CEAR-03/A – Roads, Railways and Airports
Description
The Scientific Disciplinary Sector CEAR-03/A – Roads, Railways and Airports, promotes the scientific development and didactic-training activities focused on: the theories and techniques for the conception, design, construction, adaptation, maintenance, management and control of transport infrastructure; on the issues of efficiency, safety and sustainability (economic, environmental and social) of road, railway and airport infrastructures; on the issues of a technical nature upstream of the project, construction and maintenance of the same, and who know how to manage interventions, even complex ones in areas with a high population density, taking into account the impact of engineering choices at the various levels of infrastructure management.
Each phase characterizing the construction and operation of transport infrastructure, from its planning to design, from construction to maintenance up to the management of the work, is duly analyzed and treated, making use of, in addition to the skills of the teaching staff, both physical infrastructures, laboratories on materials and modelling and calculation, and computing technology, databases and software. These topics will be addressed according to an approach which considers the skills necessary to ensure, not only the technical feasibility of the work but also its economic and environmental sustainability. These pillars are integrated to provide the learner with the wealth of knowledge and skills essential to confront complex tasks in a professional and, possibly, research context and to fully satisfy the requirements of competence and ability that today's society demands of engineers specialized in transport infrastructures.
The teaching activities are spread across the bachelor’s and master's degree courses in Civil Engineering, Urban Planning and City Sciences and Building Engineering. The topics of the courses are taught through lectures, classroom and laboratory exercises with the support of technical visits to production plants, construction sites and operating infrastructures.
The research activities are conducted within the framework of degree theses and doctoral theses, which cover the entire spectrum of the topics covered, making full use of the physical infrastructures pertaining to the sector together with others made available by collaborations and agreements which the SSD ICAR04 sector has made with national and international university and research institutions, as well as private entities and companies in the sector.
Research activity
- the functional design of road layout;
- the environmental sustainability of road infrastructure and its impact on the territory;
- technologies and good practices for sustainable pavements;
- road traffic risk analysis;
- the materials and construction techniques used in road, rail and airport superstructures;
- life cycle analysis of road infrastructure;
- the reuse of excavated material and the treatment of solid waste, techniques for recycling bituminous waste and for the categorisation of plastic waste, discarded tyres, non-contaminating industrial waste and demolition waste;
- the quality of pavement design and management, planning and execution of road works;
- transport infrastructure for connected, cooperative and automated mobility (CCAM)
Currently, the specific research being undertaken are identified as
- the functional verification of the design consistency of linear and non-linear infrastructures;
- constitutive models of bitumen and bituminous mixtures, characterisation of bituminous mixtures with polymeric materials;
- characterisation and formulation of both conventional and innovative asphalt mixtures and the evaluation of their mechanical behaviour i.e. road pavement design and performance indicators;
- preventive road safety and road accident analysis, development of predictive models of road accidents and vehicle emissions;
- calibration of micro-simulation models of traffic as tools for assessing the operational performance and safety of road infrastructure;
- the advanced characterisation of soils and landfill sites and the reuse of excavated clay materials treated with lime;
- the Pavement Management System for road and rail infrastructure;
- the application of circular economy models to construction processes in transport infrastructure;
- the multi-disciplinary study of new technologies for Smart Roads and the engineering of new scenarios for the mobility of the future;
- Life Cycle Assessment of materials and activities related to road infrastructures
- Sustainability Assessment and Life Cycle Management of road pavements (including economic and social indicators)
- Development of monitoring systems for road infrastructures and support for sustainable asset management.
Main research projects
Over the past decade, the section has been and is responsible for coordinating and conducting several research projects both nationally and internationally. These are listed below
- (2021/2023) REcircularPAV - “Engineering bio-circular asphalt mixtures”- H2020 EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship 2020 https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101033561 - https://recircularpav.unipa.it/
- (2020/2023) REMED – “Application de l'innovation pour le développement de
l'économie circulaire pour une construction durable en Méditerranée” - Eni CBC MED 2014-2020 - https://www.enicbcmed.eu/projects/re-med
- (2020/2022) SMARTEP. S.M.A.R.T. Energy Parking Programma Operativo Regionale FESR Sicilia 2014/2020, L.I 1.1.5 - http://smartep.eu/
- (2020/2022) CROWDSENSE (P.O. FESR SICILIA 2014-2020 Sicilia - Regione Siciliana, Obiettivo tematico 1 - Ricerca, Sviluppo Tecnologico e Innovazione. Obiettivo Specifico 1.1. - Azione 1.1.5).
- (2020/2023) PRIN 2017 USR342 “Urban safety, sustainability, and resilience: 3 paving solutions, 4 sets of modules, 2 platforms” Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca
- (2019/2023) RUBBERAP – “Recycling of Rubberised Asphalt Pavement” – Convenzione di Ricerca con il consorzio italiano del riciclo gomme ECOPNEUS https://rubberap.unipa.it
Keywords
ICAR/04, Roads Railways Airports, teaching, research. Bituminous mixtures, digital technology, recycling, smart infrastructure, sustainability, safety, resilience.
