturated, highly plastic, high swelling and high clay content treated with HC utilized in the proportions of 0.1–12% at the rate of 0.1%. The results of the geotechnics aspect of the work shows that the HC, which is a cementitious composite formulated from blending nanotextured quarry fines (NQF) and hydrated lime activated nanotextured rice husk ash (HANRHA), improves the erodibility of the treated soil substantially and consistently. The outcome of the prediction models shows that EPR with SSE of 1.6% and R² of 0.996 outclassed the other techniques, though all four techniques showed their robustness and ability to predict the target (Er) with high performance accuracy. Full article

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

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