Available online at www.sciencedirect.

com

Procedia
Engineering
00 (2011)
000000
Procedia
Engineering
27 (2012)
269 280

Procedia
Engineering
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

2011 Chinese Materials Conference

Preparation, properties and application research of

piezoelectric traffic sensors
Dongyu Xu*, Shifeng Huang, Qin Lei, Xin Cheng
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Preparation and Measurement of Building Materials, University of Jinan, Jinan, 250022

Abstract:
With increasingly development of traffic construction, development of intelligent traffic sensors has great
significance for dynamic monitoring of traffic vehicles. In this research, cement based piezoelectric intelligent traffic
sensors were prepared by using PZT piezoelectric ceramic as the sensing element and the mixture of cement and
epoxy resin as packaging material, and the linear property, sensitivity, repeating ability and pulse response ability of
the sensors were also tested. The results show that sensors have superior pulse response property, high linearity and
sensitivity under pulse loading, besides it has also good repeating ability under cycling loading. The traffic flow and
traffic velocity were monitored by using the piezoelectric traffic sensors in a testing road. The research shows that the
designed piezoelectric traffic sensors can monitor effectively the amount of passerby who pass through the testing
road, and that the vehicle velocity can also be obtained accurately according to the pulse response interval of
piezoelectric traffic sensors.

under responsibility
responsibility of
of Chinese
Chinese Materials
Materials
2011
2011 Published
Published by
by Elsevier
Elsevier Ltd.
Ltd. Selection
Selection and/or
and/or peer-review
peer-review under
Research
Society
Research Society
Keywords: Piezoelectric material; cement based piezoelectric sensor; traffic monitoring

250022

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-531-82767017.

E-mail address: xuy_sha@163.com.

1877-7058 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Chinese Materials Research Society
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2011.12.453

2
270

D. Y. Xu, et al. / Procedia Engineering 00 (2011) 000000

Dongyu Xu et al. / Procedia Engineering 27 (2012) 269 280

PZT /

1.

2010 398.4 7.4

ITS

[1-4]

[5]
/

[6-9]

[10, 11]

[12, 13]

/ MEAS

Kistler [14]

2.

271 3

Dongyu
XuXu,
et al.
/ Procedia
Engineering
27 (2012)
269000000
280
D. Y.
et al.
/ Procedia
Engineering
00 (2011)

2.1.
PZT-5
25 mm6.6 mm 42.5 PC
1:1:0.4
RVVP 1
PZT-5 2 7 42.5 0.4
20 mm20 mm20 mm
1 PZT-5
Table 1 Basic properties of cement and PZT-5 piezoelectric ceramic
Kp

Kt

d33

Raw
material

/%

/%

/pCN

PC

PZT-5

62

50

tan

Qm

0.780

25.9

600

0.02

2200

-1

S11E

-3

-12

D
S33
2

-1

10-12m2N-1

10 kgm

10 m N

2.20

80

7.6

16.7

8.9

2
Table 2 Property parameters of hardening cement paste and mixture of cement, epoxy resin and solidifying agent

Strength
/MPa

Resistivity

Dielectric

Dielectric

Impedance

/km

factor

loss

/k

Hardened cement past

40

2.07

26

0.8

12.0

Hardened epoxy resin

60

25.6

72.3

0.9

12.5

Kp-Kt-d33-tan -
E
D
r-Qm-- S11 - S33 -
2

2.2.

1 40 mm40 mm3 mm

272
4

Dongyu
al. / Procedia
Engineering
27 (2012)
269 280
D. Y.
Xu, et Xu
al. et
/ Procedia
Engineering
00 (2011)
000000

1
Figure 1 Photo of cubic piezoelectric intelligent traffic sensor

100 mm 100 mm 550 mm

1 d 28 d 24 h

(a)

(b)
2 ab
Figure 2 Structure schematic (a) and photo (b) of beam steel bar reinforced concrete piezoelectric traffic sensor

3.
3.1.
YE-30
5 kN10 kN15 kN20 kN25 kN
UT2025B
3

Dongyu
Xuetetal.
al.//Procedia
ProcediaEngineering
Engineering00
27(2011)
(2012)000000
269 280
D. Y. Xu,

20000
0

Voltage/mV

-20000
-40000

5 kN
10 kN
15 kN
20 kN
25 kN

-60000
-80000

-100000

-120000
-6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time/s
3
Figure 3 Variation of output pulse response of piezoelectric sensor with input loading

4
120000

Parameter Value
Error
----------------------------------------------------A
-5291.47619 4205.44771
B
7436.17829 444.48437
-----------------------------------------------------

100000

Voltage/mV

80000
Y=A+B*X

60000

R
SD
N
P
----------------------------------------------------0.99293 5810.66105 6 <0.0001
-----------------------------------------------------

40000
20000
0

10

Loading/MPa

12

14

16

18

4
Figure 4 Linear relationship between output voltage amplitude of the piezoelectric sensor and pulse loading

4
99.29%
7436.18 mV/MPa

1 kN3 kN5 kN7 kN9 kN11 kN13 kN15 kN17 kN19 kN

5
-
98.76% 99.25% 7504.82 mV/MPa 8052.05 mV/MPa

273
5

274
6

Dongyu
Xu /etProcedia
al. / Procedia
Engineering
27 (2012)
269 280
D. Y.
Xu, et al.
Engineering
00 (2011)
000000
100000

100000

60000
40000

60000

Loading and unloading

from low to high

40000

Loading and unloading 20000

from high to low

20000
0

80000

Y=A+B*X

Voltage/mV

Voltage/mV

80000

Loading/MPa

0
12

10

Parameter Value
Error
---------------------------------------------A
-7161.03672 2738.93176
B
7504.82246 398.53982
---------------------------------------------R
SD
N P
---------------------------------------------0.98755 5110.294 11 <0.0001
---------------------------------------------Parameter Value
Error
----------------------------------------------A
-6408.46652 2273.69461
B
8052.05011 330.84352
----------------------------------------------R
SD
N P
----------------------------------------------0.99249 4242.25537 11 <0.0001
-----------------------------------------------

5
Figure 5 Relationship between output voltage amplitude of piezoelectric sensor and pulse loading under cyclic pulse loading

3.2.

60000

80000

changed loading was exerted

to the sensor in water

Voltage/mV

40000
20000
0

-20000
0

6
8
Time/s

10

12

14

20000

-20000
0

75000

changed loading was exerted

40000 to the sensor in the air

6
Time/s

10

approximate unchanged loading

60000 was exerted to the snsor in the air

45000

30000

Voltage/mV

Votage/mV

40000

50000

30000

20000

15000

10000
0

-10000
0

approximate unchanged loading

was exerted to the snsor in water

60000

Voltage/mV

80000

-15000
1

4
Time/s

-30000
0

4
5
Time/s

6
Figure 6 Pulse response test of piezoelectric traffic sensor under different input loading in water and in the air

Dongyu
Xu et
280
D. Y. Xu,
et al.
al. // Procedia
Procedia Engineering
Engineering 27
00 (2012)
(2011) 269
000000

DH5923

4.

7 6 m

6 m

7
Figure 7 Embedding process of beam piezoelectric sensor in the road

4.1.
8a 8bc

8a
6

12
3
8a
3 8a 1 2
8bc

8bc
8b
8c

275
7

276
8

Dongyu
Xu /etProcedia
al. / Procedia
Engineering
27 (2012)
269 280
D. Y.
Xu, et al.
Engineering
00 (2011)
000000

60

(a)

50

Voltage output/V

40
30
1

20

10

-10
-20
-30

100

200

300

Time/s

50

(b)

50
40

30

Voltage output/V

Voltage output/V

500

600

60

40

20
10
0

-10
-20

400

(c)

30
20
10
0
-10
-20

10

15
Time/s

20

25

30

-30
180

185

190
Time/s

195

200

8
Figure 8 Output pulse response and enlarged section of piezoelectric sensor at a certain time

3
3
Table 3 Monitoring result of passerby flow in different time horizon
Actual amount of passerby

Amount of piezoelectric pulse

The first time interval

22

24

The second time interval

16

15

277
9

Dongyu
Xu et
et al.
al. // Procedia
Procedia Engineering
Engineering 00
27 (2011)
(2012) 000000
269 280
D. Y. Xu,

4.2.

L
T V

V
L / T
60

20
10
0

-10
-20

(a)
0

60

8
10
Time/s

1#sensor
2#sensor

50

40 Output signal of front wheel

12

14

16

Output signal of
front wheel
Output signal of
rear wheel

30 Output signal of rear wheel

20
10
0

-10
-20

(c)
0

8
10
Time/s

12

14

16

Output voltage pulse/V

Output signal of
rear wheel
Output signal of
front wheel

30

1#sensor
Output signal of
2#sensor
front wheel
40 Output signal of front wheel
Output signal of
rear wheel
30 Output signal of rear wheel

50

20
10
0

-10
-20

60
50
Output voltage pulse/V

Output voltage pulse/V

60

Output signal of
rear wheel

1#sensor
2#sensor
40 Output signal of
front wheel

50

Output voltage pulse/V

40

(b)
0

8
10
Time/s

14

16

Output signal of
front wheel

1#sensor
2#sensor
Output signal of front wheel

Output signal of
rear wheel

Output signal of rear wheel

30

12

20
10
0
-10
-20

(d)
0

Time/s

10

9
ab10 km/hc20 km/hd40 km/h
Figure 9 Output pulse response of beam piezoelectric sensor when a car passed through it with different speed (a) very low speed; (b)
10 km/h; (c) 20 km/h; (d) 40 km/h

278
10

Dongyu
al. / Procedia
Engineering
27 (2012)
269 280
D. Y.
Xu, et Xu
al. et
/ Procedia
Engineering
00 (2011)
000000

1
10 km/h
20 km/h40 km/h
9 1#2#

4
Table 4 Calculating result of vehicle speed
Vehicle speed calculated

Vehicle speed calculated

by method one (km/h)

by method two(km/h)

Based on the output of front

wheel sensor

Based on the output of rear

wheel sensor

Based on the output of No.1

sensor

Based on the output of No.2

sensor

3.27

3.30

3.22

3.26

9.12

9.11

9.16

9.13

19.63

19.30

19.47

18.83

36.09

38.62

34.28

39.12

Dongyu
Xu et
280
D. Y. Xu,
et al.
al. // Procedia
Procedia Engineering
Engineering 27
00 (2012)
(2011) 269
000000

5.
PZT /

1.

2.

973 2010CB635117
XBS1024XKY1023

Lu HP. Intelligent transport system. Beijing: China Communications Press, 2000.

Li GS. Research review of intelligent traffic (ITS) in Japan. Oversea calzada 2000;20(4):33-35.
Li F. Developing trend of intelligent traffic system oversea. Oversea calzada 1999;19(1):1-5.
Chen HF. Research of highway vehicle distance testing system. Zhejiang: Zhejiang University, 2004.
Guo XF. Research of traffic flow forecast and intelligent traffic signal system based on data fusion. Hunan: Xiangtan
University, 2007.
[6] Peng CH, Liu JY, Liu YF, et al. Review of vehicle detection sensor. Sensor and microsystem 2007;26(6):1-7
[7] Zhang XP, Nihan NL, Wang YH. Improved dual-loop detection system for collecting real-time truck data. Transport. Res.
Rec.2005; 1917:109-115.
[8] Weng GQ, He TN, Chen MJ, et al. The vehicles classification recognition system based on DTW algorithm. 5th World
Congress Proceedings on Intelligent Control and Automation 2004, p. 4169-4171
[9] Lee S, Oh SC, Son B. Heuristic algorithm for traffic condition classification with loop detector data. 2005 International
Conference Proceedings on Computational Science and Its Applications 2005, p. 816-821
[10] Tao JS, Chen SX, Yang L, et al. Ultrasonic technique based on neural networks in vehicle modulation recognition. 7th
International IEEE Conference Proceedings on Intelligent Transportation Systems 2004, p. 201-204
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]

279
11

280
12

Dongyu
Xu /etProcedia
al. / Procedia
Engineering
27 (2012)
269 280
D. Y.
Xu, et al.
Engineering
00 (2011)
000000

[11] Tong F, Tso SK, Xu TZ. A high precision ultrasonic docking system used for automatic guided vehicle. Sens. Actua. A. 2005;
118(2):183-189.
[12] Minakata T, Taniguchi Y, H Shranaga, et al. Development of far infrared vehicle sensor system. SED Tech. Rev. 2004; 58:2327.
[13] Jiang GY. Distinguishing technique and application of traffic state. Beijing: China Communications Press, 2004.
[14] Doupal E, Calderara R. Remote WIM systems in alpine tunnels. 1st International Conference on Virtual and Remote Weigh
Stations, Orlando, FL, 2004.