Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Road transport in Brazil is the main mean of people and cargo transportation and it becomes increasingly intense. Traffic loads and environmental factors are the primary causes of failures in asphalt paving, once the asphalt overlay is completely exposed to environmental hazards. The aims of the present work were to monitor and record occurrences involving paving failures in the highway granted to the Brazilian Public Private Partnership (PPP) that has the MG- 050 Highway as the main link connection between the midwest of Minas Gerais and São Paulo state, with 402 km long, serving as an integration axis of the economy developed in these regions. Data involving general events of paving failures and, more specifically, pits and potholes parameters were collected during the years 2010 and 2011. A statistical analysis was performed using non-parametric tests, evaluating seasonal climate differences - dry and rainy seasons - in the quantitative data of such events. With 95% confidence, it was possible to verify that the number of occurrences of pits and potholes parameter is significantly different to the investigated seasons, more intense on rainy periods, when the paving becomes more susceptible to the occurrence of this event. This work evaluates, statistically, the action of the environment in the paving structure as a function of recorded failures, a preliminary analysis that deserves further studies.

The river basins of Imo state, Nigeria are presented as a natural vital resource for sustainable water resources management in the area. The study identified most of all the known rivers in Imo State and provided information like relief, topography and other geographical features of the major rivers which are crucial to aid water management for a sustainable water infrastructure in the communities of the watershed. The rivers and lakes are classified into five watersheds (river basins) such as Okigwe watershed, Mbaise / Mbano watershed, Orlu watershed, Oguta watershed and finally, Owerri watershed. The knowledge of the river basins in Imo State will help analyze the problems involved in water resources allocation and to provide guidance for the planning and management of water resources in the state for sustainable development.

The emissions inventory is the basic requirement for modeling of air quality, environmental monitoring and impact assessment. For any air pollution control program emission inventory is a key component. Emission inventory should be developed for acquiring emission data of significant amount. Fulfillment of air emissions inventory for a power plant identifies the source of air pollution. The air pollutants released from the entire source are measured to estimate the emission rates and emission concentrations. In the present study, we made an emission inventory for criteria pollutants of Suspended Particulate Materials (SPM), sulfur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) from stationary sources of a thermal power plant. Fuel consumption and emission database was developed for Rayalaseema thermal power project (1050 MW). Emission factors are calculated for the pollutants. The project lies on latitude of 14°42’52”N and longitude of 78°27’29”E located at VV Reddy Nagar, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, India. The methods used for inventory presentation are Manufacturers’ design specifications and direct measurement. Results are compared from two methods.

Global population increase has caused increased demand in automobile use and the shipment of used automobiles (Second hand) from the industrialized to the developing regions of the world. As a result, many developing countries now opt for auto mechanic village as against the citywide auto mechanic workshop practice because of the numerous advantages. The very poor standard and unsustainable setting of these mechanic villages cause environmental degradation leading to global change. This paper presents a total of 24 features and criteria that enabled AutoCAD design of an environmentally friendly mechanic village. Environmentally friendly mechanic village will improve environmental quality across developing countries of the world this century.

The study investigates the use of glass fibre impregnated with bitumen emulsion with 6mm aggregates compacted on it as a Stress Absorbing Membrane Interlayer (SAMI) to retard reflective cracking. The causes and mechanism of reflective cracking in an overlay over a cracked pavement were highlighted. Tests were carried out in a wheel tracking facility to induce modes I and II cracking. The effects of temperature, load level, composition of SAMI and overlay thickness on the performance of the SAMIs were evaluated. It was found that the two SAMIs investigated in this study were both able to retard reflective cracking. Better relative performance was observed with low overlay thickness and at high load level. Also, the study showed that temperature influenced the performance of the SAMIs and indicated that difference in the viscosity of the bitumen emulsion used in the SAMIs led to difference in performance. It was observed that the interface shear strain of the overlay-SAMI interface influenced the performance of the SAMI.