Enhanced Prediction of Urban Road Pavement Performance under Climate Change with Machine Learning

2024-07-15T22:07:17+00:00

In light of climate change, increasing traffic demands, and aging infrastructures, flexible pavements face escalating challenges in terms of resilience and longevity. This paper highlights the potential of Machine Learning (ML) to integrate with Mechanistic-Empirical pavement design, aiming to facilitate proactive maintenance and rehabilitation and ultimately enhanced resilience of urban road pavements. A comprehensive analysis comprising 4800 case studies across 10 major Canadian cities was conducted, encompassing various scenarios reflecting climate change pathways, pavement structures, and traffic levels. The findings indicate an increased risk of failure, particularly rutting, under projected future climate conditions. The study demonstrates that developed artificial neural network models exhibit high accuracy in predicting fatigue cracking (R2: 0.96) and rutting (R2: 0.98). Furthermore, it emphasizes the potential of ML techniques in conducting impact assessments and devising strategies for climate change adaptation, considering the evolving landscape of urban complexities.

Bamboo Reinforcement: An Eco-Friendly Composite to Steel Reinforcement

2024-09-02T08:31:31+00:00

The use of steel material has increased in developing countries causing surges in prices and affecting the environment. Researchers are endeavouring to find better and eco-friendly materials like bamboo as a better alternative to be used as reinforcement in concrete construction. This research purpose is to examine bamboo as a reasonable substitute for conventional steel serving as a reinforcement in concrete beams. Nine concrete cubes and prisms, and nine Bamboo-Reinforced Concrete Beams (BRCB) designed are subjected to compression testing. For longitudinal reinforcement, T12 steel rebars are utilized while for shear reinforcement R3 bars are used. Also, Bamboo-Reinforced Concrete Beams BCRBs are experimented with using longitudinal bars having a diameter of 20 mm and 8 mm thick steel bars. The results obtained show that bamboo is a viable alternative material and can be efficiently used as reinforcement in concrete beams in place of steel bars average strength is 34 Mpa. However, bamboo poles should be utilized in concrete construction rather than using bamboo slats because of severe durability concerns. There is a need to further investigate bamboo material to enhance its strength and durability while it is being used as a reinforcing material in concrete beams. This could be done by improving the treatment processes, examining the composite materials, or exploring new ways to improve bamboo efficiency and lifespan in concrete construction.

Journal of Civil Engineering and Construction

Enhanced Prediction of Urban Road Pavement Performance under Climate Change with Machine Learning

Bamboo Reinforcement: An Eco-Friendly Composite to Steel Reinforcement