Laboratory study on an eRoad pavement structure utilizing accelerated loading tests

The rise in electric vehicle (EV) adoption has spurred the integration of inductive charging systems into road pavements. However, the impact of the inclusion of inductive charging coils in the pavement structure on the overall performance and structural integrity of the road needs to be characterized. This study evaluates this impact using a heavy vehicle simulator on a pavement structure built in a laboratory test pit at Laval University. The test pit comprises a control section representing the standard Québec pavement structure and two sections incorporating inductive charging coils. Various sensors such as strain gauges and load cells were used to monitor the behaviour of each pavement component during dynamic loading tests, from the surface course to the underlying soil. This paper outlines stress measurements at the top of the granular base layer in all sections exposed to different load amplitudes, positions of the load, temperatures, and two water table conditions: high and low.