Boosting Fuel Economy Where The Rubber Meets the Road
Fuel economy has been largely the province of automakers and government initiatives, such as Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards. However, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are looking at ways to boost fuel efficiency and cut greenhouse- gas emissions by building better roads.
Pavement design can play an important role in fuel economy, researchers say. "The understanding has always been that roughness matters more than deflection" when it comes to fuel usage, noted Mehdi Akbarian, a doctoral candidate who spoke last month at an open house for MIT's Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSH) in Cambridge. "But we are showing that it depends on the scenario—the location of the pavement, the [road] design."