Modeling of Tire-Pavement Interactions from Heavy Off-Road Vehicles

In 2000, the South Dakota Department of Transportation sponsored a research study to evaluate the impact of off-road vehicles on flexible pavements. This project included extensive field testing in which the pavement response was measured and theoretical modeling under a variety of loading and environmental conditions. The overall loaded areas under bulky off-road vehicle tires are much wider and the presence of tire lugs makes the contact stress distribution quite complex. The paper addresses both the development of appropriate contact stress distribution for off-road vehicle tires and comparison of computed and measured pavement responses. The extent of good comparison between the computed and measured pavement response values under a variety of loading and pavement structural and material conditions, support the applicability of the procedures adopted in the paper to evaluate the vehicle-pavement interaction stresses resulting from off-road vehicle loading.