Abstract:
This paper presents a multidisciplinary approach to understand the impacts of temperature
increase on the retention of particulate pollutants, such as heavy metals and microplastics, by the road
pavement material. A soil with a particle size distribution similar to road dust was selected. A Wheel
Tracking device was used to assess the permanent deformation behavior of prismatic specimens and
the retention of the dust, at controlled temperatures of 40 C and 60 C, likely to occur on pavement
in the future. The soil representing road pollutants was placed at the top of the slabs prior to the
Wheel Tracking Test (WTT), based on the European Standard EN 12697-22:2020. After the WTT, two
common methods were used, in order to evaluate the soil retention (pollution accumulation) on
road pavement. The results confirm that the viscoelastic behavior of bituminous mixtures under
increased temperatures can contribute to particle retention at the pavement. Future studies are
needed to understand the phenomena, the retention characteristics by different bituminous mixtures,
and the efficiency of pollutants capture. The work opens the opportunity to develop innovative road
pavement bituminous mixtures that can reduce the discharge of road particulate pollutants, and have
increased resilience and sustainability in extreme weather conditions.