Development of Functional Rubber-Based Impact-Absorbing Pavements for Cyclist and Pedestrian Injury Reduction

Christina Makoundou, Cesare Sangiorgi, Kenth Johansson and Viveca Wallqvist
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Christina Makoundou: Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Bologna, 40131 Bologna, Italy
Cesare Sangiorgi: Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, University of Bologna, 40131 Bologna, Italy
Kenth Johansson: Department of Material and Surface Design, Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
Viveca Wallqvist: Department of Material and Surface Design, Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: Cyclists, pedestrians and elderly people’s specific needs in urban road infrastructures are often neglected. They rarely benefit from safety measures or innovations. Inspired by playgrounds and aiming to reduce vulnerable road users (VRUs) injuries, the development of the rubber-based impact-absorbing pavements (IAP) offers a possibility to rethink the design of urban pavements and address safety on roads, which constitutes a major challenge in terms of attaining more sustainable, resilient, and safe cities. Therefore, bituminous mixtures with four different crumb rubber contents, 0%, 14%, 28%, and 33% (in total weight), were produced by partial aggregates substitution using the dry process. After the assessment of the geometrical and volumetric properties, the mechanical performances were evaluated. Finally, the samples were tested to measure the abrasion and impact attenuation with the well-known head injury criterion (HIC), at different temperatures from −10 to 40 °C, to obtain a wide range of values referring to possible weather conditions. A significant effect of the rubber percentage and layer thickness on impact attenuation was observed. All observations and results confirm the feasibility of the IAP concept and its positive effect on future injury-prevention applications.

Keywords: end-of-life tyres; crumb rubber; impact-absorbing pavements (IAPs); pavement surfacing; bituminous mixtures; vulnerable road users (VRUs); critical fall height (CFH); head injury criterion (HIC) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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