Self-Healing Roads
Posted on May 27th, 2021 by Mary Lord
Paved roads are a godsend for travelers and truckers alike, but potholes can ruin the ride. Engineers hope to quell the scourge by devising such novel solutions as self-healing asphalt and sensor-embedded “smart” roads that can detect small cracks before they require major repairs.
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Tags: asphalt, highway construction, materials science, pavement, potholes, self-healing roads, sensors, sustainable materials, transportation engineering
Acting as civil engineers, students in grades 9-12 research how to best use piezoelectric materials to detect road damage, setting up model roads, creating their own experiment procedures, and analyzing voltage changes caused by the vibrations of simulated vehicles. They then write up their research and conclusions as if presenting evidence to federal transportation officials about how piezo elements can be used to indicate road damage and help determine when roads need maintenance.
Engineers and entrepreneurs aim to turn a century-old concept into a network of vacuum-tube trains that propel passengers as fast as jets. 
When Boston Public Schools sought to make bus routes more efficient and less costly, it got help from an unlikely source: MIT grad students. That’s no isolated example. Engineers and researchers nationwide are improving systems from public transit to traffic safety.
Students in grades 9 to 12 analyze real-world traffic data to evaluate the efficiency of a section of a public transit system and suggest design improvements. They then evaluate whether the changes make positive impacts on the system’s performance. Includes link to a California Academy of Sciences challenge on designing more energy-efficient, greener buses.
