Sustainable bituminous materials
Summary
The course covers materials and technologies for sustainable asphalt pavements, including asphalt design, recycling, as well as recent innovations like carbon-negative and low-temperature asphalt. Students gain skills to evaluate these solutions and oversee their implementation.
Content
Asphalt is one of the most widely used materials in the world, but it is primarily composed of non-renewable resources and relies on an energy-intensive production process. Through interactive learning, the course participants will explore materials and technologies aimed at reducing the environmental impact of asphalt pavements. The course will first cover fundamental best practices for ensuring a long pavement service life, including asphalt mechanics, binder rheology, material selection, mixture design, performance testing, asphalt production, and paving. Emphasis will then be placed on maximizing asphalt recycling and reduction of paving temperature, currently the most effective approaches for improving the sustainability of asphalt pavements. In the final third of the course, the participants will examine various existing and emerging sustainable asphalt technologies, such as cold recycling, mitigating the heat island effect, reducing noise, utilizing bio-binders, and even developing negative-emission asphalt. By the end of the course, the students will be able to critically assess asphalt materials and technologies, becoming ambassadors for the future of sustainable asphalt pavements.
Keywords
Road, asphalt, pavement, bitumen, sustainability, asphalt recycling and re-use
Learning Prerequisites
Recommended courses
MSE-100, Introduction to materials science
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, the student must be able to:
- Assess / Evaluate asphalt pavement materials and technologies.
- Design asphalt mixtures using conventional and performance testing criteria.
- Interpret likely pavement failure causes and consider adequate treatment solutions.
- Assess / Evaluate the most suitable means for reducing the environmental impact of asphalt materials.
Transversal skills
- Set objectives and design an action plan to reach those objectives.
- Use a work methodology appropriate to the task.
- Communicate effectively with professionals from other disciplines.
- Access and evaluate appropriate sources of information.
- Demonstrate the capacity for critical thinking
Teaching methods
Ex cathedra, scientific articles, videos, exercises, flipped classroom, assignment with presentation, role-play, interactive quizzes at every lecture. The alternating mode of learning enhances retention of content and aids students' preparation for real-world situations.
Expected student activities
Study of teaching material, attendance of classes, handing in reports of individual/group assignments, presentation, participation in class exercises.
Assessment methods
- 30 % assignments during the course, including homework written assignments and class presentations.
- 70 % Oral exam: 3 questions, 20 minutes presentation.
Supervision
| Office hours | No |
| Assistant.e.s | No |
| Forum | Yes |
Resources
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)
No
Bibliography
Lecture notes, written documents and videos, scientific articles, complementary documents
Standard excerpts will be uploaded on Moodle.
Moodle Link
Prerequisite for
Pavement construction projects
In the programs
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: Oral (winter session)
- Subject examined: Sustainable bituminous materials
- Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exercises: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Type: optional
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: Oral (winter session)
- Subject examined: Sustainable bituminous materials
- Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exercises: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Type: optional
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: Oral (winter session)
- Subject examined: Sustainable bituminous materials
- Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exercises: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Type: optional
- Semester: Fall
- Exam form: Oral (winter session)
- Subject examined: Sustainable bituminous materials
- Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Exercises: 1 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
- Type: optional