Joint design and load transfer capacity analysis of photovoltaic/thermal integrated pavement unit

Abstract

The fossil energy on the earth is limited, and with the energy shortage and the environment deterioration, there is an urgent need to develop and use renewable energy. Therefore, solar roads came into being. The current research on the structural performance of solar pavement is relatively lacking, especially the joint design between photovoltaic (PV) pavement unit structures. In order to fill this research gap, in this study, two different PIPVT unit joint designs for photovoltaic/thermal integrated pavement (PIPVT) are proposed, namely, dowel bar joint design and tongue-and-groove joint design. The load transfer capacity of the two joint designs is compared and analysed by ABAQUS simulation. By the result of simulation, the most unfavourable load position was determined, and the load transfer coefficients of the two joint designs were calculated to verify the reasonability of the two joint designs, and to compare and select the scheme. The results showed that the load transfer coefficient of the dowel bar is 75.7%, and its load transfer grade is medium; the load transfer coefficient of the tongue-and-groove joint is 88.9%, and its load transfer grade is excellent. It is recommended to use the tongue-and-groove joint design.