This paper aims to study the feasibility of highly conductive carbon fiber reinforced concrete (CFRC) as a self-heating material for ice formation prevention and curing in pavements. Tests were carried out in lab ambient conditions at different fixed voltages and then introduced in a freezer at −15 °C. The specimens inside the freezer were exposed to different fixed voltages when reaching +5 °C for prevention of icing and when reaching the temperature inside the freezer, i.e., −15 °C, for curing of icing. Results show that this concrete could act as a heating element in pavements with risk of ice formation, consuming a reasonable amount of energy for both anti-icing (prevention) and deicing (curing), which could turn into an environmentally friendly and cost-effective deicing method.

Sustainability requirements are gaining importance in the construction industry, which needs to take specific measures in the design and construction of concrete structures. The use of recycled aggregates in concrete may be of special interest. Recycling a construction waste will close the life cycle of the original materials (e.g., concrete). Thus, environmental benefits would come from the lower waste generation, and from a lower necessity of raw materials for new structures. The current Spanish code for structural concrete considers the use of recycled aggregates in replacement rates up to 20% by aggregate mass, assimilating their properties with those of concretes without aggregate replacement. Higher substitution percentages would require further testing. In this work, substitution of coarse aggregate for recycled aggregates (with replacement percentages of 25%, 50% and 100%) has been studied, and the concrete’s residual properties after exposure to high temperatures (between 350 °C and 850 °C) have been assessed. Compressive strength and capillary water absorption tests were made after heating, and the experiments showed higher residual strength in concretes with the greatest content of recycled aggregates. However, a statistical analysis made with additional data available in the literature seemed to predict otherwise, and the recycled aggregate replacement would have a negative effect on the residual strength.

Road markings play an important role in road safety because they provide significant information to drivers about the road. For that reason, they must be replaced when they are not correctly perceived by road users. To analyse which are the main factors that affect road marking perception over time, a test section was designed in a two-lane rural highway, running actual traffic over 18 different types of markings fabricated with different combinations of drop-on materials. Chromatic coordinates, luminance, and retroreflectivity of each sample were measured during 18 months in order to study their evolution over time. The results obtained show different behaviours depending on the aggregates and application method used. An increment of the durability has been observed with the use of different layers and mixtures of glass microbeads with different sizes.

Photovoltaic energy production is nowadays one of the hottest topics in the water industry as this green energy source is becoming more and more workable in countries like Spain, with high values of irradiance. In water pressurized systems supplying urban areas, they distribute energy consumption in pumps throughout the day, and it is not possible to supply electromechanical devices without energy storages such as batteries. Additionally, it is not possible to manage energy demand for water consumption. Researchers and practitioners have proven batteries to be reliable energy storage systems, and are undertaking many efforts to increase their performance, capacity, and useful life. Water pressurized networks incorporate tanks as devices used for accumulating water during low consumption hours while releasing it in peak hours. The compensation tanks work here as a mass and energy source in water pressurized networks supplied with photovoltaic arrays (not electricity grids). This work intends to compare which of these two energy storage systems are better and how to choose between them considering that these two systems involve running the network as a standalone pumping system without being connected to electricity grids. This work also calculates the intermediate results, considering both photovoltaic arrays and electricity grids for supplying electricity to pumping systems. We then analyzed these three cases in a synthetic network (used in earlier research) considering the effect of irradiation and water consumption, as we did not state which should be the most unfavorable month given that higher irradiance coincides with higher water consumption (i.e., during summer). Results show that there is no universal solution as energy consumption depends on the network features and that energy production depends very much on latitude. We based the portfolio of alternatives on investments for purchasing different equipment at present (batteries, pipelines, etc.) based on economic criteria so that the payback period is the indicator used for finding the best alternative, which is the one with the lowest value.

In the past few years, unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have achieved great popularity for civil uses. One of the present main uses of these devices is low-cost aerial photogrammetry, being especially useful in coastal environments. In this work, a high-resolution 3D model of a beach section in Guardamar del Segura (Spain) has been produced by employing a low maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) UAS, in combination with the use of structure-from-motion (SfM) techniques. An unprecedented extensive global navigation satellite system (GNSS) survey was simultaneously carried out to statistically validate the model by employing 1238 control points for that purpose. The results show good accuracy, obtaining a vertical root mean square error (RMSE) mean value of 0.121 m and a high point density, close to 30 pt/m², with similar or even higher quality than most coastal surveys performed with classical techniques. UAS technology permits the acquisition of topographic data with low time-consuming surveys at a high temporal frequency. Coastal managers can implement this methodology into their workflow to study the evolution of complex, highly anthropized dune-beach systems such as the one presented in this study, obtaining more accurate surveys at lower costs.