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Transportation Department Transportation Department

Ana Cristina Freire

Ana Cristina Freire
Phone: 218 443 536

Professional Situation

Assistant Researcher

Academic and Scientific Degrees

2003 - Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, Civil Engineering field, specialisation in Transportation Planning by FCT/Coimbra University

1993 - Master’s in Soil Mechanics by FCT/UNL

1989 - Degree in Civil Engineering by IST/UTL

Functions and Relevant Public Offices

Since 2005 - Head of the accredited Laboratory UO PAVMAT of LNEC-EM.

Since 2003 - Assistant Researcher

2010 – 2013 - Head of Road and Airport Infrastructures Division of Transportation Department

1993 – 2003 – Research Assistant

1992 – 1993 – Research Trainee

1992 - Fellowship for Research Trainee

1990 – 1992 - JNICT fellow student

1990 - Fellowship for Research Trainee

Areas of Research / Interest

Paving materials, including non-traditional materials

Evaluation of performance models and methods for analysing the structural behaviour

Assessment of the behaviour of road and airport pavements.

Research and Professional Activity

Participation in research projects as responsible investigator

  • 2015-2017 – P2II Investigation Project - ReSuBMIT (IncorpoRation of Steel Slag Aggregates in Paving Bituminous MIxTures)
  • 2010-2013 - FCT Project - SUPREMA - Sustainable application of Construction and Demolition Recycled Materials (C&DRM) in road infrastructures
  • 2009-2012 – Project Incorporation of recycled materials as aggregates in road construction
  • 2005-2008 – Project aggregates for road construction: conventional materials and alternative materials.
  • 2006-2008 - Coordination of pro- normative studies under the Protocol between Estradas de Portugal , EPE and LNEC:
    • Study regarding aggregates according to European standards EN 13043 and EN 132421;
    • Study of aggregate water content influence on sand equivalent results;
    • Characterization of recycled aggregates according to European Standard PREN 933-11.

Participation in research projects as investigator

  • 2015-2017 – H2020 Project - FOX - Forever Open infrastructure across all transport modes (H2020-MG- 8.1b-2014 - Smarter Design, Construction and Maintenance - Coordination and Support Action)
  • 2014-2015 - Project QREN – TROPICAL-PAV – Road Paving Solutions for Tropical Climates
  • 2009-2012 – Project Bituminous Mixtures: performance throughout the life cycle
  • 2009-2012 – Project Inventory, geotechnical characterization and evaluation of the durability of rock materials for aggregates

Scientific Orientation

Supervision of training courses, participation in committees for organising events, participation in committees for reviewing scientific works.

Relevant Publications

  • FREIRE, A. C.Estudos Relativos a Camadas de Pavimentos Constituídas por Materiais Granulares – Tese de Mestrado, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (UNL/FCT), Lisboa, 1993 (in Portuguese).
  • FREIRE, A. C.Deformações permanentes de misturas betuminosas em pavimentos rodoviários – Tese de Doutoramento, Universidade de Coimbra, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (UC/FCT), Coimbra, 2002 (in Portuguese).
  • FREIRE, A.C.; ANTUNES, M.L.; PICADO-SANTOS, L. – Characterization of Bituminous Mixtures for Numerical Modelling of Permanent Deformations - Road Materials and Pavement Design Journal, Volume 7 no. 1/2006, pages 87-102; January – March, 1468-0629; Published: 2006. WOS:000235944400005 LAVOISIER, 14, RUE DE PROVIGNY, 94236 CACHAN, France; IDS Number: 020WR; ISSN: 1468-0629.
  • FREIRE, A.C.; NEVES, J. M.; PESTANA, R. – Analysis of Recycled Aggregates Properties for Unbound Granular Asphalt Pavement Layers. 11TH International Conference on Asphalt Pavements (ISAP 2010). Japão, 1 a 6 de Agosto de 2010.
  • FREIRE, A. C., NEVES, J. M., ROQUE, A. J., MARTINS, I. M., ANTUNES, M. L., FARIA, G.- Use of Construction and Demolition Recycled Materials (C&DRM) in Road Pavements Validated on Experimental Test Sections. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference WASTES: Solutions, Treatments and Opportunities, Minho University, Braga, September 11-13, 2013, 6 p. (in CD-ROM).
  • NEVES, J.M., FREIRE, A. C., ROQUE, A.J., MARTINS, I.M., ANTUNES, M.L. FARIA, G. -Utilization of recycled materials in unbound granular materials validated by experimental test sections. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways and Airfields, Trondheim, Norway, 25-27 June, 2013, pp. 617-625.
  • Co-author of the Book Guia RELACRE 25 - Estimativa da incerteza de medição em ensaios de materiais de construção, novembro 2013, EDIÇÃO: RELACRE; ISBN: http://www.relacre.pt/pt/commissionsandpublications/publications/ (in Portuguese).
  • ANTUNES, V.; FREIRE, A.C.; QUARESMA, L.; MICAELO, R.  –  Influence of the geometrical and physical properties of filler in the filler–bitumen interaction, Construction and Building Materials, 76, (2015), 322-329, ISSN 0950-0618, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.12.008.
  • NEVES, J., DIOGO, A.C, FREIRE, A.C., BRITO, J., (2015). Chapter 20: Aggregates. Materials for Construction and Civil Engineering. Science, Processing, and Design. Gonçalves, M. Clara, Margarido, Fernanda (Eds.). Springer, 2015. ISBN 978-3-319-08235-6. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-08236-3_20.
  • ANTUNES, V.; FREIRE, A.C.; QUARESMA, L.; MICAELO, R.  –  Effect of the chemical composition of fillers in the filler–bitumen interaction, Construction and Building Materials, 104 (2016), 85-91, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.12.042.
  • FREIRE, A.C.; MARTINS, I.M.; FERREIRA, C.; GONÇALVES, J.; ROQUE, A.J.; PINTO, I. – Main results of the questionnaire for Portuguese entities potential users of Construction and Demolition Recycled Materials (C&DRM), Procedia Enginnering. 143:82-89. DOI: 10.1016/j.proeng.2016.06.01, 2016.
  • ROQUE, A.J.; MARTINS, I.M.; FREIRE, A.C.; NEVES, J.; ANTUNES, M.L.. – Assessment of Environmental Hazardous of Construction and Demolition Recycled Materials (C&DRM) from Laboratory and Field Leaching Tests Application in Road Pavement Layers, Procedia Enginnering 143:204-2011. DOI: 10.1016/j.proeng.2016.06.026, 2016.

Other scientific and technical Activities

LNEC’s delegate at FEHRL Research Coordinator group.

Portuguese representative at the Technical Committee of AIPCR, "Terminology and Translation Assistance (CTERM) 2009-2011.

Group Coordinator GT02 - "Aggregates" included in CT09, from RELACRE.

Participation in Standardisation Committees, CT154 - Aggregates and CT 129 - Paving Materials.

Group coordinator of SC2/CT154 – Aggregates for bituminous mixtures

Group coordinator of GT1 - Promote of use of non-traditional materials in embankments and structural layers of Portuguese Commission of Geotechnical Transport (CPGT) da SPG

National representative elected for the Material and Construction Products sector for IPAC’s Technical Commission for Accreditation of Laboratories (CTAL ).

Other Information

  • Order of Engineers, senior member with the title "Specialist in Transport and Roads"
  • Member of the Portuguese Geotechnical Society (SPG)
  • Member of the Permanent International Association of Road Congresses (AIPCR)

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