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9-8-2021
Editorial: Development and Application of Bituminous Materials Editorial: Development and Application of Bituminous Materials
for Civil Infrastructures for Civil Infrastructures
Zhanping You
Michigan Technological University
Jie Ji
Beijing University Of Civil Engineering And Architecture
Dawei Wang
Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
Feng Li
Beihang University
Hui Yao
Beijing University of Technology
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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation
You, Z., Ji, J., Wang, D., Li, F., Yao, H., & Hou, Y. (2021). Editorial: Development and Application of
Bituminous Materials for Civil Infrastructures.
Frontiers in Materials, 8
. http://doi.org/10.3389/
fmats.2021.745392
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/15355
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p
Part of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons
Editorial: Development and
Application of Bituminous Materials
for Civil Infrastructures
Zhanping You
1
, Jie Ji
2
, Dawei Wang
3
, Feng Li
4
, Hui Yao
5
* and Yue Hou
5
1
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, United States,
2
School of
Civil and Transportation Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing, China,
3
Institute of Highway
Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany,
4
School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang
University, Beijing, China,
5
Faculty of Architecture, Civil and Transportation Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing,
China
Keywords: civil engineering, pavement materials, test method, characterization method, numerical simulation
Editorial on the Research Topic
Development and Application of Bituminous Materials for Civil Infrastructures
Pavement maintenance has become increasingly important with recent developments in the auto
industry. Pavement distress affects pavement quality and service life, which in turn affects people’s
daily lives. Innovative pavement materials and technologies need to be developed to enable pavement
to serve its purposes, especially looking to bituminous materials. A series of engineering problems
can be solved by developing advanced characterization methods and new materials through the
existing and innovative test and simulation methods.
The international journal “Frontiers in Materials” is a high-visibility journal publishing rigorously
peer-reviewed research across the entire breadth of materials science and engineering. This special
issue “Development and Application of Bituminous Materials for Civil Infrastructures” focuses on
the recent development or emerging technologies of bituminous materials. The research areas of this
special issue cover three sections: advanced pavement materials, advanced test methods and
simulation models.
1) Advanced Pavement Materials: Polyether polyurethane concrete (PPC) is proposed as a new
pavement material for bridge decks. Test results show that the anti-aging and overall pavement
performance were improved compared to traditional and Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS)
modified asphalt mixtures (Xu et al.). Direct Coal Liquefaction Residue (DCLR) was used to
improve the performance of asphalt mixtures and the permanent deformation was investigated
with different tire pressures and temperatures (Zhi et al.). The uniform test design method of a
colored emulsified asphalt seal mixture (CEASM) was proposed and different tests were used to
study the various performance indicators, including storage stability, wear resistance, anti-slide,
and color durability (Sun et al.). Different types of rubbers were used in the asphalt mixtures to
form different structural layers in asphalt pavement. The dynamic moduli of asphalt mixtures
under different temperatures were studied (Wang et al.). An effective mixing method was
proposed to improve the high-temperature performance of Terminal Blend (TB) asphalt rubber.
A serial of tests was employed to evaluate and verify the performance of TB asphalt rubbers (Xie
et al.). The shear fatigue life and performance of the epoxy resin waterproof adhesive layer were
investigated with different temperatures, stress levels, and quantities of coating layer on bridge
deck pavement. More coating on the pavement can improve the resistance to interlaminar shear
fatigue failure (Xu et al.). Different modifiers were used to modify the asphalt binder, including
SBS, Polyphosphoric Acids (PPA), furfural extraction oil, and dibutyl phthalate (DBP). The
Edited and reviewed by:
John L. Provis,
The University of Sheffield,
United Kingdom
*Correspondence:
Hui Yao
Received: 22 July 2021
Accepted: 25 August 2021
Published: 08 September 2021
Citation:
You Z, Ji J, Wang D, Li F, Yao H and
Hou Y (2021) Editorial: Development
and Application of Bituminous
Materials for Civil Infrastructures.
Front. Mater. 8:745392.
doi: 10.3389/fmats.2021.745392
Frontiers in Materials | www.frontiersin.org September 2021 | Volume 8 | Article 7453921
EDITORIAL
published: 08 September 2021
doi: 10.3389/fmats.2021.745392
adhesive properties of different asphalt binders were
examined (Li et al.). Many types of granular soil materials
from construction fields were mixed with different cement
contents. The unconfined compressive strength was strongly
related to soil properties and cement contents (Yang et al.).
The effect of vibration mixing on the performance of cement-
based mixtures was researched. Vibration mixing improved
the dispersion uniformity of cement in aggregates and
significantly enhanced the bonding strength between the
cement and aggregates (Li et al.).
2) Advanced Test Methods: The aggregate skeleton of asphalt
mixtures definitely affects the pavement performance, and the
skeleton system can be more complex with reclaimed asphalt
pavement (RAP). Three types of the contact points between
aggregates were classified: new-new, new-old, and old-old.
The distribution characteristics of asphalt mixtures with three
contact points were analyzed through image processing (Xiao
et al.). Deicing in the winter is always an issue of great interest
for pavement engineers. The compression strength of ice
under asphalt mixture was investigated to improve deicing
equipment in the process of melting and crushing ice on
pavement surfaces. Two failure modes, shear, and ductile
failures can be observed from test results (Luo et al.). The
compaction characteristics of cold recycle mixtures were
studied, and five characteristic parameters were used to
quantify the compaction of asphalt mixtures (Wang et al.).
The rutting resistance of asphalt pavement in the RIOHTrack
and laboratory was estimated and analyzed through different
performance tests, including the dynamic modulus test,
Hamburg rutting test, French rutting test, and asphalt
pavement analyzer rutting test (Li et al.). The effect of the
interface joint shape on the pavement life after pothole
repairing was studied through the fatigue life test (Li et al.).
Microwave-activated crumb rubber was used to modify
asphalt binder. The properties and aging mechanism were
studied through different tests, including penetration,
softening point, ductility, viscosity, Dynamic Shear
Rheometer (DSR), Gel Permeation Chromatography
(GPC), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
(FTIR) (Zhou et al.). The Coarse Aggregate Morphological
Identification System (CAMIS) was employed and developed,
allowing the shape features of aggregates above 2.36 mm to be
identified based on computer images (Liu et al.). The
gradation variability of the aggregates strongly relates to
the volume parameters and performance of asphalt
mixtures. The volume parameters include Air Voids (AV),
Voids in Mineral Aggregate (VMA), Voids Filled with Asphalt
(VFA), etc. The design method was analyzed and studied for
the dense skeleton gradation (Liu et al.).
3) Simulation Models: The Molecular Dynamics (MD) method is
a promising simulation tool to analyze materials at the
nanoscale. Two carbon-based nanomaterials were used to
modify asphalt binder, and the MD models were generated.
The self-healing capability and properties of asphalt binders
were investigated under different temperatures. The optimum
contents of modifiers can be determined, and it was found that
the modifier enhances the self-healing capability of asphalt
binders (Gong et al.). An adaptive and piecewise model
framework was proposed to analyze the deterioration
process of rail track based on historical measurement data,
and the progress of irregular deteriorations in the
corresponding rail track sections can be monitored and
displayed (Yang et al.).
Thirty manuscripts were received for possible publication
in this special issue. Each manuscript was rigorously, fairly,
and anonymously reviewed. Both the quality and originality of
each paper were thoroughly checked. Finally, nineteen
technical research articles were accepted and approved for
publication.
Our editorial team members all appreciate the professional
and dedicated support from the reviewers, and also thank all the
authors for their efforts and investment in this special issue. In
addition, we all are grateful to the editorial and support teams
from the Journal of Frontiers in Materials, especially to Prof. John
L. Provis, Prof. Nicola Maria Pugno, Dr. Pietro Benettoni, Dr.
Michelle Cook, and Audra Taylor.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual
contribution to the work and approved it for publication.
Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a
potential conflict of interest.
Publisher’s Note: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of
the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in
this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or
endorsed by the publisher.
Copyright © 2021 You, Ji, Wang, Li, Yao and Hou. This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
The use, distributi on or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the
original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original
publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice.
No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with
these terms.
Frontiers in Materials | www.frontiersin.org September 2021 | Volume 8 | Article 7453922
You et al. Editorial: Materials for Civil Engineering
