An integrated multi-objectives optimization approach on modelling pavement maintenance strategies for pavement sustainability

Addressing the multi-dimensional challenges to promote pavement sustainability requires the development of an optimization approach by simultaneously taking into account future pavement conditions for pavement maintenance with the capability to search and determine optimal pavement maintenance strategies. Thus, this research presents an integrated approach based on the Markov chain and Particle swarm optimization algorithm which aims to consider the predicted pavement condition and optimize the pavement maintenance strategies during operation when applied in the maintenance management of a road pavement section. A case study is conducted for testing the capability of the proposed integrated approach based on two maintenance perspectives. For case 1, maintenance activities mainly occur in TM20, TM31, and TM41, with the maximum maintenance mileage reaching 88.49 miles, 50.89 miles, and 20.91 miles, respectively. For case 2, the largest annual maintenance cost in the first year is $15.16 million with four types of maintenance activities. Thereafter, the maintenance activities are performed at TM10, TM31, and TM41, respectively. The results obtained, compared with the linear program, show the integrated approach is effective and reliable for determining the maintenance strategy that can be employed to promote pavement sustainability

Incorporating pavement deterioration uncertainty into pavement management optimization

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Pavement Engineering on 2022, available online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10298436.2020.1837827[EN] Pavement management systems can be used to efficiently allocate limited maintenance budgets to better align with pavement deterioration. However, pavement deterioration is subject to uncertain factors that complicate the prediction of future pavement conditions accurately, entailing differences in the optimum maintenance strategy. This paper addresses this challenge by introducing a method to aid local engineers in optimising the scheduling of maintenance activities under uncertain pavement deterioration conditions. Markov chains are used to simulate the variability of life-cycle performance. Moreover, a multi-objective optimisation of an urban network is carried out to find the maintenance programme that minimises the mean life-cycle cost, maximises the mean user benefit, and minimises the standard deviation of life-cycle cost. This third objective enables the optimisation routine to minimise the possibility of unintentionally increasing the life-cycle cost due to system variability. This approach results in a reduction of the life-cycle cost variability by up to 62%, provides pavement strategies that benefit road users as a result of better pavement conditions, and reduces the risk of resorting to costly future maintenance activities.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with the European Regional Development Fund (grants BIA2017-85098-R and RTC-2017-6148-7).García-Segura, T.; Montalbán-Domingo, L.; Llopis-Castelló, D.; Lepech, MD.; Sanz-Benlloch, MA.; Pellicer, E. (2022). Incorporating pavement deterioration uncertainty into pavement management optimization. International Journal of Pavement Engineering. 23(6):2062-2073. https://doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2020.18378272062207323

Sustainable Development Factors in Pavement Life-Cycle: Highway/Airport Review

Sustainability has gained as much importance as management in business. Sustainable pavement development as a business practice should involve making evaluations according to the triple bottom line in the pavement life-cycle. Despite the current approaches to evaluating the social as well as economic and environmental feasibility of pavement projects (involving highway and airport infrastructure), there has recently been a lack of consensus on a methodology to guarantee sustainability upon assessment and analysis during the pavement life-cycle. As sustainability is a complex issue, this study intends to further explore sustainability and elaborate on its meaning. The second step involves a general depiction of the major sustainability appraisal tools, namely cost-benefit analysis, life-cycle cost analysis, life-cycle assessment, multi-criteria decision-making, environmental impact assessment and social life-cycle assessment, and an explanation of their cons and pros. Subsequently, the article addresses the application of an organized methodology to highlight the main factors or concepts that should be applied in sustainable pavement development and, more specifically, in sustainable pavement management. In the final step, research recommendations toward sustainability are given. This study is aimed to assist decision-makers in pavement management to plan sustainability frameworks in accordance with probable boundaries and restrictions

Research trends in pavement management during the first years of the 21st century: a bibliometric analysis during the 2000-2013 period

A bibliometric analysis based on Scopus database was carried out to identify the global research trends related to pavement management area from 2000 to 2013, and to improve the understanding of the research topics in that period. The results reveal two stable periods of annual publications, from 2000 to 2002 with an average rate of 27, and from 2003 to 2010 with a value of 51; and a period with an increasing production rate of 20 publications per year after 2010. According to the document-type distribution, articles and conference papers have almost the same contribution. The most productive country was the United States, followed by Canada and China. The research trend in the field of pavement management could be grouped into three main areas. The first one is related to pavement management systems, which attracted the greatest attention, especially optimization processes with various objectives and lifecycle cost analysis. The second group is about pavement performance modeling, where calibration of mechanical empirical models was largely developed. Lastly, data collection had also occupied several papers, mainly about cracking classification. Sustainability aspects in pavement management became an emergent issue. The trending issues in that period, in these categories, were summarized in the paper.This research was funded by Erasmus Mundus Action 2 ACTIVE “Atlantic Caucasus Technical universities Initiative for Valuable Education” programme grant number 2013-2523/001-001 EMA2; by Education Council of the Castille and Leon Government of Spain (Junta de Castilla y León) grant number BU0009A06 and UB 07/03, by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) grant number CTQ2014-56820-JIN Project, co-financed by FEDER funds from European Union and by Basque Government grant number IT781-13

Development of Geospatial Models for Multi-Criteria Decision Making in Traffic Environmental Impacts of Heavy Vehicle Freight Transportation

Heavy vehicle freight transportation is one of the primary contributors to the socio-economic development, but it has great influence on traffic environment. To comprehensively and more accurately quantify the impacts of heavy vehicles on road infrastructure performance, a series of geospatial models are developed for both geographically global and local assessment of the impacts. The outcomes are applied in flexible multi-criteria decision making for the industrial practice of road maintenance and management

Enhancing sustainability and resilience through multi-level infrastructure planning

[EN] Resilient planning demands not only resilient actions, but also resilient implementation, which promotes adaptive capacity for the attainment of the planned objectives. This requires, in the case of multi-level infrastructure systems, the simultaneous pursuit of bottom-up infrastructure planning for the promotion of adaptive capacity, and of top-down approaches for the achievement of global objectives and the reduction of structural vulnerabilities and imbalances. Though several authors have pointed out the need to balance bottom-up flexibility with top-down hierarchical control for better plan implementation, very few methods have yet been developed with this aim, least of all with a multi-objective perspective. This work addressed this lack by including, for the first time, the mitigation of urban vulnerability, the improvement of road network condition, and the minimization of the economic cost as objectives in a resilient planning process in which both actions and their implementation are planned for a controlled, sustainable development. Building on Urban planning support system (UPSS), a previously developed planning tool, the improved planning support system affords a planning alternative over the Spanish road network, with the best multi-objective balance between optimization, risk, and opportunity. The planning process then formalizes local adaptive capacity as the capacity to vary the selected planning alternative within certain limits, and global risk control as the duties that should be achieved in exchange. Finally, by means of multi-objective optimization, the method reveals the multi-objective trade-offs between local opportunity, global risk, and rights and duties at local scale, thus providing deeper understanding for better informed decision-making.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, along with FEDER, grant number Project: BIA2017-85098-R.Salas, J.; Yepes, V. (2020). Enhancing sustainability and resilience through multi-level infrastructure planning. International Journal of Environmental research and Public Health. 17(3):1-22. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17030962S122173Holling, C. S. (2004). From Complex Regions to Complex Worlds. Ecology and Society, 9(1). doi:10.5751/es-00612-090111Sharifi, A., & Yamagata, Y. (2014). Resilient Urban Planning: Major Principles and Criteria. Energy Procedia, 61, 1491-1495. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2014.12.154Chen, Z., & Qiu, B. (2015). Resilient Planning Frame for Building Resilient Cities. 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Life Cycle Thinking-based Evaluation Framework for Road Infrastructure: A BIM-based Approach

This research paper analyzes the material compatibility, in terms of weld strength, of thermoplastics currently in use for external lighting applications. Signal lamps typically consist of a transparent lens welded to an opaque housing. The different types of polymers used in housing materials are polycarbonate (PC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA), and blends thereof. The different types of transparent lens materials are polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and PC. The specific thermoplastic material grades in this document are kept confidential. The scope of the work is to determine plaque-level compatibility of materials as a function of weld strength performance and to create material-level weld strength guidelines regarding optimal welding parameters for component level design/development and quality. This is achieved through a parametric study, strength testing welds with dissimilar (chemically different) materials through a varying set of welding parameters. Material combinations are found which can reach the weaker material’s bulk strength and other combinations are found which have very poor compatibility, as confirmed by the weld factor. A great majority of the weld combinations’ strengths increase with weld depth, and most dissimilar material welds continue to increase in strength with even further weld penetration. Optimal weld parameters are determined for each material combination

Optimizing Low Impact Development Controls for Sustainable Urban Flood Risk Management

Increased urbanization and a changing climate are contributing to an increased urban flood risk. Low Impact Development (LID) is a green infrastructure approach to help mitigate this risk. Analysis of flooding potential and socioeconomic factors of an urban area are essential in determining how to best implement these controls. The objectives of the study was to identify the most prominent areas for LID implementation and develop a framework for identifying LID controls within a multiobjective optimization framework. Coupled risk assessment and socioeconomic analysis was used to determine the potential areas to implement LID controls to achieve continuous benefits. A risk assessment methodology was developed to delineate the greatest flooding risk areas in sewersheds. A socioeconomic analysis framework was then adapted to assess the areas that would be most likely to adopt and successfully maintain LID controls. A simulation-optimization framework was then developed by coupling Stormwater Management Model (SWMM 5) with the Borg Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm (MOEA). This methodology analyzed different LID implementation solutions with a cost function to determine the most cost effective LID solutions. The PCSWMM interface was used to create the model for a large urban sewershed in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The model tested LID measures against eight different scenarios consisting of both historical climate data and future predicted climate change data with the objectives of reducing peak flows in the sewer system, reducing total runoff across the sewershed and minimizing the cost of LID implementation. The results provide stormwater management professionals and decision makers cost-benefit information for different LID implementation scenarios to help assess the feasibility of LID in this area and to make infrastructure investment decisions

Critical review and methodological issues in integrated life-cycle analysis on road networks

Life-cycle management of road network projects traditionally emphasise material production and construction stages, with less attention given to usage stage and functionality improvement. Increasingly there is a need to address: inconsistencies in cost attribute selection; adjusting for uncertainties and costs; clarifying system boundaries; data sources; functional units and regional or temporal applicability of life-cycle frameworks. The current study focuses on a critical literature review of life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) research published in the last decade (post 2008) towards identification of research gaps. Accurately analysing all life-cycle stages, feedback loops, future cash and resource flows, and interlinking performance with overall sustainability can aid the decision-making process towards sustainable alternatives for constructing new, or rehabilitating existing roads. This review finds that the use of recycled materials, base/sub-base stabilisers and asphalt binder replacement has the potential of energy saving (=34% or 3.1 TJ), mitigating landfill disposal issues, and greenhouse gas load reduction (=34.5% CDE). Lack of real world LCCA-LCA application and stakeholder prejudice against recycled material usage are addressable by better stakeholder (decision-makers and road users) engagement via a social component. The proposed enhancements identified in this study can increase LCA/LCCA attraction to policy-makers, planners and users and ultimately ensure a more sustainable asset