Continuous primary dynamic pavement response system using piezoelectric axle sensors

Abstract

Increasing commercial traffic over recent years is inflicting increased damage to roadways. As a result, road engineers are adopting more mechanistic performance-based road-modeling techniques to assist in the design, construction, and preservation of road assets. One such common mechanistic analysis technique is dynamic deflection pavement response induced under typical commercial truck loading. This paper presents an investigation of piezoelectric axle sensors as a possible tool for obtaining dynamic pavement deflection data under commercial truck loadings. One of the primary benefits to using piezoelectric axle sensors is that there are thousands of piezoelectric sensors already installed in roads world wide currently measuring the dynamic weights of commercial vehicles. Specifically, this research investigated the potential to use several different types and orientations of commercially available piezoelectric axle sensors to measure pavement deflection response under heavy truck loading. This research found that data from certain piezoelectric sensors and configurations could potentially predict deflection characteristics of a typical flexible pavement system. Based on these findings, there is the potential to use piezoelectric axle sensors for primary response modeling of road structures.Key words: piezoelectric sensors, deflection bowl, weigh-in-motion, mechanistic road modeling.