Jose Norambuena-ContrerasSwansea University | SWAN · Department of Civil Engineering
Jose Norambuena-Contreras
PhD Civil Engineering
"Driving Innovative Solutions for Self-Healing Roads"
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146
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Introduction
Dr Norambuena-Contreras is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering at Swansea University, UK. His research is focused on self-healing bituminous materials for more sustainable and resilient roads. This multidisciplinary research integrates Material Science, Civil Engineering, and Chemical Engineering disciplines.
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (146)
Asphalt pavements are widely used in Chile and around the world, but their durability is compromised by bitumen aging, leading to higher maintenance costs. To mitigate this deterioration, studies have examined the use of antioxidants like lignin—a biopolymer derived from the paper industry—which can reduce bitumen hardening. In this study, Kraft li...
This study investigates how recycled metal fibres from End-of-Life Tyres (ELTs) affect both microwave heating efficiency and crack healing properties in dense asphalt mixtures. The aim is to improve tyre recyclability by using their fibres in asphalt and exploring their self-healing potential with microwave heating. To achieve this, four dense asph...
The growing need to enhance our road infrastructure has driven the development of several innovative techniques in recent years. Among these advancements, encapsulated rejuvenator solutions for extrinsic self-healing asphalt have emerged as a significant topic of interest. This paper evaluates the effect of optimised capsules containing vegetal oil...
La aparición y propagación de fisuras en las mezclas asfálticas es uno de los daños más comunes en pavimentos flexibles. En los últimos años, se han propuesto técnicas novedosas para prevenir, controlar y mitigar los procesos de fractura en este tipo de pavimentos. Una de estas alternativas es el sellado autónomo de fisuras por medio de la adición...
Global warming has triggered a series of strategies and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the reuse and recycling into asphalt pavements. One of these, is the reduction of production temperatures of asphalt mixtures, and the other is using sustainable antioxidants, such as Kraft lignin, with high phenolic content. Kraft lignin...
Conventional asphalt roads are noisy. Currently, there are two main types of mainstream noise-reducing pavements: pore acoustic absorption and damping noise reduction. However, a single noise reduction method has limited noise reduction capability, and porous noise-reducing pavements have a shorter service life. Therefore, this paper aimed to impro...
Complex molecular organic fluids such as bitumen, lubricants, crude oil, or biobased oils from biorefineries are intrinsically challenging to model with molecular precision, given the large variety and complexity of organic molecules in their composition. Large scale atomistic simulations have been historically limited by this complexity, which has...
Waste Tyres (WT) are a significant fraction of industrial waste and a source of environmental hazards with limited valorisation. To reduce this problem, currently there is a growing interest in valuing the WT through pyrolysis to obtain multifunctional liquids to improve the rheological and self-healing properties of aged binders. This research pro...
La autorreparación extrínseca de mezclas asfálticas con rejuvenecedores encapsulados es una técnica emergente que promueve el sellado autónomo de microgrietas en pavimentos flexibles. Este sellado se logra mediante la liberación de agentes rejuvenecedores, como aceites vegetales y residuales, contenidos en cápsulas de matriz biopolimérica que se añ...
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are recognized for their immunomodulatory effects and regenerative properties, being promising therapeutic agents for a wide range of diseases. To ensure a localized effect of MSC in the organism biobased hydrogels have been tested for their ability to act as a matrix-embedded to improve MSC targeted delivery. In this c...
Recent research proves that pyrolytic oils from waste tires are effective in restoring the chemical and rheological properties of aged asphalt binders. Nonetheless, the role of oil-binder molecular interactions and bindeŕs aging degree on the diffusional behavior of the pyro-oils is still unclear. In this study, authors propose integrating operando...
Asphalt concrete is widely known to be a self-healing material, by repeated loading the micro-cracks have appearing and disappeared when both faces of a fissure touch. This process is applied until the crack is completely gone and the material regains its prior resistance. In this study, two strategies are presented to boost of healing rate and app...
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are recognized for their immunomodulatory effects and regenerative properties, being promising therapeutic agents for a wide range of diseases. To ensure a localized effect of MSC in the organism, biobased hydrogels have been tested for their ability to acting as a matrix-embedded to improves MSC targeted delivery. In t...
This study aimed to determine an optimal dosage of sunflower oil (i.e., Virgin Cooking Oil, VCO) as a rejuvenator for asphalt self-healing purposes, evaluating its effect on the chemical (carbonyl, and sulfoxide functional groups), physical (penetration, softening point, and viscosity), and rheological (dynamic shear modulus, and phase angle) prope...
Self-healing bituminous materials by adaptive encapsulated rejuvenators system is a hot topic within road materials. For the first time, this work explores the natural spores for the encapsulation of rejuvenators as a novel controlled release system to promote the self-healing capability in aged bituminous materials. Treated spores were obtained fr...
This study aimed to synthesise enhanced biocapsules containing oil as an additive to promote self-healing in bituminous materials. The capsules consisted of a biopolymeric matrix of sodium alginate as encapsulating material and sunflower cooking oil as a non-hazardous rejuvenating agent. Oil was incorporated in five concentrations by weight of algi...
The addition of encapsulated rejuvenators to asphalt mixtures is a novel self-healing technique to promote the autonomous healing of cracks. To guarantee the effectiveness of this method, a minimum number of capsules must get ‘activated’ (i.e., the capsule must be able to release the healing agent) throughout the service life of the asphalt mixture...
This study evaluated the effect of two encapsulation methods (i.e., dropping funnel and syringe pump), two concentrations of the alginate-based encapsulating material (2%, and 3%), and three oils as bitumen rejuvenators (virgin sunflower oil, waste cooking oil, and virgin engine oil) on the morphological, physical, chemical, thermal, and mechanical...
Asphalt pavements and bituminous composites are majorly damaged by bitumen aging and fatigue cracking by traffic load. To add, maintenance and reparation of asphalt pavements is expensive and also releases significant amounts of greenhouse gases. These issues can be mitigated by promoting asphalt self-healing mechanisms with encapsulated rejuvenato...
Encapsulated rejuvenating agents for self-healing of bituminous materials have gained significant interest within the road scientific community, turning these enhanced materials into a hot topic. In this study, virgin cooking oil, waste cooking oil, and virgin engine oil were used as encapsulated rejuvenators to restore properties of aged bitumen a...
Self-healing of asphalt mixtures with encapsulated rejuvenators is a novel technique in which cracks within the surface layers of a pavement are sealed by a healing agent that is contained and released from capsules fabricated with biopolymers. The capsules, which typical diameters range between 0.5 and 2.5 mm, are added to the asphalt mixture duri...
This paper presents the synthesis and characterisation of biopolymeric capsules for asphalt self-healing. A sodium alginate biopolymer extracted from the cell wall of brown algae was used as the encapsulating material to contain Waste Cooking Oil (WCO) as a potential encapsulated rejuvenating agent for aged bitumen. Polynuclear capsules were synthe...
The application of microwave radiation is an effective technique to promote the crack-healing of asphalt mixtures. The heat increases the bitumen temperature and reduces bitumen viscosity, flowing and sealing the open cracks. Normally, these types of asphalt mixtures contain metal additives that promote microwave heating. However, the literature re...
The importance of materials science and engineering is paramount for developing new materials and components that will support our continuously growing needs as a society. At the same time, preserving our natural habitat by minimising our carbon emissions and waste of natural resources has also gained, quite rightly, significant attention over the...
Self-healing construction materials have caused great interest in the last decade due to their several applications for civil engineering. A self-healing material is defined as an artificial or synthetically created material that has the built-in ability to repair damage to itself without human intervention
This chapter presents the relevant research details and progress of the current three types of self-healing models in bituminous materials based on the relevant literature, i.e. physical–chemical-based experimental model, physical–chemical-based numerical model and mechanical-based self-healing modelmechanical-based self-healing model. Moreover, th...
This chapter provides a comprehensive summary of the significant advances in self-healing bituminous materials from the engineering technologies associated with promoting the autonomous healing capability in the asphalt pavements to the large-scale applications.
This chapter aims to present a relatively comprehensive review for the self-healing measurements of bituminous materials based on the multiscale view. The application of the multiscale characterization technology can not only provide the diverse results of influencing factors on the self-healing capability of bituminous materials, but also to suppl...
Microwave heating of asphalt pavement is a promising technique to reduce the maintenance and increase the service life of materials through self-healing of cracks. Previous studies have shown that microwave heating technology at high temperatures could damage the bitumen of asphalt mixture, which is an unwanted effect of the crack-healing technique...
This book provides a thorough overview of all techniques for producing self-healing construction materials. Construction materials (cement-based, bituminous, metals, and alloys) are prone to cracking, which with the progress of time can lead to compromising of the structural integrity of critical infrastructure. Self-healing materials form a new cl...
Self-healing asphalt with encapsulated rejuvenators is a promising technology to improve the service life of asphalt pavements.
Broken capsules reduce the viscosity of aged bitumen due to rejuvenator diffusion, sealing open microcracks at an early stage. Several waste
oils have been used as low-cost rejuvenating agents in capsule production to redu...
Segregation of waste crumb rubber powder (WR) modified asphalt binders the large-scale application of WR in asphalt. The method of microwave activation combined with chemical activation (KMWR) was proposed to improve storage stability and rheological properties of WR modified asphalt in this work. Storage stability and rheological properties of vir...
This paper aims to encourage the circular economy and merge the manufacturing and the construction industries, providing waste fibres from the electrical discharge machining of the former as raw material for the latter. The research analyses the effect on the physical, thermal and mechanical properties of mortars reinforced with brass fibres. The m...
Extrinsic self-healing of bituminous materials using encapsulated rejuvenators is a hot topic within road materials. Based on a circular economy vision for more sustainable and resilient asphalt pavements, this study explores for the first time the use of pyrolytic oil from waste tyres as a promising encapsulated rejuvenator to promote the extrinsi...
Due to their sustainability as well as physical and mechanical performance, different natural fibers, both vegetal and animal fibers, have been successfully used in adobe mixtures (AMs) to enhance properties such as cracking control, flexural toughness and water erosion resistance, among others. However, the use of jute fibers (JFs), one of the mos...
This study aimed to characterise polynuclear biocapsules containing low-cost rejuvenating agents for asphalt self-healing. Capsules consisted of a biopolymeric matrix of calcium alginate containing cooking oil and mineral oil as rejuvenating agents, being synthesised using ionic gelation through the pumping dripping technique. The physical-chemical...
This paper reports part of an international research project with the long-term aim of developing more sustainable asphalt mixture with crack-healing properties by the addition of recycled metallic waste from industrial sources. Specifically, this article presents an evaluation of the physical, thermophysical, and mechanical properties of asphalt m...
The application of microwave radiation is an effective technique to promote the crack-healing of asphalt mixtures. The heat increases the bitumen temperature and reduces bitumen viscosity, flowing and sealing the open cracks. Normally, these types of asphalt mixtures contain metal additives that promote microwave heating. However, the literature re...
Several capsules were prepared using two different waste oils (vegetable oils and mineral oils), five different oil/water ratios, and four different amounts of sodium alginate as a polymer matrix. Capsules with waste oils were characterized by physical, thermal, and mechanical properties to define the more effective capsule for asphalt self-healing...
Self-healing of bituminous materials represents nowadays a promising approach to increasing the lifespan of asphalt pavements. During the last decade, different techniques have been used by researchers to promote the self-healing capability of bituminous materials: crack-healing by externally triggered heating using magnetic field technologies, suc...
This paper presents the synthesis and characterization of biopolymeric capsules for asphalt self-healing, where bio-oil from liquefied agricultural biomass waste was used as an eco-friendly rejuvenating agent for asphalt materials. Bio-oil polymeric capsules were synthesized using simple dripping technique by syringe pump device, where the bio-oil...
This paper aims to evaluate the effect of recycled brass fibres on the physical, thermal and mechanical properties of cementitious mortars. For that purpose, seven different mortars, with the same water/cement ratio but using two different brass fibres were manufactured. Not-machined brass fibres were used as a reference and compared to the waste b...
This paper presents the first analysis on the evaluation of the thermophysical and heating performance of self-healing asphalt mixtures with different contents of steel wool fibres for their potential use as a solar radiation absorbing material in an asphalt solar collector prototype. With this aim, four different dense-graded asphalt mixtures were...
Self-healing capability of the asphalt mixtures containing encapsulated healing agent can be affected by different water components as results of their exposure to aggressive environmental conditions such as the acid rain or saline-alkali solutions in coastal areas. In view of this, this paper aims to study the effect of harmful water environments...
Encapsulated healing agents may delay the growth of reflective cracking in asphalt mixtures and contribute to delay the maintenance of asphalt surfaces. When crack damage appears in the asphalt, the capsules membrane ruptures, and the healing agents are released in the vicinity of the cracks. This experimental research shows the rate at which the o...
Asphalt self-healing by encapsulated rejuvenating agents is considered a revolutionary technology for the autonomic crack-healing of aged asphalt pavements. This paper aims to explore the use of Bio-Oil (BO) obtained from liquefied agricultural biomass waste as a bio-based encapsulated rejuvenating agent for self-healing of bituminous materials. No...
Nowadays, strengthening and refurbishing of existing structures on urban areas has gained interest in order to reduce costs by avoiding both the use of construction raw materials and the disposal of construction and demolition waste on landfill. Usually, existing structures need to be locally demolished in order to replace either the existing corro...
Micro-cracks are generated inside asphalt materials as a result of the action of external environmental factors, such are aging, extreme temperature and moisture. Asphalt binder is a self-healing material with the ability of automatically repair its damage during rest periods. However, this autonomous process in the damaged asphalts is limited and...
This paper re-evaluates the effect of sunflower oil capsules on the mechanical and self-healing properties of dense-graded asphalt mixtures. Different percentages of capsules (0.50 wt%, 0.75 wt% and 1.00 wt%) were mixed into dense asphalt. The influence of capsules on the properties of asphalt such as density, indirect tensile strength, particle lo...
At present, there are mainly two ways to accelerate the self-healing of bitumen materials, namely electromagnetic induction heating or microwave heating, and capsules encapsulating rejuvenator. In this paper, a kind of multi-responsive composite fiber (MRF) was synthesized, which combined the advantages of the two ways. Scanning electron microscope...
The idea of prolonging the service life of asphalt mixture by improving the self-healing ability of asphalt has received extensive attention in recent years. In view of this, this work synthesized three kinds of encapsulating rejuvenator fibers to improve self-healing properties of asphalt mixtures. A series of characterizations were performed to s...
In this research, Ca-alginate capsules containing sunflower oil with different water/oil (W/O) ratios were synthesized and their physical properties, morphological characteristics, thermodynamic performance, oil content and survivability after mixing and compaction were studied to select the most suitable capsule for asphalt mixture. Finally, the c...
In this paper, the effects of Layered Double Hydroxides (LDHs) incorporation on the ageing resistance and self-healing properties of asphalt binder were studied. Matrix asphalt (MA) and LDHs modified asphalt (LMA) binders were aged by short-term thermal oxidation and ultraviolet ageing and their ageing performance was characterized through the anal...
This paper presents an experimental study to evaluate the mechanical and crack-healing properties of stone mastic asphalt (SMA) mixtures with encapsulated rejuvenators. With this goal, calcium alginate capsules with encapsulated sunflower oil as the rejuvenating agent have been manufactured and added into the SMA mixtures. Physical and mechanical p...
Self-healing asphalt mixtures by increasing bitumen temperature using microwave radiation is an effective technique for crack-healing asphalt mixtures. Normally, these types of mixtures contain additives that promote microwave heating. However, results from the literature suggest that crack-heling would be possible without additives. If this is pos...
Cross-Laminated-Timber (CLT) structures have gained popularity in the field of medium-rise buildings due to the quick fabrication and assembly of the panels. However, connections in radiata pine CLT shear walls and the behavior of CLT structures under lateral loads is still not well understood. In this context, this paper studies the structural beh...
This paper has been prepared in the frame of a research focused on the development of Cold Mix pavement materials made with calcium-alginate Capsules (CMC) instead of with just bitumen emulsion, as it is normally made. The initial objective was to remove most of the water in cold mix asphalt by encapsulating bitumen droplets. The encapsulation meth...
This paper aims to evaluate the effect of metallic waste addition on the electrical, thermophysical and microwave crack-healing properties of asphalt mixtures. With this purpose, asphalt mixtures with two different types of metallic waste, steel wool fibres and steel shavings, added in four different contents, were tested. Electrical and thermophys...
This is a call for a Special Issue entitled “Novel Bituminous Materials for Sustainable Pavements” to be published by the Journal Advances in Materials Science and Engineering (ISSN: 1687-8442 and JCR IF 1.372) in August 2019. We would like to invite you to contribute in the Special Issue with one or more original paper about your research line on...
RESUMEN La autorreparación de mezclas asfálticas mediante calentamiento por microondas, es una tecnología que puede ser utilizada para la rehabilitación de pavimentos. La característica principal de este tipo de mezclas es que poseen pequeñas cantidades de elementos metálicos como fibras de lana de acero (FLA), que hacen que las mezclas tengan la c...
Nowadays, refurbishing of existing structures has gained interest in order to reduce both the construction materials used and the construction and demolition waste production. For that purpose, there are several methods for demolishing the damaged parts, but most of the alternatives involve high noise and dust production, which are in contrapositio...
In this paper, polymeric calcium-alginate capsules with encapsulated sunflower oil were produced to improve the asphalt self-healing capability. The physical, thermal stability and mechanical properties of capsules were evaluated, respectively, through pycnometer density tests, thermogravimetric and thermal expansion analysis, and uniaxial compress...
In this study, four different additives (Styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS), Trinidad Lake Asphalt (TLA), Iranian Gilsonite (IG) and American Gilsonite (AG)) were used in bitumen modification. The rheological properties of bitumen were improved with the additive usage, and the desired performance grade (PG 70-34) was achieved by using additives in pur...
This paper investigates the influence of the type and amount of recycled metallic waste on the physical and mechanical properties of cement-based mortars. The physical and mechanical properties of cement mortars, containing four different amounts of metallic waste (ranged 4 to 16% by cement weight), were evaluated by measuring the bulk density, tot...