Preventing Potholes
What happens to our roads without proper care? Potholes.Copyright 2010 Editor5807, Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Newport_Whitepit_Lane_pot_hole.JPG
Acting as civil engineers hired by the U.S. Department of Transportation to research how to best use piezoelectric materials to detect road damage, student groups are challenged to independently create their own experiment procedures, working with given materials and tools. The general approach is that they set up model roads using rubber mats to simulate asphalt and piezoelectric transducers to simulate the in-ground road sensors. They drop heavy bolts at various locations on the “road,” collecting data and then analyzing the voltage changes across the piezoelectric transducers caused by the vibrations of the bolt hitting the rubber. After making notches in the rubber “road” to simulate cracks and potholes, they collect more data to see if the piezo elements detect the damage. Students write up their research and conclusions as if presenting evidence to USDOT officials about how the voltage changes across the piezo elements can be used to indicate road damage and extrapolated to determine when roads need maintenance service.
The U.S. Department of Transportation provided Michigan State University with millions of dollars in grant money to research ways to create self-powered sensors to monitor road conditions. Current road-monitoring sensors have power limitations; batteries eventually die and solar power won’t work for devices covered by asphalt. Researchers are currently looking at using piezoelectric materials—which convert mechanical energy to electrical energy when pressed—to harvest the energy from road vibrations to power the sensors to collect data that can be used to detect and predict damage trends.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Evaluate changes in voltage to assess and predict road damage.
- Communicate their findings and provide evidence to support results.
- Create a list of future experiments to perform related to this research.