Vehicle load monitoring for asphalt concrete pavement based on smart aggregates

A vehicle load monitoring method for asphalt concrete (AC) pavement based on smart aggregates (SA) was proposed. Firstly, the cyclic stress was applied to an AC block embedded with a piece of SA using a servo-hydraulic machine. During loading, a variety of stress frequencies was used to consider vehicle speed variation. The SA sensitivity under the given boundary condition was obtained and the influence of loading rate on the sensitivity was analyzed. Secondly, the finite element (FE) model of the AC block embedded with the SA was established and the real boundary condition of loading tests was simulated. The stress distribution in the AC was analyzed and the SA sensitivity was obtained based on the numerical method. Finally, the influence of the AC Young's modulus variation on the SA sensitivity was studied through the numerical simulation approach. This study demonstrated that the SA sensitivity varies linearly with the applied dynamic stresses; under normal temperature, the variation of the AC Young's modulus has little effect on the SA sensitivity. Thus, it was concluded that the proposed monitoring method is feasible and reliable.