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The Quest for Renewable Energy—Effects of Different Asphalt Mixes and Laboratory Loading on Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters

Author

Listed:
  • Lubinda F. Walubita

    (Texas A & M Transportation (TTI), The Texas A & M University System, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

  • Abu N. M. Faruk

    (AECOM, Chelmsford, MA 01824, USA)

  • Jerome Helffrich

    (Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), San Antonio, TX 78238, USA)

  • Samer Dessouky

    (School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Management, The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), San Antonio, TX 78249, USA)

  • Luckson Kamisa

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Zambia, Lusaka 10101, Zambia)

  • Hossein Roshani

    (Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam, Inc., Austin, TX 78759, USA)

  • Arturo Montoya

    (School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Management, The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), San Antonio, TX 78249, USA)

Abstract

In furtherance of the quest for green renewable and sustainable energy, an effort was made in this laboratory study to generate and harvest electric power from hot-mix asphalt (HMA); a viscoelastic material that is widely used for road construction. The underlying hypothesis is that the mechanical vibrations and strain energy induced by vehicle loading on the road (pavement) can be harnessed and converted into usable electric power by embedding piezoelectric sensors within the HMA layers of the pavement structure. To investigate the effects of HMA mix type on the generated energy, four commonly used Texas mix types, namely Type B (coarse-graded), Type C (dense-graded), Type D (dense-to-fine graded), and Type F (fine-graded), with up to seven different HMA mix-design volumetric characteristics were comparatively evaluated in the laboratory. In the study, the effects of loading, namely load magnitude and loading frequency, were investigated by simulating the traffic loading in the laboratory through comparative testing with the Hamburg wheel-tracking tester (HWTT) and the universal testing machine (UTM), respectively, at different temperature conditions. A prototype highway sensing and energy conversion (HiSEC) module with piezoelectric sensors was utilized for converting the applied stress on the HMA into harvestable electric energy during HWTT and UTM laboratory testing, respectively. The generated electric current, voltage, and power were measured and quantified using a multipurpose power meter. Overall, the study demonstrated that there is promising potential to harvest energy from HMA when subjected to transient loading under different temperature conditions. However, further refinement of the HiSEC module and piezoelectric sensors is still warranted to optimize the power generation and harvesting capacity, both in terms of efficiency and power output.

Suggested Citation

  • Lubinda F. Walubita & Abu N. M. Faruk & Jerome Helffrich & Samer Dessouky & Luckson Kamisa & Hossein Roshani & Arturo Montoya, 2022. "The Quest for Renewable Energy—Effects of Different Asphalt Mixes and Laboratory Loading on Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2022:i:1:p:157-:d:1013032
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jasim, Abbas & Yesner, Greg & Wang, Hao & Safari, Ahmad & Maher, Ali & Basily, B., 2018. "Laboratory testing and numerical simulation of piezoelectric energy harvester for roadway applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 438-447.
    2. Wang, Hao & Jasim, Abbas & Chen, Xiaodan, 2018. "Energy harvesting technologies in roadway and bridge for different applications – A comprehensive review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1083-1094.
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    4. Roshani, Hossein & Dessouky, Samer & Montoya, Arturo & Papagiannakis, A.T., 2016. "Energy harvesting from asphalt pavement roadways vehicle-induced stresses: A feasibility study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 210-218.
    5. Doaa Al-Yafeai & Tariq Darabseh & Abdel-Hamid I. Mourad, 2020. "A State-Of-The-Art Review of Car Suspension-Based Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-39, May.
    6. Lubinda F. Walubita & Dagbegnon Clement Sohoulande Djebou & Abu N. M. Faruk & Sang Ick Lee & Samer Dessouky & Xiaodi Hu, 2018. "Prospective of Societal and Environmental Benefits of Piezoelectric Technology in Road Energy Harvesting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-13, February.
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