Phd thesis Multifunctional Assessment of Porous Pavements with Reservoir Structures

Organisation/Company ENGEES Research Field Environmental science » Water science Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Application Deadline 9 Oct 2026
- 23:59 (Europe/Rome) Country France Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Offer Starting Date 10 Dec 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? LIFE Programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Context

France loses 65,000 hectares of land each year due to urbanization. This urbanization expansion significantly exacerbates stormwater runoff and contribute to degrade urban water quality. By promoting soil sealing, urbanization increases runoff volume. At he same time, the increasing frequency and intensity of weather event (flood, heat waves,…) increase the vulnerability of territories. Local adaptation strategies are essential to preserve water resources. In Grand-Est region, 46,200 km for municipal roads represent a high potential for soil desealing. Pervious road incorporating storage structure offer a promising approach to address this challenge by combining mechanical functions required for vehicle travel and traffic support with hydraulic functions, such as stormwater storage before infiltration in the underlying soil layers. These functions are interconnected with geochemical processes (desorption) biological processes (assimilation, biodegradation) that can influence the fate and mobility of contaminants throughout the structure and even into the underlying soil. Understanding these mechanisms is essential to assess the long‑term effectiveness of the solution while managing environmental impacts.

Permeable pavement and ecosystemic services

Permeable pavements are multifunctional technologies that provide a range of ecosystemic services whose performance depends on the local geoclimatic context, the use of the structure, the properties of the constituent materials, and the characteristics and dynamics of the surrounding ecosystem. In this context, there is a growing need to develop appropriate metrics able to assess the different services provided by permeable pavements, including hydrological regulation, water quality regulation, supporting services, and thermal regulation. A comprehensive understanding of the hydraulic, thermal, acoustic, and mechanical functions associated with these services, as well as the factors controlling their evolution over the long term, remains a major scientific challenge. Processes such as clogging and freeze–thaw cycles are only two examples of the mechanisms that may progressively alter pavement performance. Indeed, a permeable pavement should not be considered as an isolated technical structure, but rather as a component of a broader urban metasystem. Its long‑term performance depends not only on its initial design and material properties, but also on its management over time and its integration within the surrounding urban environment.

Permeable pavements and road pollutants

Despite the extensive research conducted over the past three decades on the retention of conventional road pollutants—such as suspended solids (SS), heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and de-icing salts (NaCl)—by porous asphalt reservoir pavements, several scientific and technical challenges remain. For example, the potential risk of chronic contamination of receiving environments, including soils. Recent literature (Lokesh et al., 2026) reports overall removal efficiencies for road‑related micropollutants ranging from approximately 40 to 90% in permeable pavements, with these findings being supported by several other studies (Jayakaran et al., 2019; Holzer & Poor, 2024).
However, removal performance varies substantially depending on the physicochemical properties of the contaminants and their partitioning between particulate and dissolved phases. Elements strongly associated with particles, such as Pb, Al, and Fe, tend to be more effectively retained than more mobile species predominantly occurring in the aqueous phase, including Cu, Zn, and Mn (Zhang et al., 2018). Similarly, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are widely detected in road runoff, are generally effectively retained within permeable pavement structures. Nevertheless, these removal efficiencies depend on several interacting factors, including pavement configuration and loading conditions, the reactivity of the constituent materials, contaminant physicochemical properties, and hydrological conditions. This highlights the need for a better understanding of the mechanisms governing contaminant transport, retention, and fate within these structures. Such an understanding must also account for the progressive evolution of these mechanisms during pavement ageing and cl