Wim Van den bergh

University of Antwerp | UA

Lean asphalt is a hot mixture produced with a lower binder content than a conventional dense-graded mixture. When used as a base layer, it allows for high RAP content and increases the structural capacity of the pavement compared to an unbound base. However, its low binder content and relatively high air void content raise concerns regarding its pe...

Oxidation kinetics of bitumen allow to derive fundamental properties that can eventually assist in a more systematic adjustment of bitumen’s composition. As such this paper addresses the effect of short-term lab ageing on the reaction kinetics parameters of two conventional binders of different penetration grade. In addition, it aims to suggest an...

To cope with the global climate crisis and assist in achieving the carbon neutrality, the use of biomass materials to fully or partially replace petroleum-based products and unrenewable resources is expected to become a widespread solution. Based on the analysis of the existing literature, this paper firstly classified biomass materials with potent...

The temperature profile significantly influences the structural performance of asphalt pavement since it influences various mechanical parameters such as stiffness, strength, and fatigue life. The present study aims to achieve two main objectives. Firstly, to explore the potential of Machine Learning (ML) approaches in predicting asphalt pavement p...

With circularity in mind, adding reclaimed asphalt in new asphalt mixtures is a common practice. While aiming for higher recycling rates, the need for better control of the mixture performance increases. Recycling agents are often proposed to restore the properties of aged binders. This study investigates the mechanical performance of plant-produce...

The demand for durability and resilience in asphalt pavements has led to the progressive implementation of performance-enhancing technologies like bitumen modification using polymers or fibers. This is particularly important in a port environment, where roads are subjected to heavy traffic. The main objective of this study is to contribute to the c...

In an attempt to mimic the in-situ ageing of asphalt pavements, the exploration of appropriate laboratory ageing simulations has led to multiple standards on binder level. On asphalt mixture level, however, less consensus exists regarding ageing simulation protocols. This study aims to compare the chemo-rheological performance of bitumen between la...

Asphalt Innovation Symposium (AIS) is organized every year at the University of Antwerp by the Energy and Materials in Infrastructure and Buildings (EMIB) group. The central theme of this symposium is “Research Meets Industry” to promote high-level collaborations and exchange of ideas among the universities and industries in Flanders. This book is...

Numerous factors may disrupt pavement construction including human errors and unforeseen changes in the environmental conditions. These incidents can shorten pavement life span. New technologies recently came to the aid of contractors and road agencies to detect and possibly mitigate undesirable impacts of unpredictable incidents during the asphalt...

The longevity of asphalt pavements is a key focus of road engineering, which closely relates to the self-healing ability of bitumen. Our work aims to establish a CGMD model and matched force field for bitumen and break through the limitations of the research scale to further explore the microscopic mechanism of bitumen self-healing. In this study,...

This paper evaluates the performance of fiber-reinforced mixtures subjected to moisture damage. Response Surface Method was used to design an experimental matrix based on the central composite design. The amounts of fibers, number of freeze and thaw cycles, and testing temperatures were considered as factors, while maximum load, stiffness, indirect...

The influence of filler particle mineralogy, pH and electrostatic charge on the adhesive tensile strength and morphological structure of asphalt mastic composites were assessed in this study. Three different fillers i.e., dolomite powder (DP), lime kiln dust (LKD), and ordinary Portland cement (OPC) together with a conventional PEN 60/70 binder wer...

Modifying bitumen for road construction using crumb rubber (CR) from end-of-life tires has potential in European countries due to government support for recycling this material. However, the addition of CR can increase the volatile organic compounds (VOC) emission during pavement construction, which can cause harmful health effects on workers due t...

The ageing of bitumen has received great attention both from a chemical and rheological perspective due to its direct impact on asphalt performance. However, open questions with respect to the convergence of the synchronous ageing changes in rheology and chemistry of bitumen still exist. This paper addresses these alterations of chemistry and rheol...

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...]

Increased environmental awareness has led road agencies to consider the implementation of green public procurement (GPP). Besides sustainability rating systems, environmental indicators can also be implemented in GPP to help road agencies make informed decisions about the environmental impact of the pavement works they procure. A vast literature re...

Solar energy harvesting as a renewable and sustainable energy source has been widely investigated in recent years across engineering fields. The use of Pavement Solar Collectors (PSC) can lead to clean energy production, an increase in road safety, prolong the service life of asphalt pavement, and can mitigate the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Th...

Using reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) can help the asphalt industry to lessen its environmental and economic impact. Although literature shows that rejuvenators are needed for high RAP rates, limited information is known about the economic and environmental impact of rejuvenators. The first objective of this research was to determine the relative...

This recommendation is based on the results of an inter-laboratory study organised by the RILEM technical committee TC 264-RAP "Asphalt Pavement Recycling"—Task Group 3 (TG3) focusing on Asphalt Binder for Recycled Asphalt Mixture. The TG3 aimed to evaluate the effect of a specific family of materials known as asphalt recycling agent (ARA) on the a...

An improved test is proposed to determine the fatigue resistance of bituminous mortars by applying time-sweep cyclic (oscillatory) tests using a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR). To evaluate its applicability, a bituminous mortar mixture derived from a dense asphalt concrete (AC) mix was utilized. The objectives of this study were twofold; firstly, to...

Bitumen’s surface microstructure is in general well-documented and most recent theories postulate the effect of crystalline wax on the so-called bee structures. Although it is widely accepted that ageing has an effect on this unique microstructure yet conflicting literature exists on clear trends. This paper explores the effect of ageing on the bee...

Asphalt Innovation Symposium (AIS) is organized every year at the University of Antwerp by the Energy and Materials in Infrastructure and Buildings (EMIB) group. The central theme of this symposium is “Research Meets Industry” to promote high-level collaborations and exchange of ideas among the universities and industries in Flanders. This book is...

Bitumen, also called asphalt binder, is the key component in asphalt mixtures. Studies to investigate the microstructure of this material show a rich morphology, especially the formation of bee structures in bitumen containing wax. Most research in this field has investigated these microstructures using commercial image processing software that nee...

Bitumen is a complex mixture whose composition–structure-property relationships are not well-understood. Therefore, it is essential to understand which components may develop microstructures, how and when these features appear, and if they are initiated or influenced by other components. Many studies have reported so-called bee structures as well a...

The road industry is confronted with the search for new materials and means to lower their economic impact as well as better/more accurate evaluation methods. Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) has been of great interest as it is a useful tool in assisting road agencies to make better investment decisions. Furthermore, using reclaimed asphalt pavement...

Fatigue resistance is of paramount importance for bituminous materials and so it is the effect of applying rest periods, as this is a more realistic representation of the traffic loading. To this end, to evaluate the healing potential, storage rest periods were introduced during a series of fatigue tests. In this study, the healing investigation wa...

Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is a recyclable aggregate produced during the demolition of old flexible pavements and consists of natural aggregates (NA) coated with aged bitumen. The detrimental effect caused by the bitumen coating on strength and porosity has limited the use of RAP on traditional cementitious systems. This study investigates th...

Molecular dynamics is used to simulate the self-healing process of asphalts mixed with a healing agent. Sulfoxide functional groups were introduced into the virgin asphalt to produce a short-term-aged asphalt model. The model is validated by comparing density, diffusion coefficient, solubility parameter, and viscosity with real measurements. Plant...

The assessment of thermal performance and efficiency of the Pavement Solar Collector (PSC) systems is essential in designing such systems. In this paper, a simplified simulation model is developed to predict PSC's performance at the design stage. Due to its simplicity, accuracy, and extremely quick simulation run-time, the model output can be linke...

Understanding the fundamental mechanisms of oxidative ageing in bitumen is considered of paramount importance in order to take steps towards durable binders able to tackle distresses related to this phenomenon which deteriorates the asphalt performance. This paper focuses on the identification of the intermediate and final oxygenated products after...

Because of the deteriorated properties of aged reclaimed asphalt (RA) binder (e.g. increased brittleness), compensation steps should be implemented to achieve a certain level of durability. This compensation can be done by using recycling agents. In this study the effect of recycling agents is investigated by exploring their impact in the binder sc...

In recent years, harvesting solar energy as a renewable and sustainable energy source has been studied extensively across engineering fields. Having reviewed more than 50 large-scale projects of Hydronic Asphalt Pavement (HAP), this paper offers a series of findings: the range of construction cost of asphalt collector varies between 25-151 €/m² and...

In October 2017 a large-scale prototype for a Heat Exchanging Asphalt Layer (HEAL) was constructed in a cycling path, together with other innovative technologies, such as Fibre Bragg Gratings to monitor the stress and strains, and fiber-reinforced asphalt in the top layer. The HEAL prototype consists of 30 m², 8.5 m x 3.5 m, and includes four circu...

In this study, an innovative methodology is proposed to characterize the short-term aging of asphalt binders using matrix analysis method. The rotational viscosity and complex shear modulus of asphalt binders were chosen as target rheological properties for the analysis of aging. A set of square matrices was developed based on test temperatures and...

Incorporating reclaimed asphalt (RA) in surface layer mixtures is still limited due to performance concerns, and it becomes even more challenging when combining aged polymer-modified bitumen (PMB) with virgin PMB. This study aims to evaluate, from a binder perspective, the feasibility of incorporating reclaimed polymer-modified binder (RPMB) in new...

The impact of aging on asphalt binder depends on multiple factors including binder type and environmental conditions. In a previous study, Shalaby proposed two empirical equations to investigate the effects of extended short-term aging on the shear modulus and phase angle of asphalt binders. The objective of this study was to use a robust mathemati...

At the end of their service life, asphalt pavements exhibit distresses such as cracking and ravelling due to the aged bituminous binder. The recycling process of reclaimed asphalt should compensate for the deteriorated binder properties. The main objective of this binder study is to compare two common recycling strategies: the use of a softer binde...

The overall aim of REjuveBIT is to evaluate the mechanical, economic and environmental effect of using rejuvenators in the recycling of asphalt so its innovative use can increase the recycling rate of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). This report is part of work package 4, which describes a sustainability assessment to quantify the economic and env...

Pavement performance prediction is a mounting task due to the many varied influencing factors particularly aging which varies with time, weather, production, type of pavement and etc. This paper presents a conventional mathematical model named Superpave model, Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and Supporting Vector Machine (SVM) techniques to predic...

With the increased use of reclaimed asphalt (RA), the ability of bituminous materials to resist fatigue cracking may face a decline mainly due to the aged reclaimed asphalt binder (RAB), especially when RA is used at higher rates and not sufficiently treated. In this study, the bulk scale (asphalt) and its subscale (mortar) were employed to evaluat...

Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) has been increasingly used in the past few decades as a replacement of natural aggregates in pavement layers. However, low replacement level is employed, and consequently, large quantities of RAP are still left unused. Researchers often neglect foundation pavement layers, but it has higher prospects to consume recyc...

The fatigue resistance, as a performance indicator, is of paramount importance for the selection and benchmarking of bituminous materials. The bituminous mortar can be considered as the medium that connects and envelopes the coarse aggregate skeleton, and hence will significantly influence the fatigue resistance at bulk-scale. Therefore this study...

Oxidative ageing in bituminous materials is considered one of the most important factors for distress types in road applications. This paper aims to offer insights into the validity of commonly held beliefs regarding the oxidation phases of ageing in bitumen, the fast- and the slow-rate phase, and explore the main oxidation products formed upon age...

Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) has received notable attention and application within the road industry. As one of the three pillars in sustainability assessment, LCCA offers an empirical framework to assess costs over the entire lifespan of road projects. To incorporate the agency and user cost for all different life cycle phases, a robust framewo...

Estimating the master curve of the complex modulus of asphalt mixtures is essential for high quality and sustainable mixture and pavement design. There are multiple standard methods to estimate this master curve using hydraulic-pneumatic testing machines. These methods are complex to perform, need expensive equipment, and have constraints over the...

Bitumen is one of the most important materials used in roads. During asphalt pavement construction, workers can be affected by emissions, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), when bitumen is heated. Therefore, it is crucial to correctly identify and measure VOCs. This paper presents a novel, promising method to determine VOC emissions. The pr...

Several factors affect asphalt binder and mixture characteristics. This makes pavement performance assessment a mounting task. This paper evaluates the effects of short-term aging on compactibility and volumetric properties of asphalt mixtures using the Response Surface Method (RSM). Three different binders were utilized to produce mixtures (type A...

Heavy-duty pavements have met new challenges over the past decades. Many pavements were not designed for servicing today's traffic frequency and axle loads, which impose loads much greater than those initially considered. Both factors result in an accelerated deterioration of the pavement structure. The accurate measurement of the strain and stress...

The growing use of reclaimed asphalt (RAP) results in a continuous increase in the percentage of added RAP to hot mix asphalt. Within the asphalt pavement, the asphalt binder is the component which is affected the most by the ageing during service life, resulting in considerable hardening of the RAP binder. Therefore, the aged binder needs to be re...

Nowadays, Reclaimed Asphalt (RA) is widely used in pavement applications as part of new asphalt mixtures. To design high-quality asphalt mixes, the RA material and especially the RA binder must be systematically characterised with the purpose to explore its ageing state, especially when RA is added in high rates (above 20%). In this research, chemi...

Asphalt mixtures are the most common types of pavement material used in the world. Characterizing the mechanical behavior of these complex materials is essential in durable, cost-effective, and sustainable pavement design. One of the important properties of asphalt mixtures is the complex modulus of elasticity. This parameter can be determined usin...

Industrial waste causes environmental, economic, and social problems. In Morocco, the Jorf Lasfar Thermal Power Station produces two types of coal ash with enormous quantities: fly ash (FA) and Bottom ash (BA). FA is recovered in cement while BA is stored in landfills. To reduce the effects of BA disposal in landfills, several experimental studies...

Pavement design is essentially and usually a structural long-term evaluation process which is needed to ensure that traffic loads are efficiently distributed at all levels of the total road structure. Furthermore, to get a complete analysis of its durability behavior, long-term monitoring should be facilitated, not only from the top by falling weig...

The fatigue performance and healing ability of asphalt pavements are important for mixture design, rehabilitation, and maintenance of the roads. By analyzing these parameters in an asphalt mixture, it is possible to predict the crack formation and propagation in asphalt pavements and healing of these cracks during the rest periods. The healing effe...

Currently, reclaimed asphalt (RA) is considered as one of the most recyclable materials in the construction industry of the developed countries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of RA on manufactured mixtures in Flanders and to define a correlation between RA and mechanical performance through the statistical spectrum. In this...

This paper describes the use of a thermal infrared line scanner during the construction of a bicycle path. The usability and accuracy of the system is assessed by means of other temperature measurement techniques. A probe thermometer is used to register asphalt temperatures in the truck, hopper and near the auger of the paver. Additional a thermal...

The current contribution gives insight into the Belgian low-voltage electricity mix, used in environmental life cycle assessment studies and modelled following the attributional and consequential approach. Is the electricity mix for Belgium, as available in the life cycle inventory database ecoinvent 3.1, representative for the current electricity...