Chapters authored
Road Asphalt Pavements Made by Bottom Ashes from Waste-to-Energy Plant as a Filler
Not all waste is completely burned by waste-to-energy plants. About 73% of it is bottom ashes (BA). Sustainable reuse of the BA is to reprocess them into the production chain of the asphalt mixtures for road pavements. This research deals with an experimental investigation of the mechanical performance of hot and cold asphalt mastics made with the BA filler versus the traditional ones containing limestone powder (LP). First, environmental compatibility tests were carried out and then a rheological analysis, applying viscosity, frequency sweep, and multiple stress creep and recovery tests, was performed to check the feasibility of using the BA as a filler for asphalt-based materials. Looking at the main results, the ecotoxicological tests in terms of EC50 for toxicity on Daphnia and EC50 for algal growth inhibition confirmed the usability of all the mastics from an environmental point of view. The rheological results showed higher G* values for cold asphalt mastics made up with the BA compared to the corresponding solutions made with the LP. Additionally, it was also observed that the mastics containing BA returned a 90% decrease in non-recoverable creep compliance at test temperatures over 40°C compared to the corresponding mastics made with the LP.
Part of the book: Asphalt Materials - Recent Developments and New Perspective [Working title]
VIASTRATA®: The New Frontiers of BIM for the Digitalisation and Management of Infrastructures
Building information modelling for infrastructure (I-BIM) is used for creating and managing data during the design, construction, and operations process of roads, railways, and airports. I-BIM integrates multi-disciplinary data to create detailed digital representations that are managed in an open cloud platform for real-time collaboration. The newly founded university spin-off VIASTRATA aims to develop digital information management methods and tools for the design and construction of roads, railways, airports and hydraulic works. Its scope also includes interventions on existing constructions and ultimately aims to the creation and products with high technological value and innovative BIM services. The chapter covers structured and innovative methodologies for designing, modelling and managing transport and hydraulic infrastructures leveraging BIM. To this end, the operation of an algorithm developed in visual programming language that realises the parametric model of a road dynamically from data contained in a spreadsheet is described.
Part of the book: Recent Topics in Highway Engineering - Up-to-date Overview of Practical Knowledge [Working title]