filippo Pratico

In both the current and foreseen context of significant development of the electric vehicle (EV) fleet, a future increasing ratio of EVs in the urban traffic is expected, still enhanced in low-emission zones involving bans or restricted access to other vehicles. EVs are known to be quieter than conventional vehicles at low speed because of a low motor noise emission, resulting in a higher prevalence of rolling noise in the environmental noise. EVs differ from conventional vehicles in several parameters that can influence tyre/road noise, like weight and torque. The LIFE E-VIA project objectives consist in developing, implementing and assessing a low-noise road surface for light EV traffic in urban conditions, optimised from an acoustical and life cycle perspective. In parallel, an optimisation of EV tyres is investigated. Prior to forthcoming layout in Florence (Italy) for assessment under real traffic conditions, a prototypal road surface has been implemented and evaluated on a tes...

In this paper a RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Safety) – LCCA (Life Cycle Cost Analysis) mixed approach is proposed in order to support decisions on design and maintenance strategies of rail tracks. RAMS management, usually applied in railway sector, lacks a life-cycle cost perspective and balance, while LCCA supports decisions on design options and maintenance strategies by means of an economic analysis in which costs and performance are assessed. Therefore, a Decision Support System, based on Life-Cycle Costing (LCC) analysis, should be developed, balancing short and long-term costs with performance (RAMS target). The model proposed accounts for a comprehensive life cycle cost analysis based not only on agency (e.g., construction, inspection, maintenance and renewal), and user costs (e.g., delay-related, etc.), but also on environmental costs (e.g., related to CO2e emissions). For RAMS analysis, a new method to measure the RAMS components and to define an overal...

Different approaches can be used to make cities and transportation infrastructures smarter, more sustainable, and durable. These changes will positively affect the work of many stakeholders, such as authorities, road agencies, citizens, users, and driverless vehicles. Unfortunately, despite the fact that smart materials are becoming more and more common, the integration level between smart materials and early warning technologies is still in need of a holistic approach. In light of this, the main objective of the work presented in this paper is to provide an overview of the materials and technological solutions that can be used in the field of transportation infrastructures to satisfy some of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nation (resolution A/RES/70/1/2015). The solutions above include an innovative monitoring method, set up by the authors of this paper, which is based on the concept of vibro-acoustic signature. The method mentioned above is a Non-Destructive Test ...

nnovative technologies and materials can develop the goals stated in the UN resolution A/RES/70/1. To be more precise, low-noise road pavements (for example Porous asphalt concretes, asphalt rubberised mixture, and texture-optimised pavements) have volumetric, surface (such as drainability, texture, friction and acoustic performance), and mechanistic properties that decay over time. This depends on the particular technology used and on the many variables, processes, and phenomena with consequences in terms of safety, quietness, and budget.     In light of these issues, the objectives of this study are confined into discussing several prospective developments related to the improvement of the road pavements currently used in the urban context. A new methodology aimed at improving the design of the main properties of a road pavement is presented. The abovementioned methodology was set up based on laboratory and on-site tests, which were carried out over recent decades in order to moni...

The sound absorption of a road pavement depends not only on geometric and volumetric factors but also on pore shape factors. In turn, pore shape factors mainly refer to thermal and viscous factors (i.e., thermal and viscous effects that usually occur inside porous materials). Despite the presence of a number of studies and researches, there is a lack of information about how to predict or estimate pore shape factors. This greatly affects mixture design, where a physical-based or correlation-based link between volumetrics and acoustics is vital and plays an important role also during quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedures. Based on the above, the objective of this study is to link mixture volumetrics and pore shape factors. In particular, 10 samples of a porous asphalt concrete were tested in order to estimate their thickness, air voids content (vacuum-sealing method, ASTM D6857/D6857M), sound absorption coefficient (Kundt’s tube, ISO 10354-2), airflow resistivity (...

The increase in train speed and axle load is an important goal to achieve in the future.  From a technical standpoint, ballastless tracks seem to be suitable to the aim, especially when high-speed passenger trains share the track with freight trains. Based on the above, the primary objective of this study is the comparison between ballasted and slab tracks regarding total costs over the life course. A suitable model to evaluate the total costs of competing solutions is set up. A solution for solving the issue of CO2 price fluctuation and for the quantification of External Costs is also formulated.  Life Cycle Costs are estimated based on agency, environmental and present user values. Analyses and results show that when Life Cycle Costing-based approaches are applied: i) Agency Costs have to be considered in the long-term perspective; ii) expected life has an appreciable impact and several solutions and systems, more affordable in the short term, yield unfavourable maintenance and re...

Background:As is well known, in road construction, quality acceptance procedures and quality assurance/control procedures during operations (for maintenance and rehabilitation purposes) focus on material quality from a mechanistic and safety perspective. This latter usually entails the consideration of friction and surface texture indicators. When friction requirements (e.g., side friction coefficients measured through the SCRIM machine) are not satisfied, road agencies have two main options: closing the traffic or having lower speed limits. The first option is often unrealistic and challenging. It turns out that a new, often temporary, speed limit is required and appropriate methodologies are required to carry out this critical task.Aims and Objectives:Consequently, the objective of the study presented in this paper is to set up a methodology aiming at engineering-based assessments of speed limits based on actual friction values. Original and consistent algorithms are set up to sol...

The recycling of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in hot-mix asphalt (HMA) is an important opportunity in regard to transportation infrastructure construction and maintenance because it helps to achieve more sustainable road transport systems (reduction of waste production and reduction of resource consumption). In particular, totally recycled HMAs can be a good alternative for road paving even if performance can be an issue. As is well known, the type of low-volume road pavement (gravel, coarse rocky soil, crushed aggregate, cobblestone, concrete block, or some type of bituminous seal coat or asphalt pavement) depends on traffic volume, native in-place soils, and the need to control surface and depth erosion. The objectives and scope of this research were confined to the formalization of strategies and technical procedures for recycling RAP from porous asphalt concretes to obtain permeable wearing courses for low-volume roads. Different solutions were investigated. High percentages...

Porous European Mixes (PEMs) are open-graded surface courses with high void content (circa 20%). About ten million square meters of PEMs are going to be definitely laid in Southern Italy (Calabria), but there is still considerable need for additional performance information for the use of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) in premium surface course mixes, and this will pose rehabilitation problems. Therefore research is needed. In light of these premises, objectives and scope were focused on the idea of recycling porous asphalt concretes back into porous asphalt concretes. Two main issues were addressed: I) what about the bearing properties?; II) what about the friction properties? In order to investigate on the above-mentioned issues an experimental plan was designed. Mixes with high RAP (reclaimed asphalt pavement) content were prepared and tested. Design and construction features, including mix design and mixing procedures were addressed.Mechanical performance was adequate and environmental compatibility was achieved. The tests carried out are encouraging about the possibility of achieving a satisfactory level of surface performance. Practical applications and perspectives in rehabilitation, maintenance, and research are outlined.

Based on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (25th September 2015), transport systems have to be 1) Sustainable. 2) Quality and resilient. 3) Safe. To this end, note that the Italian Ministry of Research funded the Research Project PRIN USR342 that involves related ideas and focuses on 3 paving solutions (made with recycled materials and sustainable technologies), 4 sets of modules (software), and 2 platforms. The objective of the study here presented deals with the assessment of the best pavement technology based on energy and environmental performance. Consequently, a life cycle assessment, LCA, was applied, considering material production, construction, maintenance, and end of life. The environmental impact of the different pavement technologies was derived. Results demonstrate that the use of warm mix asphalts and of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) yields the lowest energy consumption and environ-mental impact. Furthermore, under the hypotheses of the study, the producti...

... Haider M. Acoustics researcher – arsenal research, Austria – manfred.haider@arsenal.ac.at Descornet G. Senior researcher – BRRC, Belgium – g.descornet@brrc.be Sandberg U. Senior researcher – VTI, Sweden – ulf ... Bernhard Steinauer Germany Fakhri Mansour Iran ...

ABSTRACT In the last decades several studies were conducted in order to develop operating speed prediction models for two-lane rural roads. Many factors were found to affect the operating speed, such as radius of horizontal curve or curvature changes rate, grade, length of horizontal curve, deflection angle, sight distance, superelevation rate, side friction factor, and pavement conditions. Though this, many issues arise when there is an appreciable and continuous variance of geometric features along the road and, for example, short and long tangents coexist in the same road. In such conditions, assessing homogeneous sections, calibrating robust algorithms aimed at V-85 prediction is a severe task and safety goals are not easily achieved. In the light of the abovementioned facts, objective and scopes of this work were confined into the quantifications of the effect of past, present, and future geometric elements on operating speeds. In particular, attention was focused on the consistency of the assumption of an environmental speed as a reference value for both short (dependent) and long (independent) tangents. Authors proposed a new operating speed model in which the geometric features of the previous and oncoming alignment were explicitly considered. The proposed speed prediction algorithm was validated on the basis of a wide experimental survey carried out in a rural road of the Province of Reggio Calabria southern Italy. Problem modelling, experimental plan and results discussion are reported. Results proved the validity of the proposed model even if further experiments are needed to make the model able to predict the operating speed in different type of roads.