Current Research Projects

An overview of all current research projects can be found in TISS, opens an external URL in a new window.

Research Fields

Key Activities

  • Design of asphalt, concrete and block pavement constructions for (highly loaded) road and industrial areas
  • Optimisation of building materials and structure of road areas and airfields based on functional requirements
  • Development, simulation and structural monitoring of innovative construction methods for road and airfield pavements
  • Large-scale tests & long-term monitoring of innovative structures
  • Development of the basics for the establishment and revision of guidelines for road constructions

Key Research Areas

  • Development of tools for structural analysis for flexible, semi-rigid and rigid structures based on numerical methods (finite element methods, multiscale modeling)
  • Development of constitutive material models for road building materials
  • Modelling of load and climate induced changes of road characteristics during the life cycle
  • Implementation of probabilistic approaches in performance and failure prediction models to address real stresses and varying material properties of pavement structures

Current Research Projects

  • Consideration of frost sensitivity of soils in pavement design
  • Monitoring and assessment of the construction method "LayJet" for broadband expansion in rural areas (project phase III)
  • Performance-related approach for unbound block pavement design

Key Activites

  • Pavement condition survey and evaluation
  • Optimisation of structural and operational maintenance measures
  • Life cycle cost analysis as a basis for variant investigations
  • Development of the basics for the establishment and revision of guidelines for road constructions

Key Research Areas

  • Options for visual condition survey of asphalt and concrete road surfaces
  • Development and testing of quality controls during the construction phase
  • Optimisation of winter maintenance
  • Development of lifecycle costs analysis of asphalt, concrete and block pavements

Current Research Projects

  • Assessment of structural damage by means of sensor technology
  • Analysis of the falling weight deflectometer test (FWD) for recording the structural condition of traffic surfaces

The road engineering laboratory focuses on the improved testing of the complex properties of asphalt mixtures and their constituents (bitumen and mineral aggregates) under realistic mechanical (traffic load-related) and thermal (climatic) loads. The aim is to create the basis for the optimised construction of heavily loaded road pavements and innovative developments in road engineering. Last but not least, the results provide necessary input parameters for the numerical modelling of pavements.

Key Activities

  • Asphalt mix testing: performance based tests addressing low temp. (TSRST, UTST), stiffness & fatigue (4PBB, DTC, DT, ITT), and high temp. (TCCT) | conventional tests (Marshall test, WTT, gyrator)
  • Bitumen testing: performance based tests (DSR, BBR, RV, RTFOT, PAV) and conventional tests (penetration, ring & ball, Fraass), Infrared spectrometer, optical and CLSM microscopy
  • Mineral aggregate testing: LA drum, sieving tower, Micro-Deval, polishing & friction testing device acc. to Wehner-Schulze, polishing simulator, pendulum, texture detection by high precision laser device
  • Pavement monitoring: Grip-Tester, Evenness

Key Research Areas

  • Fundamental research on ageing of bitumen and bitumen-bound mixtures, as well as realistic simulation of field ageing in the laboratory
  • Correlation between chemical structure and mechanical properties
  • Life cycle assessment of road construction materials
  • Correlation between performance-related requirements and mechanical parameters
  • Optimisation of the mix design of asphalt & asphalt additives for heavily loaded traffic areas
  • Application and further development of laboratory tests for assessing road construction materials

Current Research Projects

  • Development of a realistic method for long-term ageing of bitumen (Viennese Binder Ageing - VBA) and asphalt mixtures (Viennese Aging Procedure - VAPro)
  • Ageing of polymer modified binders (PmB) and recycling of PmBs
  • Comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of road construction materials and preparation of Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)
  • Development of technical and environmental assessment methods for de-icing agents
  • Low-corrosion de-icing agents for winter road maintenance
  • Application possibilities and limits of surface treatments with bitumen emulsion
  • Development of a test method to address durability and fatigue resistance of asphalt mastic (bitumen + filler) at DSR