Review of advanced road materials, structures, equipment, and detection technologies

As a vital and integral component of transportation infrastructure, pavement has a direct and tangible impact on socio-economic sustainability. In recent years, an influx of groundbreaking and state-of-the-art materials, structures, equipment, and detection technologies related to road engineering have continually and progressively emerged, reshaping the landscape of pavement systems. There is a pressing and growing need for a timely summarization of the current research status and a clear identification of future research directions in these advanced and evolving technologies. Therefore, Journal of Road Engineering has undertaken the significant initiative of introducing a comprehensive review paper with the overarching theme of “advanced road materials, structures, equipment, and detection technologies”. This extensive and insightful review meticulously gathers and synthesizes research findings from 39 distinguished scholars, all of whom are affiliated with 19 renowned universities or research institutions specializing in the diverse and multidimensional field of highway engineering. It covers the current state and anticipates future development directions in the four major and interconnected domains of road engineering: advanced road materials, advanced road structures and performance evaluation, advanced road construction equipment and technology, and advanced road detection and assessment technologies

Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Civil Engineering

This open access book is a collection of accepted papers from the 8th International Conference on Civil Engineering (ICCE2021). Researchers and engineers have discussed and presented around three major topics, i.e., construction and structural mechanics, building materials, and transportation and traffic. The content provide new ideas and practical experiences for both scientists and professionals

Advanced Energy Harvesting Technologies

Energy harvesting is the conversion of unused or wasted energy in the ambient environment into useful electrical energy. It can be used to power small electronic systems such as wireless sensors and is beginning to enable the widespread and maintenance-free deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) technology. This Special Issue is a collection of the latest developments in both fundamental research and system-level integration. This Special Issue features two review papers, covering two of the hottest research topics in the area of energy harvesting: 3D-printed energy harvesting and triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). These papers provide a comprehensive survey of their respective research area, highlight the advantages of the technologies and point out challenges in future development. They are must-read papers for those who are active in these areas. This Special Issue also includes ten research papers covering a wide range of energy-harvesting techniques, including electromagnetic and piezoelectric wideband vibration, wind, current-carrying conductors, thermoelectric and solar energy harvesting, etc. Not only are the foundations of these novel energy-harvesting techniques investigated, but the numerical models, power-conditioning circuitry and real-world applications of these novel energy harvesting techniques are also presented

Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Civil Engineering

This open access book is a collection of accepted papers from the 8th International Conference on Civil Engineering (ICCE2021). Researchers and engineers have discussed and presented around three major topics, i.e., construction and structural mechanics, building materials, and transportation and traffic. The content provide new ideas and practical experiences for both scientists and professionals

Corrosion and Degradation of Materials

Studies on the corrosion and degradation of materials play a decisive role in the novel design and development of corrosion-resistant materials, the selection of materials used in harsh environments in designed lifespans, the invention of corrosion control methods and procedures (e.g., coatings, inhibitors), and the safety assessment and prediction of materials (i.e., modelling). These studies cover a wide range of research fields, including the calculation of thermodynamics, the characterization of microstructures, the investigation of mechanical and corrosion properties, the creation of corrosion coatings or inhibitors, and the establishment of corrosion modelling. This Special Issue is devoted to these types of studies, which facilitate the understanding of the corrosion fundamentals of materials in service, the development of corrosion coatings or methods, improving their durability, and eventually decreasing corrosion loss

Natural and Technological Hazards in Urban Areas

Natural hazard events and technological accidents are separate causes of environmental impacts. Natural hazards are physical phenomena active in geological times, whereas technological hazards result from actions or facilities created by humans. In our time, combined natural and man-made hazards have been induced. Overpopulation and urban development in areas prone to natural hazards increase the impact of natural disasters worldwide. Additionally, urban areas are frequently characterized by intense industrial activity and rapid, poorly planned growth that threatens the environment and degrades the quality of life. Therefore, proper urban planning is crucial to minimize fatalities and reduce the environmental and economic impacts that accompany both natural and technological hazardous events

Advanced Underground Space Technology

The recent development of underground space technology makes underground space a potential and feasible solution to climate change, energy shortages, the growing population, and the demands on urban space. Advances in material science, information technology, and computer science incorporating traditional geotechnical engineering have been extensively applied to sustainable and resilient underground space applications. The aim of this Special Issue, entitled “Advanced Underground Space Technology”, is to gather original fundamental and applied research related to the design, construction, and maintenance of underground space

Sustainable Designed Pavement Materials

This Special Issue “Sustainable Designed Pavement Materials” has been proposed and organized as a means to present recent developments in the field of environmentally-friendly designed pavement materials. For this reason, articles included in this special issue relate to different aspects of pavement materials, from industry solid waste recycling to pavement materials recycling, from pavement materials modification to asphalt performance characterization, from pavement defect detection to pavement maintenance, and from asphalt pavement to cement concrete pavement

An Account of Development of Performance Art in China from 1979-2010

The research study aims to raise questions about and gain new insights into the development of performance art in China. The development of performance art in China is set out in a chronological account of the events and art works that illustrate the development of a permissive, open-ended medium with endless variables. The events and works included in this study are executed by Chinese artists impatient with the limitations of traditional or established forms and determined to take their performance art works directly to the public. Following the rapid socio-economic development that started in the late 1970's, soon after the end of the Cultural Revolution and the start of economic reform. The chronological account of the development of Chinese performance art explains how Chinese artists, in creating their work, draw freely on a number of disciplines and media including literature, poetry, theatre, music, dance, architecture and painting, as well as video, film, slides and narrative. The account also illustrates how Chinese performance art has gradually moved away from the traditions of Chinese performance and how performance art works often promote interpretive individualism. Research shows that Chinese artists choose performance art to break free from the dominant media and the constraints of working within the evolving social and political environment in China. Research further shows that artists use performance art as a provocation to respond to changes. Finally, performance art is gaining acceptance from the public in recent Chinese socio-economic development

Rethinking the Vernacular in China: Understanding the Dynamics of Social Transformation and the Evolution of Rural Architecture

The physical forms of vernacular architecture and spatial use reflect the social systems and ideologies of the rural environment. This thesis seeks to rethink the preservation of vernacular architecture by analyzing the physical manifestations of three eras and their respective architectural layers, characterized by social identities in the history of China. In this sense, this thesis does not take a necessarily follow past practices of studying vernacular architecture, which prioritize formal, structural, and material analyses. It instead recognizes a paradigmatic shift in heritage theory and policy that seeks to understand and valorize the relationships between populations and their environment. From ancient China to the PRC (before 1949), rural society was based on the autonomous “village community.” Vernacular architecture styles gradually evolved after generations had inhabited the same territory. The physical forms interpret the social connections among individuals in the village community. From 1958 to 1978, the national government implemented policies of collectivism in the country. Land ownership was transformed from private to collective. The original “village community” became a part of a national institution – the “commune.” Communal life style and production have introduced new architectural and spatial typologies in the rural villages. From 1978 to the present, members of society have been individualized by the market. On the other hand, individuals still rely on the national government. Rural vernacular architecture has been transformed both autonomously by the local residents and systematically by top-down governmental control. In many cases, the physical fabrics and social systems of the different time periods coexist in the village. The hybrid status of “village community,” “commune” and “individualization” evolves the notions of vernacular architecture and community, and challenges existing preservation approaches. The significance of transforming social constraints and the dialectics between modernization and tradition compel rethinking of the vernacular, and may suggest new methodologies for researching and preserving these communities and their architecture