Evaluation of the aggressiveness of different multi-axle loads using accelerated pavement tests

Abstract

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.

Load Aggressiveness on Different Pavement Structures Due to the Weight Increase of Heavy Vehicles from 40 Tonnes to 44 Tonnes

“…To determine these parameters, Freeware BISAR 3.0 Stress Analysis in Bitumen Roads, developed by Shell, was used. The aggressiveness of each truck was calculated from the damage caused by the passage of their axles on a pavement, defined by Eqs (1) and (2) (Corté & Goux, 1996;Kerzreho, Hornych, Chabot, Trichet, Gouy, Coirier, & Deloffre, 2012).…”

Definition of Optimized Indicators from Sensors Data for Damage Detection of Instrumented Roadways

“…Figure 10 shows that the amplitude of the signals, and thus the strain measured by the sensor, increased with the number of loads, which indicates a progressively increasing fatigue of the structure. The maximum value measured by the sensor at each loading step is a conventional indicator used to monitor the bearing capacity of the pavement with the load [ 27 , 28 ]. As suggested by the labels on Figure 7 , it is possible to extract three different indicators from the measured signals identified as the maximum, the minimum (two values), and the distance (width) between these two minimum values.…”

Assessment of cracks detection in pavement by a distributed fiber optic sensing technology

“…Classi-cal electrical sensors used for pavement instrumentation include displacement sensors, used to measure vertical displacements, strain gages, used to measure horizontal strains in bound pavement layers, temperature probes, and pressure cells, used to mesure vertical stresses or pressures in unbound pavement layers. Typical examples of pavement instrumentation used on the IFSTTAR (The French institute of science and technology for transport, development and networks) accelerated pavement testing facility can be found in [3]. Contrary to electrical sensors, fiber optic sensors are technologies which are a little less mature but promising.…”