Effect of Heavy Multiple Axle Trucks on Flexible Pavement Damage Using In-Service Pavement Performance Data
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 10
Abstract
Truck axle configurations and weights have changed significantly since the AASHO road study was conducted in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Emerging concerns about the effects of new axle configurations on pavement damage, which is unaccounted for in the AASHTO procedure, have prompted several researchers to investigate the impacts of different axle and truck configurations on pavement performance. However, there is still a need to strengthen the mechanistic findings using field data. In this paper, actual in-service traffic and pavement performance data for flexible pavements in the state of Michigan are considered. Monitored truck traffic data for different truck configurations are used to identify their relative damaging effects on flexible pavements in terms of cracking, rutting, and roughness. The analysis included simple, multiple, and stepwise regression. The results indicated that trucks with multiple axles (tridem or more) appear to produce more rutting damage than those with only single and tandem axles. On the other hand, trucks with single and tandem axles tend to cause more cracking. Pavement roughness results did not show enough evidence to draw a firm conclusion.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) for funding this research and providing traffic and performance data. Special thanks are due to Professor Dennis Gilliland for his input in the statistical analysis.
References
Allen, J. C. (2001). “Species-habitat relationships for the breeding birds of a longleaf pine ecosystem.” Master of Science in Ecology, Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ.
Belsley, D. A., Kuh, E., and Welsch, R. E. (1980). Regression diagnostics: Identifying influential data and sources of collinearity, Wiley, New York.
Chatti, K., and El Mohtar, C. (2004). “The effect of different axle configurations on the fatigue life of an asphalt concrete mixture.” Transportation Research Record. 1891, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 121–130.
Chatti, K., Salama, H., and El Mohtar, C. (2004). “Effect of heavy trucks with large axle groups on asphalt pavement damage.” Proc., 8th Int. Symp. on Heavy Vehicle Weights and Dimensions, Gauteng province, South Africa.
Chatti, K., and Lee, H. S. (2003). “Comparison of mechanistic fatigue prediction methods for asphalt pavements.” Proc., Int. Conf. on Computational and Experimental Engineering and Sciences, Corfu, Greece.
Darlington, J. (1995). “The Michigan Ride Quality Index.” Michigan Dept. of Transportation Document, Mich.
Dillon, W., and Goldstein, M. (1984). Multivariate analysis method and applications, Wiley, New York.
El Mohtar, C. (2003). “The effect of different axle configurations on the fatigue life of an asphalt concrete mixture.” M.S. thesis, Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.
Gillespie, T. D., Karamihas, S. M., Sayers, M. W., and Cebon, D. (1993). “Effects of heavy-vehicle characteristics on pavement response and performance.” NCHRP Rep. No. 353, The University of Michigan, Transportation Research Institute, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Hajek, J. J., and Agarwal, A. C. (1990). “Influence of axle group spacing on pavement damage.” Transportation Research Record. 1286, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 138–149.
Ilves, G. J., and Majidzadeh, K. (1991). “Reevaluation of the methods for calculation of load equivalency and damage ratios.” Rep. No. FHWA/OH-89/018.
Neter, J., and Wasserman, W. (1996). Applied linear statistical models, Irwin, Chicago.
Salama, H. (2005). “Effect of heavy multi-axle trucks on flexible pavement rutting.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, Mich.
Saraf, C. L., Ilves, G., and Majidzadeh, K. (1995). “Effect of heavy vehicle weight on pavement performance.” Road Transport Technology-4, Proc., Fourth Int. Symp. Heavy Vehicle Weights and Dimensions.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 10 • October 2006
Pages: 763 - 770
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 20, 2005
Accepted: Feb 28, 2006
Published online: Oct 1, 2006
Published in print: Oct 2006
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.