Civil Engineering Materials for Climate Adaptation and Sustainability

The special collection on Civil Engineering Materials for Climate Adaptation and Sustainability is available online in the ASCE Library (https://ascelibrary.org/jmcee7/climate_adaptation_sustainability).

The effects of natural hazards, extreme weather events, and climate change continue to challenge our nation’s transportation infrastructure. Understanding and application of innovative materials and economic and effective solutions to infrastructure needs, as they are applied and modeled for climate adaptation and sustainability, are important. The International Symposium on Systematic Approaches to Environmental Sustainability in Transportation was held on August 2–5, 2015, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. A number of papers on civil engineering materials for climate adaptation and sustainability were presented at this symposium including context-sensitive solutions in transportation materials such as asphalt, concrete, soil, geosynthetics, pervious materials, and recycling, reusable, and renewable transportation materials. This special collection collected the expanded version of 10 of them.

Three papers focus on topics of keeping transportation infrastructure free of ice and snow during winter, which is essential for improved safety without negative impacts to the environment and pavement surface structure. Vo et al. (2017) evaluated the potential of using a thermoconductive asphalt mixture as a sustainable thermoconductive pavement in specific areas such as slope, bridge deck, tunnel exit, and especially runways and taxiways at airports for safety improvement during winter. Their study recognized that the graphite and carbon fibers have the ability to improve thermal properties of an asphalt mixture with different mechanisms. The use of chemicals and abrasives for highway winter maintenance operations is an essential strategy for ensuring a reasonably high level of service, yet the performance of such materials has to be balanced with their potential negative impacts on transportation infrastructure, the natural environment, and motor vehicles. Xie et al. (2017) investigated the effects of sodium chloride and potassium acetate deicers on the durability of concrete infrastructure using concrete samples obtained from the field bridge deck coring and those prepared in the laboratory. The study by Nazari et al. (2017) evaluated washing and a bio-based additive for managing the corrosive effect of magnesium-chloride-based deicers on the metallic components of equipment fleets.

Global warming and climate change have increased the frequency of heavy precipitation, which brings challenges to durability and service life of transportation infrastructure. Rosenbalm and Zapata (2017) assessed the effect of multiple wetting/drying cycles on the volume change behavior of naturally occurring expansive soils. In rigid pavement, one primary purpose for sealing joints is to prevent or reduce the amount of water infiltrating into the pavement structure. Neshvadian et al. (2017) proposed an improved infiltration model that could be a useful tool to evaluate the number of days within an annual cycle where infiltrated water may exist on the slab–subbase interface as part of a pavement design process. Guo et al. (2017) introduced a wicking geotextile as a new type of woven geotextile to remove moisture from unsaturated soil and improve the drainage of the roadways, and examined its water removal rate under different temperatures and relative humidities.

Climate has the biggest effect on the performance and service life of asphalt pavements among factors such as the material and structure of the pavement, daily traffic conditions, surrounding geology, and climate. Xiong et al.’s (2017) finite-element method (FEM) simulation revealed that the mechanical behavior and response of pavement with an asphalt surface and drainage layer can be significantly affected by subsurface temperature distribution. The paper by Zhao et al. (2017) presents a comprehensive analysis based on a long-term pavement performance (LTPP) database and evaluation of the laboratory and field performance of hot mix asphalt (HMA) to address binder adaptation issues in Alaska because of its varying climates and seasonally extreme conditions.

Increasing awareness in sustainability has prompted many innovations in the transportation infrastructure industry including the use of recycling materials such as reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and bottom ash aggregate. Kazmee et al. (2017) evaluated the engineering applications and field performances of RAP materials used in pavement unbound base/subbase and foundation layers by using full-scale accelerated pavement testing. The study conducted by Yuan et al. (2017) explored the effect of the interfacial zone between the aggregate and asphalt mastic on the tensile damage behavior of asphalt mixtures.

In summary, we hope that this collection provides the reader with a fresh sample of the current research and practices in civil materials for climate adaptation and sustainability. We would like to thank Dr. Antonio Nanni, the editor in chief of the Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering as well as ASCE publishing office personnel for their help and support during the production of this special collection. Appreciation is also extended to the reviewers of this special collection for their valuable comments and suggestions.