The scientific community in Central Europe often discusses the extent to which temperature changes over the last two decades have contributed to changing the stresses induced in structures. In the field of road and environmental engineering, this question is especially pertinent for pavements. The pavement structure must first be defined methodologically by identifying and defining the types of parameters that change with time. Additionally, it is important to identify the areas of Central Europe that are most affected by climate change. The most important parameters must be described statistically for these areas. Slovakia is one of the countries that may be able to contribute to the solution of this issue due to its location in the middle of Europe. This paper provides a statistical analysis for the period from 1971 to 2020 in Slovakia. A concrete pavement, which is the most commonly used type of pavement, must be used as an example to numerical assess the situation. The conclusions and discussion in this scientific field are directed towards the evaluation of the measurement results in the context of the designed pavement composition and the calculations using the different methods specified in the standards.

This study presents the influence of various types of nanoparticle (NP) fillers incorporated into a polyurethane (PU) (VUKOL 022) matrix and its subsequent changes in complex permittivity. Two types of surface modification of SiO ₂ fillers were investigated. The frequency dependence of the real and imaginary parts of complex permittivity was measured within the frequency range of 1 mHz to 1 MHz using the capacitance method. The 1 wt.% NPs in PU caused an increase (MgO, TiO ₂ , n-SiO ₂ , and f-SiO ₂ ) or a decrease (d-SiO ₂ ) in the real permittivity. The α-relaxation and intermediate dipolar effect were observed at the temperature dependence of the imaginary permittivity. The change in permittivity by various surface modifications of SiO ₂ and other nanofillers was discussed based on the multi-core model. Moreover, the NPs caused a shift in the local maximum of the permittivity, which was a result of the interfacial polarisation and a charge multiplication of the α-relaxation process.

The article is devoted to the numerical simulation and experimental verification of a vehicle’s response to kinematic excitation caused by driving along an asphalt road. The source of kinematic excitation was road unevenness, which was mapped by geodetic methods. Vertical unevenness was measured in 0.25 m increments in two longitudinal profiles of the road spaced two meters apart with precise leveling realized by geodetic digital levels. A space multi-body computational model of a Tatra 815 heavy truck was adopted. The model had 15 degrees of freedom. Nine degrees of freedom were tangible and six degrees of freedom were intangible. The equations of motion were derived in the form of second-order ordinary differential equations and were solved numerically by the Runge–Kutta method. A custom computer program in MATLAB was created for numerical simulation of vehicle movement (eps = 2⁻⁵²). The program allowed simulation of quantities such as deflections, speeds, accelerations at characteristic points of the vehicle, and static or dynamic components of contact forces arising between the wheel and the road. The response of the vehicle (acceleration at characteristic points) at different speeds was experimentally tested. The experiment was numerically simulated and the results were mutually compared. The basic statistical characteristics of experimentally obtained and numerically simulated signals and their power spectral densities were compared.

This article presents the case study of our research in the field of innovative methods of pavement subgrade quality control using the CIST (Clegg Impact Soil Tester) device. The CIST device developed by Dr Clegg from the University of Western Australia measures soil compaction indirectly using the CBR value. The value is evaluated based on the deceleration rate of a falling 4.5 kg weight moving in a vertical guide roller. In Europe, for the assessment of the mechanical efficiency (bearing capacity) of cohesive soils in the pavement subgrade, priority is given to indirect assessment methods especially using the laboratory determination of CBR (Californian Bearing Ratio) and directly through the implementation of a static plate load test (SPLT). This article reports the long-term results of our research in the field of verification and validation of an innovative CIST device, which minimizes the time, space, and economic disadvantages of SPLT. This article presents the results of determining the field of applicability of the CIST device for cohesive soils, the correlation dependencies (CD) of the CBR values determined by the CIST device, and, according to STN 72 1016, the CD of the impact dynamic deformation modulus E_vd from the CIV (Clegg Impact Value). We consider the most important results of our long-term research to be a recognition of the ability of CIST to assess the quality of cohesive soils up to a compression value of 40 mm, corresponding to a CBR of 2.2% and a modulus of subgrade deformation of 20 MPa. A very strong correlation dependence of CBR_Clegg [%] on the moisture content of clayey soils in the interval from 5 to 19% was also observed. The presented knowledge led to the creation of relevant documents for the credible implementation of the CIST device in the system approach for assessing the quality of the pavement subgrade.