Employing Field Energy Attenuation in Portland Cement Concrete Pavements as a Design Parameter

Abstract

Abstract
In recent years the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere has become a serious issue to deal with. According to a report of the European Environment Agency, transportation was responsible for about a quarter of the EU’s total CO2 emissions in 2019, of which 71.7% came from road transportation. EU aims to achieve a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport by 2050. For road traffic the preferred solution now is electric vehicles with rechargeable batteries. However, much energy is being lost in converting say potential energy from hydro power to electricity that also may be transported over long distances, to chemical storage, and finally turning the power to mechanical energy for propulsion. Pavement engineers have been looking at improving pavements to reduce rolling resistance as this also reduces emissions. With electric vehicles, there is little gain with the improved pavement, regarding the carbon footprint. However, a likely shortage of energy available is expected for the next ten to twenty years, due to the large increase of electric vehicles. Thus, it is worthwhile improving the pavements for less rolling resistance. The present paper deals with evaluating field data and assessing the energy dissipation in the different pavement layers and the subgrade. It also deals with the correlation of crack propagation. Hence, a model to predict the pavement life is presented, to support the traditional fatigue life based on stress and strain. Finally, the data are trained using neural networks, for achieving results in a fast and tidily manner.