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In this study, a procedure for constructing pavement roughness in a three-dimensional bridge subjected to a vehicle using Abaqus is proposed for numerical simulation of vehicle–bridge interaction problems. As the plug-in RufGen, a graphical user interface in Abaqus/CAE for surface interaction, creates a hexahedron with a rough surface and attaches it to the bridge deck, the resulting weight of a bridge model can be much larger than the original one. In the vehicle scanning method, it is essential to keep a finite element bridge model with an unchanged weight after imposing a rough surface on it in consideration of the roughness effect for bridge health monitoring. As such, the proposed procedure is aimed at resolving this issue, with the following two highlights: First, the Toeplitz matrix is introduced to generate a rough surface in three dimensions to ensure the randomness of roughness in the two perpendicular directions under a given roughness profile. Second, a shell-type rough pavement is established for directly using as the bridge pavement or attaching to the bridge deck, which minimizes weight increment in the bridge.

Southeast Florida is a low-lying area and highly susceptible to permanent inundation from sea-level rise (SLR). Therefore, the SLR rise has the potential to disrupt the region’s strong Gross Regional Product, which has far outperformed that of the nation over the past 40 years. Among the four counties in Southeast Florida, Miami-Dade has the highest economic activity. The County’s roadways have the highest traffic volume per lane mile; hence, the resiliency of the County’s roadways against climate stressors is critical. The rising groundwater table due to SLR is potentially damaging to the base and subbase layers of the roadways, thereby reducing the roadway service life. The existing vulnerability maps that used the bathtub method do not account for rising groundwater levels to model sea level rise; therefore, the bathtub method underestimates SLR impact. An enhanced vulnerability map is utilized to identify roadway segments at several risk categories caused by different factors, such as reduced subgrade strength due to groundwater table variation and traffic loading. Identification of road infrastructure subgrade layer affected by the rising groundwater table has been produced using a county-scale groundwater flow modeling results of Miami-Dade. Multilayer elastic model has simulated typical pavement layers for three functional roadway classifications, and modulus resilient of the subgrade was adjusted according to rising groundwater table due to SLR. An updated vulnerability map will be crucial for identifying effective adaptation solutions and resource allocation to preserve pavement service life.

Ribbed plate construction is a shallow foundation system known to provide stiff planar substructure capable of transferring large vertical loads more uniformly to the subgrade. One special class of ribbed mat foundations has been patented in Indonesia and is called the spider net construction (Konstruksi Pondasi Sarang Laba-Laba/KSLL). KSLL can function as pavement or foundation system and consists of rib, plate and infill materials. This study, first discusses the importance of different components in ribbed mat foundation and then develops the design strategy to apply it for airport and highway pavements. The effectiveness of ribbed mat foundation in comparison with the conventional rigid pavement construction is also elaborated.

Population explosion, rapid industrialization, consumerism and technological advancement have led to manifold increase in the generation of solid wastes comprising both organic as well as inorganic solids in varying proportions. In absence of proper waste disposal system, these materials, especially, the non-biodegradable substances, such as plastics cause serious environmental problems. Plastics have the unique capability to be manufactured to meet very specific functional needs for consumers in both rural and urban areas, making it one of the most common household items worldwide. This has resulted in high content of plastics in solid wastes. The non-biodegradability of plastics causes disposal problems and environmental pollution. Stone dust generated from a large number of stone crushing units is also having a major disposal problem. This study discusses an eco-friendly method of disposal of plastic waste and stone dust by utilizing these materials in road construction. The results of the tests indicate that utilization of plastic wastes along with stone dust improves the quality of pavement and reduce disposal problems in an environment-friendly manner.

The lack of appropriate and timely maintenance produces increase in the cost of future treatments and vehicle operating costs with negative impact on environment in terms of use of natural resources, GHG emission and energy consumption. There is a need to provide recommendations for Road Asset Management leading identify and prioritize measures that effectively address Mobility, Safety and Environmental sustainability. The paper object is to augment environmental sustainability and resource efficiency issues in Road Asset Management with particular emphasis on pavement maintenance. The pavement issues which have the greatest potentialities for an environmental sustainable and resource efficient Road Asset Management, are presented in the paper.