Mechanistic Analysis of Reflective Cracking Potential in Electrified Pavement with Inductive Charging System

Electrified pavements with inductive charging systems provide an innovative way of providing continuous wireless power transfer to electric vehicles (EVs). Electrified pavements have unique construction methods, resulting in different mechanical and thermodynamic characteristics from traditional pavements. This study aimed to investigate the mechanistic design of electrified pavements to mitigate thermal-induced reflective cracking due to the inclusion of concrete slabs with inductive charging units (CUs) under an asphalt surface layer. Finite element (FE) models were developed to analyze the temperature profiles, pavement responses, and crack potential in electrified pavements. The fatigue model and Paris' law were utilized to evaluate crack initiation and propagation for different pavement designs. Within the allowable range for sufficient wireless charging efficiency, increasing the surface layer thickness had a noticeable benefit on mitigating crack initiation and propagation. The results indicate that increasing the asphalt surface layer thickness by 20 mm can delay crack initiation and propagation, resulting in a two to threefold increase in the number of cycles needed to reach the same crack length. Reflective cracking can also be retarded by the optimized design of the charging unit. Increasing the concrete slab thickness from 100 mm to 180 mm resulted in an approximately 20% increase in the number of cycles to reach the same crack length. Reducing the slab width and length (shortening joint spacing) could also effectively reduce the reflective cracking potential, with the slab length having a more significant influence. These findings highlight the importance of balancing charging efficiency and structural durability in the design of electrified pavements.