The University of Sheffield
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering

Dr Kyriacos Neocleous - Senior Research Fellow (ECOLANES)

Telephone: 25729
Room: E110

email : K.neocleous@sheffield.ac.uk

Dr Kyriacos Neocleous

Research Group

Research Project

EcoLanes - Economical and Sustainable Pavement Infrastructure for Surface Transport

A massive and targeted investment is currently required for the rehabilitation and extension of the European surface transport infrastructure, to provide a system able to respond to the needs of the enlarged European Union (EU), for the benefit of the single market and economic and socio-economic integration. The attainment of these objectives can be facilitated, if the construction and maintenance costs as well production lead-times of the surface infrastructure are minimised.

The main objectives of the EcoLanes project are to develop, test and validate steel-fibre-reinforced-concrete (SFRC) pavements, which would result in the reduction of construction costs in the range of 10-20%, reduction of construction time by 15% and energy consumption up to 40%.

Three key research areas will be addressed to reach the EcoLanes objectives.

Steel fibres extracted from tyre shredding

1. Tyre recycling. Techniques and equipment will be developed for post-processing steel fibres extracted from tyres (Figure 1), and to arrive at fibres suitable for incorporation in concrete.

2. Concrete engineering. The project will develop steel fibre-reinforced concrete (SFRC) mixes suitable for slip forming and roller compaction which have reduced energy requirements and use recycled materials. Both industrial fibre reinforcement and fibres recycled from tyres will be used, as well as low energy cements, pulverised-fly-ash and recycled aggregates.

3. Transport Engineering. The concept of the long lasting rigid road pavement (LLRRP), made of low energy concrete reinforced with steel fibres, will be developed and technically validated on a circular accelerated testing facility. Numerical analyses and parametric studies will be carried out to develop design models for LLRRPs.

European

This research project is sponsored by the European Community Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration (SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME PRIORITY 6.2, SUSTAINABLE SURFACE TRANSPORT). The project consortium comprises nine European partners from six countries and is coordinated by The University of Sheffield (UK).