Fatigue Damage Prediction for Superload Vehicles in Pennsylvania on Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements
Volume 149, Issue 4
Abstract
Superload (SL) vehicles have unique axle configurations and high axle weights, indicating the potential for a low number of SL applications to cause significant fatigue damage to a jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP). The current JPCP fatigue model in the AASHTO Pavement Mechanistic-Empirical (ME) Design Guide is unable to account for damage caused by SLs because the stress prediction models within it do not consider these unique axle configurations. As a result, it is not possible to account for the potential fatigue damage accumulation caused by SL applications or identify critical conditions that contribute to damage accumulation using Pavement ME. To address this, a critical, SL stress-prediction model was developed that can be used along with the current fatigue damage model. Typical SL configurations in Pennsylvania were identified based on available permit data, and a database of critical tensile stresses generated by these SLs for various JPCP structures was developed using finite element analysis. This database was used to train a series of artificial neural networks (ANNs), which predict critical tensile stress as a function of SL axle configuration, temperature gradient, and pavement structure. The method for determining fatigue damage accumulation using the ANNs to predict stresses is then presented.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Available data consists of superload axle permits evaluated in this study. Greater detail on tensile stress database and critical stress model development can be found in the publicly available final report to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation: Vandenbossche et al. (2021).
Acknowledgments
Funding for this study was provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation under Contract No. 4400018535. The authors would like to thank Jeffrey Oswalt from PennDOT for his technical support throughout this project.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements
Volume 149 • Issue 4 • December 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 24, 2022
Accepted: Jul 4, 2023
Published online: Sep 6, 2023
Published in print: Dec 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Feb 6, 2024
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