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Buildings
Special Issues
Innovations in Building Materials and Infrastructure Design
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Innovations in Building Materials and Infrastructure Design

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Materials, and Repair & Renovation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 1967

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Baofeng Pan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Infrastructure Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, No. 2, Linggong Road, Ganjingzi District, Dalian 116024, China
Interests: functional modification of building materials; functional conversion and utilization of solid wastes; finite element calculation of infrastructure structures; damage mechanics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Building infrastructure is essential to modern society, supporting the seamless functioning of everyday life. However, with rapid urbanization and growing demands on infrastructure, there is an urgent need for innovations in building materials and infrastructure design. Our Special Issue, “Innovations in Building Materials and Infrastructure Design”, invites high-quality submissions. We welcome research on a range of topics, from novel, sustainable building materials like recycled polymers and nanocomposites to cutting-edge infrastructure design concepts such as self-sensing and climate-adaptive systems. This is an opportunity to showcase your work and contribute to the future of infrastructure, creating solutions that are more durable, sustainable, and cost-effective. Submit your papers and join us in advancing innovation in this critical field. The topics may cover, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Sustainable building materials and innovations;
  • Advanced infrastructure design concepts;
  • Climate-adaptive and self-sensing systems;
  • Durability and cost-effective solutions in infrastructure;
  • Smart infrastructure and technology integration.

Prof. Dr. Baofeng Pan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable materials
  • infrastructure design innovation
  • climate-adaptive systems
  • self-sensing technology
  • smart infrastructure integration

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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24 pages, 2303 KB  
Article
Use of Steel Slag Aggregates and Recycled Crumb Rubber in Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) for High-Capacity Road Pavements
by José Manuel Baraibar, Iñigo Escobal, Pedro Rivas, Manuel Salas, Gustavo Roca and Luis de León
Buildings 2026, 16(5), 1056; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16051056 - 6 Mar 2026
Viewed by 470
Abstract
Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) mixtures are widely used in high-capacity road pavements due to their durability and resistance to permanent deformation. However, although electric arc furnace (EAF) steel slag and recycled crumb rubber have been individually investigated as alternative materials in asphalt mixtures, [...] Read more.
Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) mixtures are widely used in high-capacity road pavements due to their durability and resistance to permanent deformation. However, although electric arc furnace (EAF) steel slag and recycled crumb rubber have been individually investigated as alternative materials in asphalt mixtures, evidence regarding their simultaneous incorporation in SMA mixtures under full-scale construction and real traffic conditions remains limited. Moreover, quantitative environmental assessments are often restricted to simplified or qualitative approaches, with limited reporting of carbon footprint results. This study investigates the combined use of electric arc furnace (EAF) steel slag aggregates and recycled crumb rubber in SMA mixtures, integrating laboratory evaluation with full-scale field application on a high-traffic motorway. Two SMA 11 mixtures were designed and assessed: one incorporating steel slag aggregates as a replacement for natural coarse aggregates, and another combining steel slag aggregates with recycled crumb rubber added through the dry process (0.8% by mixture mass). Laboratory testing included volumetric characterization, moisture sensitivity and rutting resistance, while field validation covered surface macrotexture, skid resistance, executed thickness and interlayer bonding. Both mixtures fully complied with the applicable technical specifications, achieving indirect tensile strength ratios (ITSR) above 90% and wheel-tracking slopes below 0.07 mm/103 cycles. A simplified comparative life-cycle assessment (LCA), limited to modules A1–A3, showed a reduction in CO2-equivalent emissions of approximately 2% for the mixture containing steel slag and up to 27% for the mixture combining steel slag and recycled crumb rubber, mainly due to the valorization of industrial by-products and end-of-life tyres. Overall, the results demonstrate the technical feasibility and potential environmental benefits of these SMA mixtures within the defined scope of laboratory verification, short-term field performance and screening LCA. The contribution of this study lies in providing applied evidence from a full-scale motorway intervention, complementing predominantly laboratory-based studies and offering a quantified environmental comparison under consistent methodological assumptions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovations in Building Materials and Infrastructure Design)
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Review

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67 pages, 50243 KB  
Review
Alkali-Activated Materials and CDW for the Development of Sustainable Building Materials: A Review with a Special Focus on Their Mechanical Properties
by Luca Baldazzi, Andrea Saccani and Stefania Manzi
Buildings 2026, 16(2), 309; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16020309 - 11 Jan 2026
Viewed by 1007
Abstract
Alkali-activated materials (AAMs) or geopolymers have been considered for many years as a sustainable substitution for the traditional ordinary Portland cement (OPC) binder. However, their production needs energy consumption and creates carbon emissions. Since construction and demolition waste (CDW) can become precursors for [...] Read more.
Alkali-activated materials (AAMs) or geopolymers have been considered for many years as a sustainable substitution for the traditional ordinary Portland cement (OPC) binder. However, their production needs energy consumption and creates carbon emissions. Since construction and demolition waste (CDW) can become precursors for manufacturing alkali-activated materials, their use as substitutes for traditional AAM (such as metakaolin, blast furnace slag, and fly ash) can solve both the problem of their disposal and the problem of sustainability. Furthermore, CDW can also be used as aggregate replacement, avoiding the exploitation of natural river sand and gravel. A new circular economy could be created based on CDW recycling, creating a new eco-friendly building practice. Unfortunately, this process is quite difficult owing to several variables that should be taken into consideration, such as the possibility of separating and sorting the CDW, the great variability of CDW composition, the cost of the mechanical and thermal treatment, the different parameters that compose an alkali-activated mix-design, and public opinion still being skeptical about the use of recycled materials in the construction sector. This review tries to describe all these aspects, summarizing the results of the most interesting studies performed on this subject. Today, thanks to a comprehensive protocol, the use of building information modeling (BIM) software and machine learning models, a large-scale reuse of CDW in the building industry appears more feasible. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovations in Building Materials and Infrastructure Design)
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