Thermal and structural evaluation of an asphalt pavement with an embedded inductive power transfer pad for stationary charging of EVs

A key strategy for increasing sustainability in transportation is to increase the use of Electric Vehicles (EVs) worldwide. Charging EVs wirelessly utilizing Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) pads eliminates most of the current limitations of EVs, such as range anxiety. In this study, the effect of an IPT pad on the temperature and strain response of an asphalt mixture was evaluated. A scaled IPT pad was placed into an experimental asphalt slab and the IPT-asphalt temperature, while energizing the IPT pad, was determined by a thermal camera, Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors, and thermistors. Moreover, a static wheel load was applied on the surface of the asphalt slab, with and without an IPT pad, and the horizontal tensile strain adjacent to the bottom of the asphalt slab was measured using an FBG sensor. ANSYS simulations were conducted and were validated using the experimental results. The results showed that embedding an energized IPT pad into the asphalt slab at 20 degrees C increased the asphalt's surface temperature (approximately 32 mm offset from the pad) by 8.3 degrees C in the experiment. Raising the ambient temperature from 20 to 50 degrees C resulted in an elevation of the asphalt surface temperature from 28.3 to 56.7 degrees C in the experimental analysis. Placement of the IPT pad into the asphalt slab was seen to decrease the asphalt strain by 41 % in the experiment. Placing the static wheel load on the edge of the pad increases the maximum tensile strain by 16 % and moving the load 66.4 mm from the edge increases the maximum tensile strain by 54 %. Significantly, applying both the thermal load and the static wheel load increased the maximum tensile strain by 53 % compared to the asphalt slab without an IPT pad.