Self-sensing Cementitious Pavements with Carbon Inclusions for Weigh-In-Motion and Monitoring of Infrastructures: Calibration and Field Tests

Smart carbon-based cementitious composites possess multifunctional properties, adding novel capabilities to mechanical ones. Of great interest in civil engineering are self-sensing materials, which permit to carry out a continuous, diffuse and simple monitoring on structures and infrastructures. In the field of infrastructures, weigh-in motion, traffic and health monitoring are especially worthy of investigation, because they permit to control the safety of critical structures, such as bridges, and to identify states of damage or loss of structural integrity. The authors present the characterization and investigation of smart cementitious composites for road pavements doped with carbon microfibers and graphite, with self-monitoring capabilities. The optimal material was developed by carrying out laboratory tests on small-scale samples with different amounts of hybrid fillers, and the sensing properties were proved through fields tests. The results demonstrated the valuable capabilities of the developed cementitious pavement in weigh-in-motion and traffic monitoring of vehicles.