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Pavement Engineering: System, Rehabilitation, and Sustainable Strategies for Long-Term Management

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Civil Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2025 | Viewed by 4168

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Highway & Transportation Research, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, (Daehwa-Dong) 283, Goyangdae-Ro, Ilsanseo-Gu, Goyang-si 10223, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
Interests: pavement management system; pavement condition prediction; pavement management decision-making; pavement (asphalt/concrete) material mix design; pavement performance analysis; long-term pavement management strategy

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, 567, Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si 54896, Jeollabuk-do, Republic of Korea
Interests: asphalt material; maintenance of road facilities (pavement, safety facilities); pavement performance evaluation; asphalt pavement material mix-design

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Highway & Transportation Research, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, (Daehwa-Dong) 283, Goyangdae-Ro, Ilsanseo-Gu, Goyang-si 10223, Gyeonggi-Do, Republic of Korea
Interests: maintenance of road facilities (pavement, safety facilities); pavement performance evaluation; asphalt pavement material mix-design

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, the total amount of available road pavement is seeing its age ratio rapidly increase and due to various factors such as drastic climate change; it is encountering damage in forms and patterns not previously observed. As a result, road management agencies are collaborating with diverse research teams to find more efficient and systematic network management strategies. Their goal is to utilize precise predictions and designs to enable informed decision-making, promoting sustainable management.

In this Special Issue’s representative related studies, we request pavement performance prediction research based on long-term collected network-level performance data, Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) and Life Cycle Asset Management (LCAM), real-world performance data, and Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) considerations for road pavement performance prediction.

This Special Issue, titled "Pavement Engineering: Systems, Rehabilitation, and Sustainable Strategies for Long-Term Management", will compile cutting-edge research and advancements in this field, leading to the more comprehensive development of road network management. As such, we request innovative research and paper reviews from researchers worldwide who work in this field. The proposed topics related to this Special Issue are as follows:

  1. Performance prediction studies based on the network level using performance survey data
  2. Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) and Life Cycle Asset Management (LCAM) based on actual performance data;
  3. Pavement prediction studies based on Quality Control and Quality Assurance databases;
  4. Performance modeling of flexible (asphalt) and rigid (concrete) pavements;
  5. Material Mixed-Design and Field Performance Evaluation;
  6. Innovative pavement management strategies;
  7. Environmental effects of pavement performance and management;
  8. Carbon-mitigation road pavement techniques.

Dr. Donghyuk Jung
Prof. Dr. Jaejun Lee
Dr. Cheolmin Baek
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • pavement engineering
  • pavement performance database
  • asphalt pavement
  • concrete pavement
  • pavement management system
  • rehabilitation
  • prediction
  • sustainable strategies
  • environment
  • life cycle analysis
  • life cycle asset management

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 20622 KiB  
Article
Diffusion and Consolidation of Slag-Based Geopolymer for Concrete Pavement Rehabilitation
by Wenjie Li, Jinchao Yue and Bin Liang
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(8), 4373; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15084373 - 15 Apr 2025
Viewed by 112
Abstract
Homogenized micro-crack crushing is an optimal rehabilitation technology for concrete pavement; however, when there are weak road base issues, some measures need to be taken to treat the diseases. Grouting is a common technique for addressing weak road base issues. This study developed [...] Read more.
Homogenized micro-crack crushing is an optimal rehabilitation technology for concrete pavement; however, when there are weak road base issues, some measures need to be taken to treat the diseases. Grouting is a common technique for addressing weak road base issues. This study developed a new visual indoor grouting test system to analyze the diffusion and consolidation of slag-based geopolymer slurry. The reactants of the geopolymer and the consolidation state of the slurry and aggregate were observed. Moreover, the reinforcement effect of the slurry on a weak road base was studied through the on-site grouting and excavation of the test pit. The results show that, during indoor grouting tests, as the size of the aggregate decreases, the slurry diffusion depth gradually decreases: only 9.5–4.75 mm aggregate formed a complete cylindrical specimen. In the tests of unformed cylindrical specimens, the 9.5–4.75 mm aggregate will develop 20–50 mm splitting surfaces, while the 4.75–2.36 mm aggregate will develop slurry bulbs and veins of different sizes, but the development is not obvious in the 2.36–1.18 mm aggregate. Fine aggregate grouting will exhibit the pressure filtration effect—especially for the 2.36–1.18 mm aggregate, the pressure filtration effect is the most obvious. An SEM microstructural analysis demonstrated that the geopolymer with a water–slag ratio of 0.4 has a faster hydration and dissolution, which results in a decrease in the density of local reactants. However, the polymerization of geopolymers is more complete. The pores of the coarse aggregate are larger and the slurry filling is denser, while the pores of the fine aggregate are smaller and the consolidation is loose locally. The consolidation of aggregates has cracks at local locations, but the width of the cracks is relatively small. On-site grouting applications revealed that the geopolymer slurry filled the bottom voids of pavement slabs and deep gaps in the road base layers, and the average deflection of the driveway decreased from 104.8 (0.001 mm) to 48 (0.001 mm) after grouting. Weak road base conditions were successfully treated, leading to a significant improvement in bearing capacity. Full article
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12 pages, 2582 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Deflection Errors in Traffic Speed Deflectometer Measurements on Inverted Asphalt Pavement Structures
by Kai Wang, Jiaojiao Wei, Xiaoqiang Hou and Chaoyang Wu
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(7), 4059; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15074059 - 7 Apr 2025
Viewed by 229
Abstract
This study developed a dynamic model for the Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD) on inverted asphalt pavement structures. It is aimed at evaluating the deflection slope and quantifying measurement errors. First, the reliability of the ABAQUS model in simulating the dynamic response of asphalt [...] Read more.
This study developed a dynamic model for the Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD) on inverted asphalt pavement structures. It is aimed at evaluating the deflection slope and quantifying measurement errors. First, the reliability of the ABAQUS model in simulating the dynamic response of asphalt pavements was validated by comparing with previous studies. The deflection slope curves of inverted and semi-rigid base pavements with varying thicknesses were compared, revealing that the inverted pavement exhibited complex deflection slope trends in TSD measurements. A significant decrease in peak deflection was observed at 0.15 m from the load gap center with increasing surface thickness. The deflection velocity measurement value of the TSD calibration sensor (S3500) on the inverted asphalt pavement is not zero, which causes the road surface deflection to be lower than the actual deflection, with an error as high as 80.1%, which overestimated the pavement’s structural capacity. These findings suggest that the sensor configuration and measurement strategy of TSD should be reconsidered when applied to inverted asphalt pavement structures. The results provide useful insights that may support the refinement of TSD application strategies. Full article
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24 pages, 825 KiB  
Article
An Explainable XGBoost Model for International Roughness Index Prediction and Key Factor Identification
by Bin Lv, Haixia Gong, Bin Dong, Zixin Wang, Hongyu Guo, Jianzhu Wang and Jianqing Wu
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(4), 1893; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15041893 - 12 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 676
Abstract
This study proposes an explainable extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) model for predicting the international roughness index (IRI) and identifying the key influencing factors. A comprehensive dataset integrating multiple data sources, such as structure, climate and traffic load, is constructed. A voting-based feature selection [...] Read more.
This study proposes an explainable extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) model for predicting the international roughness index (IRI) and identifying the key influencing factors. A comprehensive dataset integrating multiple data sources, such as structure, climate and traffic load, is constructed. A voting-based feature selection strategy is adopted to identify the key influencing factors, which are used as inputs for the prediction model. Multiple machine learning (ML) models are trained to predict the IRI with the constructed dataset, and the XGBoost model performs the best with the coefficient of determination (R2) reaching 0.778. Finally, interpretable techniques including feature importance, Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) and partial dependency plots (PDPs) are employed to reveal the mechanism of influencing factors on IRI. The results demonstrate that climate conditions and traffic load play a critical role in the deterioration of IRI. This study provides a relatively universal perspective for IRI prediction and key factor identification, and the outputs of the proposed method contribute to making scientific maintenance strategies of roads to some extent. Full article
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17 pages, 1822 KiB  
Article
An Integrated Risk Management Model for Performance Assessment of Airport Pavements: The Case of Istanbul Airport
by Eyyüp Seven and Mustafa Sinan Yardım
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(24), 12034; https://doi.org/10.3390/app142412034 - 23 Dec 2024
Viewed by 979
Abstract
Effective management of airport pavements is essential for maintaining safety and operational efficiency in air travel. An airport pavement management system (APMS) operates at two levels: the network level, which monitors overall pavement performance across the airport, and the project level, which conducts [...] Read more.
Effective management of airport pavements is essential for maintaining safety and operational efficiency in air travel. An airport pavement management system (APMS) operates at two levels: the network level, which monitors overall pavement performance across the airport, and the project level, which conducts detailed inspections of individual pavements. However, pavement assessments are often costly and labor intensive, necessitating the development of cost-effective and practical models. This paper introduces the Airport Pavement Integrated Risk Management (APIRM) model, which integrates pavement condition assessment criteria with safety risk management (SRM) methodologies. The model was applied at Istanbul Airport. By using APIRM, airports can prioritize high-risk areas, optimizing resource allocation and enhancing safety. The model encourages coordination among various airport departments, offering a holistic approach to pavement management that integrates maintenance requirements with safety considerations. Full article
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17 pages, 7578 KiB  
Article
A Fundamental Study on an SAP Mixed Asphalt Mixture for Reducing the Urban Heat Island Effect
by Dae-Seong Jang, Chi-Su Lim, Kanghwi Lee and Cheolmin Baek
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(24), 11785; https://doi.org/10.3390/app142411785 - 17 Dec 2024
Viewed by 656
Abstract
As the average temperature in summer rises and heat waves occur more frequently, the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon is becoming a social problem. Asphalt road pavement stores heat during the day, raising the surface temperature, and releases the stored heat at night, [...] Read more.
As the average temperature in summer rises and heat waves occur more frequently, the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon is becoming a social problem. Asphalt road pavement stores heat during the day, raising the surface temperature, and releases the stored heat at night, thereby aggravating the UHI phenomenon. Government authorities often spray water to lower the temperature of road pavement for the safety and convenience of citizens. However, the effect is immediate and does not last long. Therefore, in order to reduce the urban heat island phenomenon by spraying water, the recovery time of the surface temperature must be delayed. In this study, Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP), a highly absorbent polymer that absorbs 100 to 500 times its weight in water, was applied to asphalt road pavement. SAP is commonly used in diapers, feminine hygiene products, soil moisturizers, and concrete, and its scope is gradually expanding. The purpose of this study is to reduce the urban heat island phenomenon by mixing the SAP into asphalt and to increase the latent heat flux by evaporating the water absorbed by the SAP, thereby delaying the recovery time of the surface temperature of the road pavement. In this study, the performance of asphalt mixtures mixed with the SAP and the thermal characteristics according to the mixing amount were analyzed. In this study, the physical properties and temperature reduction performance of the asphalt mixture according to the SAP type and content were studied. The results of indoor and outdoor experiments on asphalt mixtures using the SAP showed that they satisfied the mechanical performance criteria as asphalt pavement materials and that the temperature recovery delay effect was improved. Full article
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15 pages, 2075 KiB  
Article
Using an Airport Pavement Management System to Optimize the Influence of Maintenance Alternatives on Operating Conditions
by Alessandro Di Graziano, Antonio Costa and Eliana Ragusa
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(16), 7158; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14167158 - 15 Aug 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1051
Abstract
In the airport pavement management systems (APMSs), a focus point is the decision-making process. It enables finding the optimal strategy for maintaining a flight infrastructure in adequate condition over a given period, while considering the operating conditions of the airside. In this context, [...] Read more.
In the airport pavement management systems (APMSs), a focus point is the decision-making process. It enables finding the optimal strategy for maintaining a flight infrastructure in adequate condition over a given period, while considering the operating conditions of the airside. In this context, the present study analyzes the factors involved in the optimization processes by investigating how much they influence the solutions. Using the analysis processes connected to the APMS, the present study also includes the identification of specific intervention areas through clustering algorithms, minimizing the fixed operating costs. More specifically, the use of K-means clustering and the heuristic algorithms connected to the choices of the maintenance activities, allow possible scenarios replicating the different needs of managers to be investigated. In this way, the research work analyzes the influence of the alternatives in terms of pavement quality and total activities duration. Through this study it is shown that there is not a unique optimal strategy, but several possible solutions that can be undertaken by the airport managers according to their needs. However, the comparison of the results obtained in this study could become a useful tool for airport managers for better planning and management of the flight infrastructures. Full article
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