Infrastructure
Effective, sustainable infrastructure spending can improve system performance and impact climate change.
MIT CSHub investigates how low carbon infrastructure may be built with very finite resources.
We aim to help transportation agencies do more with less by implementing tools and fostering a competitive market with more balanced spending on materials. Our research seeks to help cut costs and foster more sustainable practices, like building stiffer, lighter, more durable roads and using more concrete in their construction.
The consequences of America’s ailing infrastructure are numerous. Besides causing uncomfortable ride quality, they can impose higher maintenance costs and even increase fuel consumption. Annually, poor roads in the U.S. cause vehicles to consume an extra 0.5 billion gallons of diesel and 1.6 billion gallons of gasoline. This extra fuel consumption amounts to 6.2 tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per mile.
CSHub Research Brief: “Improving Pavement Network Conditions Through Competition“
Ongoing Projects
National-scale Pavement Network Analysis
The objective of this project is to develop and implement a novel framework to carry out performance-based planning (asset allocation) for large-scale pavement networks that consider both a broad range of treatment technologies and uncertainty in both future network performance and material prices. At the current stage, simulation models for each state are under development in order to allow stakeholders to visualize how a state’s network would be expected to evolve in response to different approaches to management or budget.
Streamlined LCA/LCCA Platform
This project will create a streamlined pavement LCA and LCCA platform that can be used to conduct rapid analyses even in cases with limited data availability. Building off of the previous network-level approaches, the streamlined tool will allow users to provide generic information about pavement designs of interest and will provide insight into the extent to which can be achieved through changes in network policy. This streamlined LCA/LCCA tool will create a powerful platform that incorporates the latest pavement-vehicle interaction and albedo models, thereby making streamlined versions of such models available as part of complete life cycle assessments or on a stand-alone basis. The outcome of this project empowers local and state pavement authorities to include sustainability metrics in their decision-making process on the preferred pavement alternative and to increase the rate of adoption of appropriate strategies for maintenance and repair actions at the design stage.
Implementation Efforts Around Pavement LCA/LCCA and Competition
The CSHub team continues to support the industry through targeted case analyses around LCA, LCCA, asset management, and competition. These case analyses emerge opportunistically through interactions between either industry and states or MIT and states. In either case, MIT works closely with our industrial partners to support their goals in these analyses and communications.
Application Areas
Crowdsourced Pavement Data: The Carbin App
In 2017, America’s roads received a D rating by the American Society of Civil Engineers. For cities and states to improve their grade, they must first be able to accurately measure the quality of their pavements. Unfortunately, this often proves expensive and challenging.
To address this problem, CSHub researchers have created Carbin, an app that directs users to their destination while measuring pavement quality and its effect on fuel consumption.
With every trip they take, Carbin users contribute to a growing public map of pavement and emissions data that can help to inform infrastructure repair and fight climate change. Carbin has already surveyed hundreds of thousands of lane miles around the globe in countries like Mexico, China, and the United States.
Learn more about the app and the research behind it in this article in The New York Times or in the topic summary and research brief below. You can download Carbin on Google Play or the App Store.
News
- MIT News: What a Single Car can Say About Traffic (February 2021)
- MIT News: Crowdsourcing data on road quality and excess fuel consumption (May 2021)
- The New York Times: Mapping Potholes by Phone (January 2020)
- Cheddar: Crowdsourcing Road-Quality Info With the Carbin App (December 2019)
- MIT News: Reading the Heartbeat of the Road (January 2019)
Topic Summaries
- Carbin: Crowdsourcing Pavement Data (March 2020)
Research Briefs
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Carbin: Crowdsourcing Road Conditions at Scale (September 2021)
Publications
- Botshekan, M., Ulm, F-J. (2021). "Spatial and temporal memory effects in the Nagel-Schreckenberg model for crowdsourced traffic property determination." Physical Review E, 104, 044102.
- Botshekan, M., Asadi, E., Roxon, J., Ulm, F-J., Tootkaboni, M., Louhghalam, A. (2021). Smartphone-enabled road condition monitoring: from accelerations to road roughness and excess energy dissipation. The Proceedings of the Royal Society, 477: 20200701. 20200701
- Botshekan, M., Roxon, J., Wanichkul, A., Chirananthavat, T., Chamoun, J., Ziq, M., . . . Ulm, F. (2020). Roughness-induced vehicle energy dissipation from crowdsourced smartphone measurements through random vibration theory. Data-Centric Engineering, 1, E16.
Pavement Life Cycle Assessment
Life cycle assessment (LCA) considers all life-cycle phases from initial construction to demolition. For pavements, this includes the operation, maintenance, and end of life phases, and factors such as traffic delay, lighting demand, and future maintenance. CSHub models quantify environmental impacts across a pavement’s life cycle from manufacturing to disposal and offer detailed analyses of the use phase.
News
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MIT News: Countering climate change with cool pavements (August 2021)
Topic Summaries
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Mitigating Climate Change with Reflective Pavements (November 2020)
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Context Dependent Pavement Life Cycle Analysis (July 2019)
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Life Cycle Thinking: Pavements (March 2018)
Research Briefs
- Solutions for Net-zero Carbon Concrete in U.S. Pavements (July 2021)
- Life Cycle Carbon Uptake of the United States Pavement Network (January 2021)
- Impact of Use Phase in Pavement Life Cycle Assessment: A Case Study of Alternative Designs in Different Contexts (April 2014)
- Key Drivers of Uncertainty in Pavement LCA (November 2012)
- Comparative Pavement LCAs With Uncertainty (June 2012)
- Network, Pavements and Fuel Consumption (April 2012)
- Adopting a Life Cycle Perspective (April 2011)
- Designing for Sustainable Pavements (March 2011)
Publications
- Gregory, J., AzariJafari, H., Vahidi, E., Guo, F., Ulm, F.J., Kirchain, R. "The role of concrete in life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of US buildings and pavements." PNAS. September 14, 2021 118 (37).
- Guo, F., AzariJafari, H., Gregory, J., Kirchain, R. "Environmental and economic evaluations of treatment strategies for pavement network performance-based planning", Transportation Research D: Transport and Environment. Volume 99, October 2021, 103016
- AzariJafari, H., Guest, G., Kirchain, R., Gregory, J., Amor, B. "Towards comparable environmental product declarations of construction materials: Insights from a probabilistic comparative LCA approach", Building and Environment, 190: 2021, 107542. 2021.
- Xin Xu, Mehdi Akbarian, Jeremy Gregory, Randolph Kirchain, "Role of the use phase and pavement-vehicle interaction in comparative pavement life cycle assessment as a function of context", Journal of Cleaner Production, 2019.
- M. Akabarian, F. Ulm, X. Xu, R. Kirchain, J. Gregory, A. Louhghalam, J. Mack, “Overview of pavement life cycle assessment use phase research at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub”, ASCE T&DI International Airfield and Highway Pavements Conference, Chicago, IL, July 21-24, 2019.
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Xu, X., Gregory, J., & Kirchain, R. "Role of the Use Phase and Pavement-Vehicle Interaction in Comparative Pavement Life Cycle Assessment," Proceedings of the Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting, 2018.
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Kirchain, R., Gregory, J., Olivetti, E. "Environmental life-cycle assessment." Nature Materials, 16 693–697 (2017)
- J. Gregory, A. Noshadravan, O. Swei, X. Xu, R. Kirchain, “The importance of incorporating uncertainty into pavement life cycle cost and environmental impact analyses,” Proceedings of the Pavement Life-Cycle Assessment Symposium 2017, Champaign, IL, April 12-13, 2017
- Gregory, J., Noshadravan, A., Olivetti, E.A., Kirchain, R., "A Methodology for Robust Comparative Life Cycle Assessments Incorporating Uncertainty." Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 50: Issue. 12: Pages. 6397-6405.
- Louhghalam A., Akbarian, M., Ulm F-J. "Carbon management of infrastructure performance: Integrated big data analytics and pavement-vehicle-interactions". Journal of Cleaner Production. Volume 142, Part 2, 20 January 2017, Pages 956-964. 2016
- Xu, X., Wildnauer, M., Gregory, J., & Kirchain, R. "Accounting for Variation in Life Cycle Inventories: The Case of Portland Cement Production in the U.S.", R.E. Kirchain et al. (Eds), REWAS 2016: Towards Materials Resource Sustainability, Springer AG.
- J. Mack, J. Gregory, R. Kirchain, “Accounting for Rehabilitation Activity Uncertainty in a Pavement Life Cycle Assessment using Probability and Decision Tree Analysis,” Proceedings of the International Concrete Sustainability Conference, Miami, FL, May 11-13, 2015.
- Xu, X., Gregory J., Kirchain R., "Role of the Use Phase and Pavement-Vehicle Interaction in Comparative Pavement Life Cycle Assessment" Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting. No. 15-4011. 2015.
- Noshadravan A., Xu X., Gregory J., Kirchain R., “Uncertainty management in comparative life-cycle assessment of pavements”, Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Concrete Roads, Prague, Czech Republic, September 23-26, 2014.
- Xu X., Noshadravan A., J. Gregory, R. Kirchain, “Scenario analysis of comparative pavement life cycle assessment using a probabilistic approach,” Proceedings of the International Symposium on Pavement LCA, Davis, CA, October 14-16, 2014.
- J. Mack, X. Xu, J. Gregory, R. Kirchain, “Developing robust rehabilitation scenario profiles for life cycle assessment using decision tree analysis,” Proceedings of the International Symposium on Pavement LCA, Davis, CA, October 14-16, 2014.
- Santero N., Loijos A., Ochsendorf J., "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Opportunities for Concrete Pavements," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Volume 17, Issue 6, Pages 859–868, 2013
- Loijos A., Santero N., Ochsendorf J. "Life cycle climate impacts of the US concrete pavement network." Resources, Conservation and Recycling. Volume 72, March 2013, Pages 76-83, 2013.
- Noshadravan A., Wildnauer M., Gregory J., Kirchain R., "Comparative Pavement Life Cycle Assessment with Parameter Uncertainty," Transportation Research Part D, 25, Pages 135-138, 2013
- Akbarian M., Moeini-Ardakani S.S., Ulm F.-J., Nazzal M., "Mechanistic Approach to Pavement-Vehicle Interaction and Its Impact on Life-Cycle Assessment," Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2306, Pages 171-179, 2012
- Mack J., Ulm F.-J., Gregory J., Kirchain R., Akbarian M., Swei O., Wildnauer M., "Designing Sustainable Concrete Pavements using the Pavement-ME Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design and Life Cycle Analysis," International Conference on Long-Life Concrete Pavement, 2012
- Loijos A., Akbarian M., Sahni S., Ochsendorf J., "Sensitivity Analysis of the Life Cycle Environmental Performance of Asphalt and Concrete Pavements," Concrete Sustainability Conference, 2010
Pavement Life Cycle Cost Analysis
Life cycle assessment (LCA) considers all life-cycle phases from initial construction to demolition. For pavements, this includes the operation, maintenance, and end of life phases, and factors such as traffic delay, lighting demand, and future maintenance. CSHub models quantify environmental impacts across a pavement’s life cycle from manufacturing to disposal and offer detailed analyses of the use phase.
News
-
MIT News: Countering climate change with cool pavements (August 2021)
Topic Summaries
-
Mitigating Climate Change with Reflective Pavements (November 2020)
-
Context Dependent Pavement Life Cycle Analysis (July 2019)
-
Life Cycle Thinking: Pavements (March 2018)
Research Briefs
- Solutions for Net-zero Carbon Concrete in U.S. Pavements (July 2021)
- Life Cycle Carbon Uptake of the United States Pavement Network (January 2021)
- Impact of Use Phase in Pavement Life Cycle Assessment: A Case Study of Alternative Designs in Different Contexts (April 2014)
- Key Drivers of Uncertainty in Pavement LCA (November 2012)
- Comparative Pavement LCAs With Uncertainty (June 2012)
- Network, Pavements and Fuel Consumption (April 2012)
- Adopting a Life Cycle Perspective (April 2011)
- Designing for Sustainable Pavements (March 2011)
Publications
- Gregory, J., AzariJafari, H., Vahidi, E., Guo, F., Ulm, F.J., Kirchain, R. "The role of concrete in life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of US buildings and pavements." PNAS. September 14, 2021 118 (37).
- Guo, F., AzariJafari, H., Gregory, J., Kirchain, R. "Environmental and economic evaluations of treatment strategies for pavement network performance-based planning", Transportation Research D: Transport and Environment. Volume 99, October 2021, 103016
- AzariJafari, H., Guest, G., Kirchain, R., Gregory, J., Amor, B. "Towards comparable environmental product declarations of construction materials: Insights from a probabilistic comparative LCA approach", Building and Environment, 190: 2021, 107542. 2021.
- Xin Xu, Mehdi Akbarian, Jeremy Gregory, Randolph Kirchain, "Role of the use phase and pavement-vehicle interaction in comparative pavement life cycle assessment as a function of context", Journal of Cleaner Production, 2019.
- M. Akabarian, F. Ulm, X. Xu, R. Kirchain, J. Gregory, A. Louhghalam, J. Mack, “Overview of pavement life cycle assessment use phase research at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub”, ASCE T&DI International Airfield and Highway Pavements Conference, Chicago, IL, July 21-24, 2019.
-
Xu, X., Gregory, J., & Kirchain, R. "Role of the Use Phase and Pavement-Vehicle Interaction in Comparative Pavement Life Cycle Assessment," Proceedings of the Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting, 2018.
-
Kirchain, R., Gregory, J., Olivetti, E. "Environmental life-cycle assessment." Nature Materials, 16 693–697 (2017)
- J. Gregory, A. Noshadravan, O. Swei, X. Xu, R. Kirchain, “The importance of incorporating uncertainty into pavement life cycle cost and environmental impact analyses,” Proceedings of the Pavement Life-Cycle Assessment Symposium 2017, Champaign, IL, April 12-13, 2017
- Gregory, J., Noshadravan, A., Olivetti, E.A., Kirchain, R., "A Methodology for Robust Comparative Life Cycle Assessments Incorporating Uncertainty." Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 50: Issue. 12: Pages. 6397-6405.
- Louhghalam A., Akbarian, M., Ulm F-J. "Carbon management of infrastructure performance: Integrated big data analytics and pavement-vehicle-interactions". Journal of Cleaner Production. Volume 142, Part 2, 20 January 2017, Pages 956-964. 2016
- Xu, X., Wildnauer, M., Gregory, J., & Kirchain, R. "Accounting for Variation in Life Cycle Inventories: The Case of Portland Cement Production in the U.S.", R.E. Kirchain et al. (Eds), REWAS 2016: Towards Materials Resource Sustainability, Springer AG.
- J. Mack, J. Gregory, R. Kirchain, “Accounting for Rehabilitation Activity Uncertainty in a Pavement Life Cycle Assessment using Probability and Decision Tree Analysis,” Proceedings of the International Concrete Sustainability Conference, Miami, FL, May 11-13, 2015.
- Xu, X., Gregory J., Kirchain R., "Role of the Use Phase and Pavement-Vehicle Interaction in Comparative Pavement Life Cycle Assessment" Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting. No. 15-4011. 2015.
- Noshadravan A., Xu X., Gregory J., Kirchain R., “Uncertainty management in comparative life-cycle assessment of pavements”, Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Concrete Roads, Prague, Czech Republic, September 23-26, 2014.
- Xu X., Noshadravan A., J. Gregory, R. Kirchain, “Scenario analysis of comparative pavement life cycle assessment using a probabilistic approach,” Proceedings of the International Symposium on Pavement LCA, Davis, CA, October 14-16, 2014.
- J. Mack, X. Xu, J. Gregory, R. Kirchain, “Developing robust rehabilitation scenario profiles for life cycle assessment using decision tree analysis,” Proceedings of the International Symposium on Pavement LCA, Davis, CA, October 14-16, 2014.
- Santero N., Loijos A., Ochsendorf J., "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Opportunities for Concrete Pavements," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Volume 17, Issue 6, Pages 859–868, 2013
- Loijos A., Santero N., Ochsendorf J. "Life cycle climate impacts of the US concrete pavement network." Resources, Conservation and Recycling. Volume 72, March 2013, Pages 76-83, 2013.
- Noshadravan A., Wildnauer M., Gregory J., Kirchain R., "Comparative Pavement Life Cycle Assessment with Parameter Uncertainty," Transportation Research Part D, 25, Pages 135-138, 2013
- Akbarian M., Moeini-Ardakani S.S., Ulm F.-J., Nazzal M., "Mechanistic Approach to Pavement-Vehicle Interaction and Its Impact on Life-Cycle Assessment," Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2306, Pages 171-179, 2012
- Mack J., Ulm F.-J., Gregory J., Kirchain R., Akbarian M., Swei O., Wildnauer M., "Designing Sustainable Concrete Pavements using the Pavement-ME Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design and Life Cycle Analysis," International Conference on Long-Life Concrete Pavement, 2012
- Loijos A., Akbarian M., Sahni S., Ochsendorf J., "Sensitivity Analysis of the Life Cycle Environmental Performance of Asphalt and Concrete Pavements," Concrete Sustainability Conference, 2010
Pavement Network Asset Management
Pavement management systems are a form of asset management that provide a framework by which transportation agencies monitor the performance of their pavement networks, set performance targets, and implement strategies to meet those performance targets. CSHub research in this area seeks to improve the methods used to allocate available funding across the needs of the pavement network by developing models to predict the performance of the network and optimize the allocation of funds. This process of performance-based planning enables economically efficient management of pavement networks by optimizing pavement network performance for a given cost.
News
- The Hill: Before building sustainably, let's define 'sustainability' (June 2021)
- The Hill: America's Roads Are Crumbling, But We Can Make Them Sustainable (June 2020)
- MIT News: Improving Pavement Networks by Predicting the Future (February 2020)
Topic Summaries
- Network Asset Management (April 2019)
Research Briefs
- Research Brief: Improving America’s Road Infrastructure by Embracing Uncertainty (March 2022)
- Comparison of Feedforward and Recurrent Neural Networks for Predicting Pavement Roughness (January 2021)
- Improving Pavement Network Conditions Through Competition (October 2020)
- The Role of Pavements in Meeting GHG Reduction Targets (August 2019)
- Influence of Treatment Types on Performance-based Planning (August 2019)
- The influence of incorporating uncertainties and treatment path dependence in performance-based planning analyses (November 2018)
- The influence of analysis period on pavement network performance (November 2017)
- Developing a Network-Level Pavement Management Model (November 2015)
Publications
- Guo, F., AzariJafari, H., Gregory, J., Kirchain, R. "Environmental and economic evaluations of treatment strategies for pavement network performance-based planning", Transportation Research D: Transport and Environment. Volume 99, October 2021, 103016
- Guo. F., Xingang, Z., Gregory, J., Kirchain, R. (2021) "A weighted multi-output neural network model for the prediction of rigid pavement deterioration," International Journal of Pavement Engineering,
- Guo, F., Gregory, J., Kirchain, R. "Incorporating cost uncertainty and path dependence into treatment selection for pavement networks," Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies,
Volume 110, Jan 2020, Pages 40-55, - Swei O., Gregory J., Kirchain R., "Embedding Flexibility within Pavement Management: Technique to Improve Expected Performance of Roadway Systems", Journal of Infrastructure Systems, Vol. 25, No. 3, 2019.
- Swei O., Gregory J., Kirchain R., "Does Pavement Degradation Follow a Random Walk with Drift? Evidence from Variance Ratio Tests for Pavement Roughness", Journal of Infrastructure Systems, Vol. 24, No. 4, 2018.
- F. Guo, O. Swei, J. Gregory, R. Kirchain, “Sensitivity Analysis of Performance Metrics to Different Parameters in Pavement Management Systems”, the Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers, Washington, DC, January 7-11, 2018. (PDF)
- Swei O., Gregory J., Kirchain R., "Pavement Management Systems: Opportunities to Improve the Current Frameworks" Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting, No. 16-2940. 2016.
- Batouli, M., Swei, O., Zhu, J., Gregory, J., & Kirchain, R. (2015). "A Simulation Framework for Network Level Cost Analysis in Infrastructure Systems," in O’Brien W., Ponticelli, S., (Eds.), Computing in Civil Engineering 2015, ASCE.
Pavement Vehicle Interaction
Pavement vehicle interaction (PVI) is a concept that looks at the interaction between a vehicle’s tires and the roadway surface on which it is driving. It is also known as rolling resistance. Three factors relating to a road’s surface condition and structural properties contribute significantly to PVI: roughness, which refers to how bumpy or smooth a road is; texture, the abrasiveness of the road surface; and deflection, the bending of a pavement under the weight of a vehicle. Traffic patterns and temperature are influential factors as well.
PVI leads to excess fuel consumption (EFC), which is wasted fuel consumption beyond what is required to move a vehicle. EFC contributes to smog and greenhouse gas emissions and impacts drivers, states, and municipalities financially.
CSHub research has led to models that quantify excess fuel consumption due to PVI for pavement segments and pavement networks.
News
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Stiffer Roads Could Improve Truck Fuel Efficiency (MIT News, July 2020)
- Reading the heartbeat of the road (MIT News, February 2019)
- Well-maintained roadways improve fuel efficiency (MIT News, February 2016)
- Data-driven approach to pavement management lowers emissions (MIT News, July 2016)
- Civil engineers find savings where the rubber meets the road (MIT News, May 2012)
Topic Summaries
- Pavement Vehicle Interaction Information Sheet (July 2018)
- Lowering Vehicle Fuel Consumption and Emissions Through Better Pavement Design and Maintenance(October 2016)
Research Briefs
- Assessing Road Quality Using Crowdsourced Smartphone Measurements (July 2020)
- Analyzing Pavement-Vehicle Interaction through Bench-Top Experiments (August 2015)
- The Impact of Traffic Jams on PVI Estimates (May 2015)
- Mapping of Excess Fuel Consumption (December 2014)
- PVI Mechanistic Model Gen II (December 2013)
- PVI Mechanistic Model Refined (April 2013)
- Deterioration Induced Roughness in the US Network (February 2013)
- Potential Roadway Network Savings and PVI (July 2012)
- Network, Pavements and Fuel Consumption (April 2012)
- Smoothness Matters, But... (January 2012)
- When the Rubber Hits the Road (June 2011)
Publications
- AzariJafari, H., Gregory, J., Kirchain, R. "Potential Contribution of Deflection-Induced Fuel Consumption to U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions", Transportation Research Record, 2020.
- Xu, X., Akbarian, M., Gregory, J., Kirchain, R. "Role of the use phase and pavement-vehicle interaction in comparative pavement life cycle assessment as a function of context," Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 230, 2019, Pages 1156-1164,
- M. Akabarian, F. Ulm, X. Xu, R. Kirchain, J. Gregory, A. Louhghalam, J. Mack, "Overview of pavement life cycle assessment use phase research at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub," ASCE T&DI International Airfield and Highway Pavements Conference, Chicago, IL, July 21-24, 2019.
- Booshehrian A., Louhghalam A., Khazanovich L., Ulm F-J. "Assessment of Pavement Deflection-Caused Fuel Consumption via FWD Data," Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting, No. 16-6246. 2016.
- Louhghalam A., Akbarian, M., Ulm F-J. "Carbon management of infrastructure performance: Integrated big data analytics and pavement-vehicle-interactions." Journal of Cleaner Production. Volume 142, Part 2, 20 January 2017, Pages 956-964. 2016
- Akbarian, Mehdi, et al. "Network Analysis of Virginia’s Interstate Pavement-Vehicle Interactions: Mapping of Roughness and Deflection-Induced Excess Fuel Consumption." Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting. No. 15-5752. 2015.
- Coleri, E., Harvey, J., Zaabar, I., Louhghalam, A., Chatti, K., "Model Development, Field Section Characterization, and Model Comparison for Excess Vehicle Fuel Use due to Pavement Structural Response" No. 16-6191. 2016.
- Louhghalam, A., Akbarian M., and Ulm F-J. "Roughness-induced pavement-vehicle interactions: Key parameters and impact on vehicle fuel consumption." Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting. No. 15-2429. 2015.
- Louhghalam, A., Mazdak T., and Ulm F-J. "Roughness-Induced Vehicle Energy Dissipation: Statistical Analysis and Scaling." Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 2015: 04015046.
- Louhghalam A., Akbarian, M., Ulm, Franz-Josef. “Flugge's Conjecture: Dissipation- versus Deflection-Induced Pavement-Vehicle Interactions” Journal of Engineering Mechanics, Volume 140, Issue 8, Article Number 04014053, August 2014
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Louhghalam A., Akbarian M., Ulm F.-J., Pavement Infrastructures Footprint: The Impact of Pavement Properties on Vehicle Fuel Consumption, Euro-C 2014 conference: Computational Modeling of Concrete and Concrete Structures, 2014
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Louhghalam A., Akbarian M., Ulm, F-J. “Scaling Relationships of Dissipation-Induced Pavement-Vehicle Interactions” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board (2014), Issue 2457, Pages 95-104.
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Santero N., Loijos A., Ochsendorf J., "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Opportunities for Concrete Pavements," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Volume 17, Issue 6, Pages 859–868, 2013
-
Akbarian M., Moeini-Ardakani S.S., Ulm F.-J., Nazzal M., "Mechanistic Approach to Pavement-Vehicle Interaction and Its Impact on Life-Cycle Assessment," Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2306, Pages 171-179, 2012