Researchers at ASPIRE are not only looking at ways to build electrification up but also studying the ways it breaks down.<\/p>\n
The Utah Department of Transportation sent a truck equipped with a falling weight deflectometer to the research center on Sept. 23. In this effort with ASPIRE\u2019s team at the University of Texas at El Paso, researchers sought to test different pavement materials and whether they can withstand the same wear and tear as traditional roads.<\/p>\n
One of the goals of ASPIRE\u2019s dynamic wireless power transfer, or DWPT, project is building confidence in electrified roadways. Because these roads need wireless charging pads embedded in the pavement, it\u2019s important to know how well they hold up under real traffic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question we wanted to answer is whether having that pad in the road changes how the pavement carries traffic loads,\u201d said Pedram Balooch Sirgani, a civil engineering doctoral candidate with ASPIRE at University of Texas at El Paso. \u201cIn the lab we control almost everything. At the EVR we got to see how the same ideas hold up at full scale with a real truck and real pavement layers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sirgani has been with ASPIRE since 2023. His doctoral research focuses on wireless charging systems embedded in asphalt pavements, a direct connection to the project at ASPIRE\u2019s headquarters, the Electric Vehicle & Roadway research facility. At the USU site, Sirgani was in the field during the drop tests and has since been working on processing the fiber optic and deflection data.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat includes turning millions of strain readings into profiles and animations that show how the pavement responds as the truck tire moves over the pad,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A Look Inside the Pavement<\/p>\n
Fiber optic sensors were embedded through the pads sitting beneath concrete, asphalt, and interlocking pavers. The team used distributed strain sensing fiber optics that measure the response of the pavement sections as a loaded electric truck drives over them. At the same time, the falling weight deflectometer truck applied controlled impulse loads to the pavement surface, which measured the resulting surface deflections.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the truck moves across the pavement, these sensors capture the strain response continuously along the section,\u201d said Cesar Tirado, University of Texas at El Paso associate professor. \u201cThat allows us to see whether the embedded DWPT components and their interfaces affect how the pavement responds to traffic loads, which is directly tied to its long-term structural performance and service life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tirado became involved with the project through University of Texas at El Paso and the Center for Transportation Infrastructure Systems. Through collaboration with ASPIRE on pavement systems and dynamic wireless power transfer research, Tirado helps with the coordination of UTEP\u2019s pavement and instrumentation research and mentors the students who carry out much of that research.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt UTEP, we usually study pavement performance in controlled settings. The EVR takes that work to full scale,\u201d Tirado said. \u201cIt is not separate from our work at UTEP. It is an extension of it, and it gives our students the opportunity to connect modeling and laboratory research with a real-world application.\u201d<\/p>\n
From Prediction to Real-World Application<\/p>\n
Finding out the strain is instrumental in determining the life of the pavement and estimating how long it\u2019s going to last. It\u2019s better to determine these figures before being laid under real traffic by designing models here at ASPIRE.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor transportation agencies, a central question is whether embedded charging systems will compromise pavement performance or shorten service life,\u201d Tirado said. \u201cThe field data will help ASPIRE evaluate DWPT designs that provide charging capability while preserving the structural performance expected of a roadway.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tyler Munk, ASPIRE\u2019s engineering and infrastructure project manager, has operated as the project lead and liaison between ASPIRE and the Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association \u2014 who supported the paving stone installations that were among the pavements tested. He believes that this research will strengthen ASPIRE\u2019s capacity to seamlessly integrate wireless power transfer systems into various scenarios.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach pavement type has its own pros and cons to installation, cost, durability, longevity,\u201d Munk said. \u201cWe\u2019d really like to understand what strain our electrical system is seeing underneath each of those pavement types so we can identify the rights times and the right cases to use each pavement type.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the field testing might be over, the research surrounding pavement integrity is far from complete. ASPIRE researchers at UTEP are still interpreting the data gathered from the FWD and fiber optic cables in hopes of furthering real-world electrified roadway deployment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are still analyzing the data so I would not draw conclusions yet,\u201d Tirado said. \u201cBut seeing that level of detail in a full-scale electrified pavement was exciting. It is one thing to predict the pavement response in a model; it is another to measure that response directly in the field under a real vehicle load.\u201d<\/p>\n