PSI - Issue 83

Shayiq Rashid et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 83 (2026) 79–84

81

targeted grids at wheelpaths and joints, with temperature–moisture normalization and baseline drift control treated as part of the specification. Performance targets emphasize gauge factor, linearity, hysteresis, and long-term stability under traffic; integration with edge analytics enables automated alerts, change-detection against historical baselines, and calibration of digital twins for maintenance planning (Cubilla et al., 2025; Ding et al., 2021; Dong et al., 2023a). The mechanism of self-sensing in pavements is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 Mechanism of Self-Sensing in pavements(Deng et al., 2025)

For traffic and weigh-in-motion (ITS) applications, conductive cement plates and installed smart slabs translate resistance/voltage traces into vehicle presence, speed, axle counts, and load estimates once signals are conditioned and calibrated—demonstrations include graphite–cement WIM plates, a characterization pipeline for smart slabs, and CNF-based mortar pavements in road/airport contexts (Deng et al., 2025a; Y. Li et al., 2024; Wang and Xu, 2024). To reduce reliance on buried power, cement-based triboelectric and piezoelectric routes already yield device-scale outputs and have powered piezoresistive cement sensors for traffic detection, indicating a path toward self-sufficient embedded nodes (Li et al., 2022; Wang and Xu, 2024). See Table 1 for a consolidated summary of materials, functional phases, and outcomes.

Fig. 2 Percolation thresholds of self-sensing asphalt-based sensors (Deng et al., 2025).