New technologies for road and airport pavements & transport and road safety analysis

Research focus

The Peer review has evaluated this group as Average

The main research topics are focused: a) on the infrastructures (i.e. road maintenance, rehabilitation and new technologies for pavements) and b) on road transport analysis and road safety, and briefly described. - Maintenance and rehabilitation. Maintenance has to be accomplished with more rational, fast and effective interventions. The performances of pavement layers have to be restored and enhanced within an optimum management of the available resources. Moreover, the current sensibility requires limiting the external costs that transportation causes. Then, users’ safety and noise and vibration restraint are nowadays relevant goals, to be pursued by new intervention technologies. Referring to these parameters, specific measurement and analyses methods enable to quantify the current status of superstructures. The research group studied several aspects of the broad problem presented, by setting suitable management tools and general theoretical models, as well as applications for specific pavements and contexts; particularly, different studies were carried out concerning the calibration of intervention thresholds and the forecast of distress evolution of specific road networks in order to guarantee traffic safety and structural durability, along the pavement life. An ad hoc test field (full scale pavements with different structures) was organized. - New technologies for pavements. More economic and short time consuming intervention techniques are required by Authorities to comply transport needs, letting the infrastructure be as much as possible on duty to satisfy transport demand. In this context, the research group has developed activities finalized to set up new maintenance and rehabilitation technologies. For instance: ? new technologies to set and seal stone pavements. After extended in situ measurement campaigns, laboratory investigations and theoretical modeling, techniques to design, build and maintain stone pavements were set up. These techniques were tuned for the rehabilitation of existing pavements of the expected vehicle flow and considering the possible presence of tramway tracks embedded in. ? enhancement of structural performances of airport pavements with severe special constraints, by applying non-standard structural schemes and high-performance materials. A special emphasis was posed to develop new materials for rehabilitation of airport pavements. Following these studies, the developed materials were used at the Milano airports, Malpensa and Linate. - Road Transport Analysis. Tools to form real-time databases about working conditions of urban road systems. The final application is dynamic information to the users. The monitoring system under development calculates the characters of network circulation by integrating fixed techniques and devices (cameras, radar systems, traditional devices) with information from test vehicles circulating inside the road system; test vehicles have on board a GPS system. Specific matter concerns peculiar characters of logistic mobility in urban areas. Indeed, goods traffic regulation has not yet validated solutions, neither in Italy nor elsewhere, also because the phenomenon is not sufficiently known. A GIS system was set to manage the database produced. The survey allowed to understand important mechanisms about urban logistics and to suggest several kinds of actions to internalize the distribution costs. - Road safety. Human factors analysis to provide quantitative methods of road safety evaluation. Driver’s behavior is cause of accident in over 90% of cases. For that reason, it is basic to study the mechanisms of perception, recognition and decision which drivers have in different road scenarios. Then, it is possible to understand which interventions can reduce significantly the accident risk: design interventions (on the road alignment) or on service elements (such as vertical and horizontal signposting). These considerations, in particular have been applied to urban road junctions. In fact, many road intersections display high rate of accidents, whose causes are not apparent. Then, the real risk factors have to be identified, as well as the interrelations among all factors, for every kind of road intersection. The main factors taken into account are traffic, vehicle speeds, intersection geometry, etc. The risk factors are analyzed for their impact on perspective vision, both of intersection as a whole and of specific elements, such as vertical and horizontal signposting. Different visibility conditions are considered. The aim is to understand if all elements of an intersection are correctly positioned, etc. Visibility tests are carried out by graphical simulation software, through dynamical simulations of driving in the intersections.

Dipartimento di afferenza

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Idraulica, Ambientale, Infrastrutture Viarie, Rilevamento (DIIAR)

Docenti afferenti

Full Professors
Giovanni Da Rios
Associated Professors
Maurizio Crispino
Savino Rinelli
Assistant Professor
Emanuele Toraldo