Energy harvesting from solar and permeable pavements: a feasibility study

As is well known, solar pavements are gaining more and more relevance in civil engineering due to their potential in terms of energy harvesting. This notwithstanding, several issues still hinder these typologies from getting an outstanding role, among which their uncertain durability, their surface performance (friction, drainability, texture). In the light of the above, the study described in this paper focuses on permeable and solar roadways. An innovative pavement type was designed by means of the synergistic consideration of hydraulic- and transport-related issues and performance. Once formulated and designed, the pavement underwent the preliminary feasibility study in terms of hydraulic and friction-based characteristics in order to assess its ability to perform satisfactory in dry and wet conditions. Results of the study demonstrate that the idea of coupling energy harvesting and premium properties (such as permeability) can be further developed and future research will be devoted to produce a prototype. The contributions of this study is to improve from a draining point of view the typical solar pavement structures. Results can benefit both practitioners and researchers.