Wim Van den bergh, industrial engineer in Civil Engineering (1997) and postgraduate in Human Ecology (2002), started his research work at the Hogeschool Antwerpen in road construction with the development of aged-bitumen bound base, an asphalt mixture using bituminous roofing membranes and asphalt granulate as recycling material. In 2011 he received his PhD from TU Delft (CiTG Road Engineering Section) with his research on the effect of recycling on the healing behaviour of asphalt mixtures. In 2013 he became an academic staff member of the Faculty of Applied Engineering and research leader of Road Engineering Research Section of EMIB research group (Research group Energy and Materials in Infrastructure and Buildings). He teaches the subjects Asphalt Technology, Infrastructure Works: Road Construction, and Pavement Engineering and is chairman of the Section Infrastructure of the Department Civil Engineering.
Wim Van den bergh participates in national and international projects and committees as an expert in sustainable road construction, innovations, asphalt recycling and bitumen technology. Since 2019, he organises the annual Asphalt Innovation Symposium, to demonstrate the innovations from the research group to the industry and as a networking platform between research and the asphalt sector.
His research work focuses on i) developing an integrated asphalt transformation model where ageing, self-repairing capacity, cracking and climate change are included as parameters, ii) impact of recycling on sustainability (mechanical properties and LCA), iii) implementing IT in road construction to optimise quality and sustainability and innovations such as special mixtures for heavy loads (port and airport) and climate proofing. Most of the projects are in cooperation with industry, research centres and authorities.
Wim Van den bergh is the contact for international networking and Erasmus Mobility for the department of Civil engineering.
Current doctoral projects
- Juliana Oliveira Costa: Using geopolymers in base materials for road construction.
- Georgios Pipintakos: Towards a mechanism-based oxidative aging model within a thermodynamic framework.
- Ben Moins: Development of an ecological-economic decision model for the application of asphalt granules in road structure.
- Mohammadtaher Ghalandari: Structural analysis and feasibility study for heavy loaded roads containing a heat exchanging asphalt layer
PhD projects completed
- Alexandros Margaritis (2020): Maximising asphalt recycling: challenges and variability in fatigue and healing.
- Joke Anthonissen (2017): Bituminous Pavements in Flanders: quantifying the effect of RAP on the environmental impact.