Predicting the long-term performance of asphalt pavements is a major challenge in pavement engineering. It arises from the inherent complexity of asphalt materials, the uncertainty of pavement service environment, and the semi-empirical nature of pavement performance prediction models. Consequently, practitioners have long relied on the mechanistic-empirical approach as the pavement design guide. However, with the advancement of pavement engineering research, together with developments in mechanics of materials and computational mechanics, it is possible to understand pavement material behaviours and to predict the long-term pavement performance from a fundamental material and mechanics perspective. This presentation introduces a multiphysics modelling framework that effectively incorporates field ageing into the mechanical analysis of pavement materials and structural response modelling, providing an in-depth understanding of the underlying mechanisms and quantitative effects of field ageing on the fatigue performance of asphalt pavements.

ABOUT THE LECTURER

Dr Hanyu Zhang is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Liverpool John Moores University, where his project is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Prior to that, he obtained his PhD from the University of Nottingham and completed both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the School of Transportation, Southeast University. His main research areas include the mechanics of asphalt materials, multiphysics modelling, and fracture in viscoelastic solids. He has published more than 20 papers in leading international journals and has delivered presentations at major international conferences, including AAPT and TRB. He currently serves as a committee member of the CIHT North West and the RILEM TC MWP. As Principal Investigator, he has secured funding from UKRI through the Higher Education Innovation Funding.