FHBMicro · Fatigue Damage and Healing of Bituminous Materials: from Microscopic Mechanism towards Lifetime Extension
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-04-01 → 2023-03-31
- EU contribution
- €187,572
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Fatigue Damage and Healing of Bituminous Materials: from Microscopic Mechanism towards Lifetime Extension
Bituminous materials (BMs) including bitumen and asphalt are considered the primary components of a modern pavement structure and have been used to construct and maintain over 90% of the 5.2 million km of paved roads and highways in Europe. The BMs exhibit significantly complex characteristics due to bitumen cohesion, bitumen-aggregate adhesion, the inclusion of air voids and inherent defects in the mixtures. Fatigue damage (e.g., cracking) of the BMs can occur under repeated traffic loads and changeable environmental conditions. After long rest periods and/or exposure to high temperatures, the accumulated damage is partially or fully recovered through the closure of the cracks (i.e., healing). Most of the existing studies were focused on the macroscopic experimental characterisation and numerical simulations of the BMs’ fatigue damage and healing and their underlying mechanisms at the microscale are currently unknown. Therefore, an increasing demand has been raised for a comprehensive understanding of the microscopic mechanisms leading to the fatigue damage and healing of the BMs to fundamentally extend the roads’ service life. The objectives of this project included: 1) training of the Fellow’s academic expertise, professional skills and cross-disciplinary collaboration; 2) investigating microscopic mechanisms of the BMs’ fatigue damage and healing; 3) modelling microscopic behaviours of fatigue damage and healing and multiscale performance prediction of the BMs; 4) development and evaluation of the anti-fatigue and self-healing BMs and technologies; and 5) industrial application of the anti-fatigue and self-healing materials and evaluation technologies for the BMs. The research work significantly contributes to extending the road service life, reducing road maintenance costs and greenhouse gas emissions and saving natural resources like petroleum bitumen.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
FHBMicro aims to train a talented young researcher through an interdisciplinary research focused on investigating the microscopic mechanisms of fatigue damage and healing of bituminous materials (BMs) to fundamentally extend the materials’ service life. The main deliverables resulting from the FHBMicro include a better understanding of the microscopic mechanisms of the BMs’ fatigue damage and healing, a trans-scale performance prediction framework and evaluation protocol of the fatigue and healing of the BMs, and an implementation of anti-fatigue and self-healing BMs and technologies in durable and sustainable road construction. Through the project, the Fellow will receive intensive scientific knowledge training in multidisciplinary field of chemistry (TUD), material science (TUD), computational modelling (TUD and RWTH), experimental characterisation (UoN) and industrial applications (Nynas and Duro Vermeer). The Fellow will also receive inter-sectoral complementary skills training in project management, intellectual property protection, teaching and supervision, and networking. The benefits brought by FHBMicro are represented by strengthening the EU scientific excellence and industry leadership in the innovation, evaluation and engineering application of the durable and sustainable road materials. The implementation of anti-fatigue and self-healing BMs and technologies in road infrastructures will extend the road service life and ultimately save natural resources like petroleum bitumen and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Uniquely, the project will enable the Fellow to obtain interdisciplinary knowledge and inter-sectoral complementary skills by building a new and exciting research field, which will pave a solid foundation for the Fellow towards his career of being an independent leading researcher in the area of durable and sustainable infrastructure materials in a top European university, with a Europe-linked collaborative network.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT · DelftCoordinatorNetherlands
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union