A novel reflective material coated polyurethane resin-based porous composite paving material for mitigating urban heat island effect

Abstract

Increasing urban temperatures due to the urban heat island effect and global warming have become a significant concern around the world. As urban areas grow, they often replace naturally permeable materials with impermeable ones, contributing to the urban heat island effect, and raising temperatures by 1 to 3°C annually. This study proposes a solution in the form of a novel resin-based composite paving material that is permeable, reflects sunlight, and maintains flexural strength. The composite consists of natural stone aggregate, recycled plastic, recycled rubber, and polyurethane resin. Testing revealed a flexure strength range of 2.46–2.8 MPa suitable for moderate loads. Optimal proportions featured equal volume percentages of stone aggregate, plastic, and rubber at 0.07 g cm−3 of polyurethane resin offering a 27% porosity aiding water drainage. The porosity analysis conducted on the resin-based composite paving sample using X-ray tomography data found a total porosity of 27.14%, indicating the volume of voids present within the material composed of 26.43%, connected porosity and 0.71% isolated porosity. Anti-skid tests confirmed excellent pedestrian safety with pendulum test values above 35 PTV. Coatings such as glass beads, epoxy white paste, and aluminium powder were explored to enhance reflectivity. Aluminium powder-coated pavement achieved the highest Albedo index of 0.096353, 101.7% more reflective than the reference, surpassing glass bead and epoxy white paste coatings. This innovative paving material addresses urban heat island concerns while offering safety and enhanced reflectivity for public walkways.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00202967.2024.2441023
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering > Civil Engineering
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering
Additional Information: Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Urban heat island effect,reflective surface,polyurethane resin,permeability
Publication ISSN: 1745-9192
Last Modified: 02 Apr 2025 07:25
Date Deposited: 20 Jan 2025 16:23
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: https://www.tan ... 67.2024.2441023 (Publisher URL)
http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2025-01-03
Published Online Date: 2025-01-03
Accepted Date: 2024-09-30
Authors: Wanniarachchi, Chameekara T.
Singh, Manpreet
Bari, Klaudio
Bock, Marina (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-1519-7761)
Harvey, Stuart
Arjunan, Arun

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