Freeze–thaw damage is one of the most severe threats to the long-term performance of concrete pavement in cold regions. Currently, the freeze–thaw deterioration mechanism of concrete pavement has not been fully understood. This study summarizes the significant findings of concrete pavement freeze–thaw durability performance, identifies existing knowledge gaps, and proposes future research needs. The concrete material deterioration mechanism under freeze–thaw cycles is first critically reviewed. Current deterioration theories mainly include the hydrostatic pressure hypothesis, osmolarity, and salt crystallization pressure hypothesis. The critical saturation degree has been proposed to depict the influence of internal saturation on freeze–thaw damage development. Meanwhile, the influence of pore solution salinity on freeze–thaw damage level has not been widely investigated. Additionally, the deterioration mechanism of the typical D-cracking that occurs in concrete pavement has not been fully understood. Following this, we investigate the coupling effect between freeze–thaw and other loading or environmental factors. It is found that external loading can accelerate the development of freeze–thaw damage, and the acceleration becomes more evident under higher stress levels. Further, deicing salts can interact with concrete during freeze–thaw cycles, generating internal pores or leading to crystalline expansion pressure. Specifically, freeze–thaw development can be mitigated under relatively low ion concentration due to increased frozen points. The interactive mechanism between external loading, environmental ions, and freeze–thaw cycles has not been fully understood. Finally, the mitigation protocols to enhance frost resistance of concrete pavement are reviewed. Besides the widely used air-entraining process, the freeze–thaw durability of concrete can also be enhanced by using fiber reinforcement, pozzolanic materials, surface strengthening, Super Absorbent Polymers (SAPs), and Phase Change Materials. This study serves as a solid base of information to understand how to enhance the freeze–thaw durability of concrete pavement.

Waste engine oil (WEO) and waste polyethylene (WPE) are two common wastes, which are easy to pollute the environment. As the primary material in road construction, natural asphalt is a non-renewable energy source and asphalt is vulnerable to ultraviolet (UV) radiation during the service life. It results in degradation of asphalt pavement performance. In this paper, 2 wt % to 8 wt % of WEO and WPE were used to modify asphalts and the UV aging simulation experiment was carried out. The physical parameters of asphalts before the UV aging experiment show that the asphalt containing 4 wt % WPE and 6 wt % WEO mixture (4 wt % WPE + 6 wt % WEO) has similar physical properties with that of the matrix asphalt. Besides, gel permeation chromatography (GPC) verifies that the molecular weight distribution of the asphalt containing 4 wt % WPE + 6 wt % WEO is close to that of the matrix asphalt. The storage stability test shows that 4 wt % WPE + 6 wt % WEO has good compatibility with the matrix asphalt. The functional groups and micro-morphology of asphalts before and after the UV aging experiment were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). FTIR results display that 4 wt % WPE + 6 wt % WEO can effectively reduce the formation of carbonyl and sulfoxide functional groups. AFM shows that 4 wt % WPE + 6 wt % WEO can also retard the formation of a “bee-like” structure in asphalt after the UV aging experiment. Based on the above results, it can be concluded that WEO and WPE mixture can replace part of asphalt and improve the UV aging resistance of asphalt.

Due to the low shear strength of deep-sea sediment, crawled mineral collector is easily slips in the deep-sea mining process, therefore, high-traction bionic grouser is needed to be studied to improve the working efficiency. Based on the rate-dependent characteristics of deep-sea sediment, a rate-dependent extended Drucker-Prager material constitutive model is used to define the deep-sea sediment. The Arbitrary Lagrange-Euler finite element (LEA-FE) was used to simulate the cutting process of different bionic grousers at different speeds. By comparing the simulation of different grousers, it was found that the maximum traction of grouser is related to the grouser parameters (distance L from the top to the curvature change point and curvature radius R). By analyzing the traction characteristics of different bionic grousers, the binary quadratic regression equation between maximum traction and bionic grouser parameters was established and the best bionic grouser parameters were obtained by the optimization algorithm. Based on the rate-dependent properties of deep-sea sediment, the traction characteristics at different speeds were analyzed and the relationship between maximum traction and speeds was established, the best bionic grouser walking speed was obtained, which can provide the theoretical basis for the crawled mineral collector.

The excessive deformation of deep-sea sediments caused by the vibration of the mining machine will adversely affect the efficiency and safety of mining. Combined with the deep-sea environment, the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical problem for saturated porous deep-sea sediments subject to the vibration of the mining vehicle is investigated. Based on the Green-Lindsay (G-L) generalized thermoelastic theory and Darcy’s law, the model of thermo-hydro-mechanical dynamic responses for saturated porous deep-sea sediments under the vibration of the mining vehicle is established. We obtain the analytical solutions of non-dimensional vertical displacement, excess pore water pressure, vertical stress, temperature, and change in the volume fraction field with the normal mode analysis method, and depict them graphically. The normal mode analysis method uses the canonical coordinate transformation to solve the equation, which can quickly decouple the equation by ignoring the modal coupling effect on the basis of the canonical mode. The results indicate that the vibration frequency has obvious influence on the vertical displacement, excess pore water pressure, vertical stress, and change in volume fraction field. The loading amplitude has a great effect on the physical quantities in the foundation, and the changes of the physical quantities increase with the increase in loading amplitude.

Currently the investigation on recycled cement concrete aggregate has been widely conducted, while the understanding of the recycled polymer concrete aggregate is still limited. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap through the experimental investigation on mechanical and durability performance. Specifically, the remolded polyurethane stabilized Pisha sandstone was collected as the recycled polymer concrete aggregate. The remolded Pisha sandstone was then applied to re-prepare the polyurethane-based composites. After that, the mechanical performance of the prepared composites was first examined with unconfined and triaxial compressive tests. The results indicated that the Pisha sandstone reduces the composite’s compressive strength. The reduction is caused by the remained polyurethane material on the surface of the remolded aggregate, which reduces its bond strength with the new polyurethane material. Aiming at this issue, this study applied the ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) to enhance the bond performance between the polyurethane and remolded sandstone. The test results indicated both the unconfined and triaxle compressive strength of the polyurethane composites were enhanced with the added EVA content. Furthermore, the durability performance of the EVA-modified composites were examined through freeze-thaw and wet-dry cycle tests. The test results indicated the EVA could enhance the polyurethane composites’ resistance to both wet-dry and freeze-thaw cycles. Overall, the modification with EVA can compensate for the strength loss of polyurethane composites because of the applied remolded aggregate and enhance its sustainability.