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This paper presents results of a full scale accelerated test performed on the IFSTTAR pavement fatigue carrousel, to study the effect of various multiple axle combinations on bituminous pavements. The tested combinations correspond to the permissible maximum loads in France for the following axle systems: tridem axle (255 kN), tandem axle with dual wheels (210 kN), tandem axle with single wheels (170 kN) and single axle with dual wheels (130 kN). Recently, however, the French road carriers' federation was authorized to change the vehicle load from 400 kN to 440 kN. The consequences of this increase are also discussed. The test was performed on two thick bituminous pavement sections consisting of a 16-cm granular subbase and a 26-cm thick bituminous layer. Both pavements were instrumented with strain gages, vertical displacement and temperature sensors. The objective of this research is to compare the strain signals and the maximum strain levels obtained for different axle combinations and temperature conditions and then, to compare the results with classical pavement design calculations to assess the relative aggressiveness of the different axle systems. The fatigue life of the two pavements, however, was not studied because, owing to their thickness, too many load cycles would were necessary to complete a full fatigue test.
Grids are increasingly used. They have proved their efficiency, but there is presently no widely accepted design method to predict the long term life of grid reinforced pavements. This paper describes a full scale experiment carried out on the large pavement fatigue carrousel of IFSTTAR, to test simultaneously 3 pavement sections with different types of grids, in comparison with an unreinforced pavement structure. The tests are carried out on typical French low traffic pavement structures. Results up to approximately 800 000 loads are presented. The experiment is planed to continue to load the test sections up to at least 1 million loads. During the experiment, the behaviour of the pavement sections has been followed by deflection and rut depth measurements, and surface distress analysis (observation of cracks and other degradations). As observed on the circular APT for low traffic pavements with thin bituminous layers, crack development was following a transversal orientation. This experiment shows the necessity to better understand the grid behaviour by means of modelling, experiments and use of new measurement techniques as planned in the new Rilem TC-SIB and TC-MCD.
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