By Dr James Grenfell on 06/21/2023.

James Grenfell is a Principal Professional at ARRB (Australian Road Research Board) with more than 20 years experience in the field of transportation engineering. He has been working within the Sustainability team since the beginning of 2020. This has allowed him to bring his pavement engineering expertise to Sustainability and Resilience, whilst also increasing the research carried out in the recycled materials space. He is undertaking joint NACoE/WARRIP work to investigate the use of recycled and reclaimed plastic in safe, sustainable future road infrastructure and has been working on a variety of projects to advise government on the best practice use of recycled materials in transport infrastructure. He has recently completed work as project lead on Austroads APT6311 Use of Crushed Glass in Road Infrastructure. Previously, he was working within pavement structures as part of Future Transport Infrastructure, having joined ARRB in February 2017. His work focused on Austroads projects TT2046 Improving the cost effectiveness of foamed bitumen-stabilised pavements and TT1897 Increasing the use of low-cost modified granular materials in new and rehabilitated pavements. He has also looked at the addition of nanosilica to asphalt to improve properties and the addition of recycled crushed glass to asphalt to help reduce waste stockpiles.

Prior to this Dr Grenfell spent 13 years as a researcher at NTEC (Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre) at the University of Nottingham in the UK. During this time, he worked on and managed various projects related to pavement materials. These projects involved permanent deformation and fatigue properties of asphaltic materials, moisture damage in asphalt pavements, adhesion of bitumen to aggregate, warm mix asphalt technologies, the use of crumb rubber and recycled asphalt and alternative binders. His main research interests are the fundamentals of adhesion, moisture damage of asphaltic materials, recycling, and the use of secondary materials.

Dr Grenfell has published more than 100 journal papers and peer reviewed conference papers. He is a Director-at-large of the International Society of Asphalt Pavements, on the Editorial board for the Proceedings of the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists and a member of the TRB Asphalt Pavement Design and Rehabilitation (AKP30) committee. He is involved in several RILEM Technical Committees looking at bituminous and asphaltic materials. He is member of the Standards Australia Committee CE-012 Aggregates and Rock for Engineering Purposes. Dr Grenfell won the Category 2: Industry Excellence in Consulting, Research or Education award for the National Design Procedures for Lightly Bound Cemented Materials in Flexible Pavements at the 9th AustStab Awards of Excellence in 2021.

Prior to working at NTEC James undertook a PhD in Metallurgy and Materials. The title of his PhD was The Effect of Macroalloying on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of 纬-based Titanium Aluminides. This piece of work focused on the relationships between microstructure and mechanical properties, the application being the replacement of heavier steel parts in aero-engines.

If you are interested, Please click on the link to access the webinar:

By Dr. Surya Swarna on 04/20/2023.

Surya Teja Swarna is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the Center for Research and Education in Advanced Transportation Engineering Systems (CREATES), Rowan University. Currently, he is working on multiple projects funded by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT). In addition, He is also working on developing a Low-cost Pavement Management System for the cities and boroughs in New Jersey in collaboration with Kennesaw State University. Surya holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, where he was a part of the Advanced Road & Transportation Engineering Lab (ARTEL) research group and explored the impact of climate change on pavement design and materials in Canada during his doctoral research. Prior to this, Surya completed a Master’s degree in Transportation Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, where he focused on the mechanistic analysis of concrete pavements.

In the presentation, Dr. Swarna covered a range of topics related to the pavement design, pavement management, and transportation asset management. The presentation highlighted the development of PD and PM, enterprise resource planning, and mobile data collection platform for transportation asset management. The importance of considering sustainability and resilience in pavement management was also emphasized.聽 Overall, the presentation provided valuable insights into the latest trends and best practices in pavement design and management, emphasizing the need for continued learning and adaptation in this field.

By Dr. Christiane Raab on 04/19/2023.

Christiane Raab graduated as a Civil Engineer from Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. In 2011, she received her PhD from 杏吧原创 University, Ottawa, Canada. For many years, she was the group leader of the Road Construction Materials and Pavements Division in the “Road Construction / Sealing” Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa). After the merger with the Concrete Division in 2020, she now works as senior scientist in the “Concrete and Asphalt” Laboratory. Christiane is also an Associate Research Professor at 杏吧原创 University in Ottawa, Canada, and a lecturer at the Bern University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland.

She is the member and chairperson of different national and international committees such as the Swiss Association of Road and Transportation Experts VSS, ISAP, RILEM and EATA. She also acts as an associate editor and board member of research journals and is the author of many publications for conferences and peer reviewed journals.

In this seminar, Dr. Raab covered the topic of standards in the field of bituminous pavements. Specifically, the discussion focused on bituminous binders according to European standardization, asphalt mixture and pavement types used in Switzerland, and asphalt concrete testing. It highlighted the specific requirements and testing methods for paving grade and polymer-modified bitumen. These standards ensure the quality and durability of asphalt pavements, which are crucial for transportation infrastructure.

If you are interested, Please click on the link to access the webinar: