Maintenance is a necessary to keep assets, in this case, a pavement system, in good condition. Spending too much on maintenance is not efficient, while not spending enough may cause the condition to drop below a desired level. Therefore, in this paper, a conceptual approach, based on systems and control theory, is developed to improve the efficiency of maintenance of a pavement system, compared to the currently used maintenance approach where often only fixed bounds of the condition determine whether or not a maintenance action is required.  A state-space description of the condition of the pavement system is chosen for predicting the future evolution of the health condition. This allows the use of a moving-horizon optimisation approach, to determine optimal anticipative maintenance actions. Furthermore, in this approach, the maintenance cost and the condition of the pavement system are optimised. This model-based approach can be applied in practice as well-documented data, from which degradation models can be constructed, are often available. In this paper, we also show how degradation models from the literature can be converted for use in the proposed condition-based maintenance approach. Note that because of the general character of the proposed maintenance optimisation approach, the degradation model and the chosen optimisation method that are used as illustration in this paper can easily be replaced by another one, depending on the needs of the user. A case study is performed, where a representative situation is considered using the developed approach and the maintenance approach currently used in practice. This case study shows how the approach works and what the cost reduction can be assuming that the models are accurate. The paper ends with a discussion and recommendations.

This study investigates the impacts of rejuvenator type/dosage and the aging degree of bitumen on the chemical and rheological properties of rejuvenated bitumen, and propose critical chemo-rheological indicators for evaluating rejuvenation efficiency. Moreover, the potential connections between essential chemical and rheological indices of rejuvenator-aged bitumen blends are explored. Results indicate that chemical indices show linear relationships with rejuvenator dosage and vary depending on the rejuvenator type and aging level of bitumen. All rejuvenators can regenerate certain rheological parameters of aged bitumen to varying degrees, but cannot restore the crossover modulus (Gc). Various rheological indices exhibit different correlations with rejuvenator dosage and sensitivity degrees to the discrepancy in rejuvenator type and aging degree of bitumen. Critical chemical and rheological indicators are proposed based on their sensitivity levels to influence factors, with the aromaticity index (AI), carbonyl index (CI), and sulfoxide index (SI) as effective chemical indices and the complex modulus (G*), crossover frequency (fc), and high-temperature master curve area (AMH) as critical rheological indices for rejuvenation efficiency evaluation. The study finds that the magnitude of rejuvenation efficiency for four rejuvenators is Bio-oil > Engine-oil > Naphthenic-oil > Aromatic-oil, and the linear correlations between the critical chemical and rheological indices, together with their rejuvenation percentages, are significantly affected by the rejuvenator type and aging level of bitumen.

Membranes of sufficient bonding characteristics could improve the integrity of the multi-layer structures on orthotropic steel deck bridges (OSBDs), enhancing thus the structural response of these systems and, ultimately, their service life. In this research, full-scale experiments were performed at the LINTRACK accelerated pavement testing facility of the Delft University of Technology to evaluate the performance of two surfacing systems commonly used in the Netherlands, giving emphasis on assessing the interface response of membranes with the surrounding materials. Results indicated that the tensile strains remain almost uniform at the top of porous asphalt, in both transverse and longitudinal directions, as no appreciable loss in stress-carrying capabilities was seen even at the end of the testing program. The sections exhibited similar behaviour in terms of strains, with some differences in strains indicating the impacts of membranes at interfaces. The importance of membranes of the desired bonding characteristics was also reflected by the relative displacement measurements. The relative interlayer slip had been higher in the transverse direction than the longitudinal one, with slightly higher displacements in one of the test sections. Overall, no cracking was observed on either section, and the current findings support the use of membranes between surfacing layers on OSBDs.