Sustainable Materials for Urban Mobility: AI-Based Optimization of Composite Pavement under Polluted Environments
Keywords:
Urban Mobility Resilience, Composite Pavement Design, Three-Dimensional Artificial Neural Networks, Heavy-Vehicle Load Optimization, Urban Pollution Resistance, Heat Island Mitigation, Frost–Thaw Durability, Blast and Impact Loading, Crustacean Shell–Rubber Compounds, Crushed-Glass Pavement Layers, Technical Mortars, Recycled Polymer Supports, Viscosity-Modified Ashes, Chemical Degradation Simulation, Lifespan Extension, Maintenance Cost Reduction, Greenhouse Gas Minimization, Material Configuration Optimization, Pavement Durability Modeling, Sustainable Urban Infrastructure.Abstract
Urban mobility is a major challenge in metropolitan areas, where the demand for traffic and transport keeps increasing, frequently surpassing the infrastructure resilience thresholds. Pavements are crucial part of mobility systems, providing the terrain that interconnects buildings, roads, railways, parks, greenhouses, and underground facilities. The quality and durability of pavements directly affect the local community quality of life and the ecological footprint of a city. Therefore, soil/pavement systems for urban mobility need to be resilient against air pollution, urban heat island effects, frost/thaw cycles, and frequent attacks of blasting and impact-loading cycles.
Three-dimensional artificial neural network models are used to optimize the material configuration of composite pavements specifically exposed to urban environments densely loaded by heavy vehicles, allowing for increases in lifespan, reductions in maintenance cost, and lower contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. Composite pavements include a top layer made of either compound of crustacean shells and rubber, or crushed glass, or a technical mortar, while the support is composed of recycled polymers and viscosity-modified ashes. Durability with respect to urban pollutants is quantified through chemical process simulations, which show that the latter type of composite pavements remains the most exposed one to urban chemicals without suffering major reductions in lifespan.
