Assessment of Inductive Road Pavements’ Structural Behaviour Using Falling Weight Deflectometer

Electric road systems (ERS) with embedded inductive coils enable dynamic charging of electric vehicles (EVs) but raise concerns about pavement durability under Canadian climate and traffic conditions. To investigate this, three full-scale pavement structures were built—two with embedded inductive coils (eRoad sections) and one without (control section)—and subjected to simulated loading (946,000 ESALs) using a Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS) at Laval University’s accelerated pavement testing facility in Quebec, Canada. Structural behavior was evaluated post-loading through Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) testing and elastic modulus back-calculation, analyzed using the Kruskal–Wallis H test. Results showed that eRoad pavements exhibit a different flexural behavior compared to the conventional (control) pavement when loaded in close proximity to the inductive coils, indicating a localized effect of the coils within the pavement. However, no significant impact was observed from the presence of the inductive coils when the load was applied at a distance from them. Moreover, the asphalt layer thickness proved to be a key structural performance factor. Further refinement of coil embedding procedures and inductive pavement design is then suggested to ensure long-term eRoad performance under real traffic and environmental conditions.