Prevention and Management of Road Surface Damage

英国的道路网络总计约25万英里，为货物和服务的有效分配提供了手段，支持了英国的经济安全和社会繁荣，无论未来自动驾驶汽车技术如何，这种支持都将继续被需要。整个道路网络价值7500亿英镑，作为英国主要的交通基础设施，为道路使用者、商业和工业提供了重要的服务。然而，路面损坏，特别是坑洼，已经成为所有网络用户严重关注的安全和性能问题。提高高速公路网的质量、使用寿命和可达性是政府、工业和旅行公众非常关心的问题。最近，因路面坑洼造成的损坏而接受维修的汽车数量急剧增加（根据Kwik Fit的调查，两年内从630万辆增加到820万辆，估计每年给驾车者带来的成本约为9亿英镑），以及今年早些时候沥青工业联盟（Asphalt Industry Alliance）为当地高速公路当局积压的维修费用为98亿英镑，都突显了这一点。近年来的恶劣天气（破纪录的降雨、极端寒冷的天气），加上高速公路管理部门的财政紧张，也导致了广为人知的“坑洞流行病”，而且由于有时缺陷修复的寿命短，情况变得更糟。在此背景下，本建议有两个相互关联的目标：(1)使道路的设计/建造能尽量减少路面损坏（即预防）；(2)促使道路维修科学（即管理）发生阶梯式变化。这些雄心壮志只能通过建立一个目前在路面工程界不存在的理解水平来实现。这包括通过实验研究和理论建模分离出路面损坏的真正根本原因——尽管众所周知，水和冰起着至关重要的作用。然后，这些知识必须与实际道路数据的评估相结合，以产生一个强大的和经过验证的设计和分析工具，并产生适当的施工和维护指导。要成功实现这两个目标，需要路面工程师、材料科学家和计算流体动力学专家的共同努力和专业知识，这些专家来自诺丁汉大学和布鲁内尔大学。此外，该项目只有通过具有特定能力的工业合作伙伴的协助才能实现，这些合作伙伴将补充诺丁汉大学和布鲁内尔大学的学术投入。这些机构包括：三个高速公路管理局（英国高速公路、伦敦交通局和诺丁汉郡议会），提供数据资源和直接实地调查机会；两个伞形组织（ADEPT -代表地方政府公路部门，RSTA -代表与路面处理有关的供应商和承包商）；最后是一家公路材料测试设备生产商（库柏技术），为测试开发提供专业投入。

The UK's road network totals around 250,000 miles of paved roads providing a means for efficient distribution of goods and services, supporting UK economic security and social prosperity, and this support will continue to be needed whatever the future of automated vehicle technology. The entire road network has been valued at £750 billion and as the UK's main transport infrastructure provides a vital service to road users, commerce and industry. However, road surface damage, particularly potholes, has become a serious safety and performance concern for all network users. The need to improve the quality, longevity and accessibility of the highway network is a vital concern of government, industry and the travelling public. It is highlighted by the recent dramatic increase in the number of cars taken in for repair of pothole-induced damage (up from 6.3M to 8.2M in two years according to a Kwik Fit survey, at an estimated annual cost to motorists of about £900M) and the maintenance backlog for local highway authorities, costed at £9.8B by the Asphalt Industry Alliance earlier this year. Episodes of severe weather in recent years (record-breaking rainfall, extreme cold-weather events), combined with tight financial constraints on highway authorities, have also led to a much publicised 'pothole epidemic', and the situation is made worse by the lack of longevity sometimes achieved in defect repairs.Against this background, this proposal has twin interrelated ambitions to (1) enable the design/construction of roads so as to minimise surface damage (i.e. prevention); and (2) induce a step change in the science of road repair (i.e. management). These ambitions can only be realised by establishing a level of understanding that does not currently exist within the pavement engineering community. This involves isolating, by both experimental studies and theoretical modelling, the real root causes of road surface damage - although it is well known that water and ice play vital roles. This knowledge has then to be combined with evaluation of actual road data in order to produce a robust and validated design and analysis tool and to generate appropriate construction and maintenance guidance. The research needed to successfully deliver these twin ambitions will require the combined effort and expertise of pavement engineers, materials scientists and computational fluid dynamics experts, expertise found at the University of Nottingham and Brunel University. In addition, the project will only be possible through the assistance of industrial partners with specific capabilities that will complement the academic input from Nottingham and Brunel. These comprise: three highway authorities (Highways England, Transport for London and Nottinghamshire County Council), giving access to data resources as well as direct field investigation opportunities; two umbrella organisations (ADEPT - representing local authority highways departments, RSTA - representing suppliers and contractors concerned with road surface treatments); and, finally, one producer of highway material test equipment (Cooper Technology), giving specialist input into test development.