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International Journal of Pavement Engineering
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Full-depth flexible pavement responses to different
truck tyre geometry configurations
Samer H. Dessouky
a
, Imad L. Al-Qadi
b
& Pyeong Jun Yoo
c
a
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio,
One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
b
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, 205 N. Mathews Ave., MC-250, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
c
Highway Research Division Korea Institute of Construction Technology, 2311 Simin-Daero,
Ilsan, Goyang, South Korea
Published online: 05 Mar 2013.
To cite this article: Samer H. Dessouky, Imad L. Al-Qadi & Pyeong Jun Yoo (2014) Full-depth flexible pavement responses
to different truck tyre geometry configurations, International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 15:6, 512-520, DOI:
10.1080/10298436.2013.775443
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2013.775443
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Full-depth exible pavement responses to different truck tyre geometry congurations
Samer H. Dessouky
a
*, Imad L. Al-Qadi
b1
and Pyeong Jun Yoo
c2
a
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249,
USA;
b
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 205 N. Mathews Ave., MC-250,
Urbana, IL 61801, USA;
c
Highway Research Division Korea Institute of Construction Technology, 2311 Simin-Daero,
Ilsan, Goyang, South Korea
(Received 13 May 2012; nal version received 6 February 2013)
Pavement stresses and strain responses due to tyre loading are essential data for design and performance analysis. The
magnitude and distribution of these responses are primarily affected by the tyres conguration geometry. This study
investigates the longitudinal strain responses at the bottom of a hot-mix asphalt layer for full-depth medium-volume exible
pavement under different truck tyres design. Pavement testing was carried out with a user-control accelerated pavement
facility at various speeds and tyre ination pressures and loading. Three truck tyre congurations: dual-tyre (11R22.5) and
two wide-base tyres (425/65R22.5 and 455/55R22.5) widely used in the truck industry were examined. A 3D nite element
model was developed to quantify surface stresses to loading at various critical locations in the pavement after being
calibrated with the eld-measured strains. Field measurements showed that the 455 wide-base tyres yield 7% more
longitudinal strain than a dual-tyre assembly at the same tyre pressure.
Keywords: pavement responses; dual tyre; wide-base tyre; accelerated testing
Introduction
The mechanism that transfers the tyre load to the pavement
system is through direct contact between the tyre ribs and
the pavement surface. The resulting pavement stress and
strain responses govern the pavements structural capacity.
Several analytical tools to predict pavement response to
loading are available, including the layer elastic approach.
However, most of them ignore the time-dependent,
viscous behaviour of hot-mix asphalt (HMA), the effect
of temperature effect and tyrepavement interface
interaction. A reliable approach to measuring actual
pavement response to vehicular and environmental
loading is through utilising properly selected and installed
pavement-embedded instruments.
Several pavement instrumentation projects have been
installed to monitor pavement response under various
vehicular and environmental conditions over the past two
decades (Tabatabaee et al. 1992, Baker et al. 1994,
Sargand 1994, Brandon et al. 1996, Epps et al. 2002, Al-
Qadi et al. 2004). Stresses, strains, deections, tempera-
ture, frost depth and moisture are usually measured during
the course of pavement loading.
In order to obtain pavement response to vehicular
loading, either commercial truck loading at highway speed
or full-scale accelerated pavement testing (APT) at low
speeds (up to 16 km/h) are utilised. The advantage of using
the former is to simulate real load at design speeds.
However, the operation control and cost can be
prohibitive. As an alternative to section testing under
real-trafc conditions, APT simulates in-service loading
on pavement with full operation control including speed,
environment and load. As a result, research agencies have
implemented the APT results to improve pavement
performance.
The longitudinal strain responses of full-depth exible
pavement (HMA layer constructed over subgrade) to the
loading of various truck tyres are presented in this paper.
The measured strain is used to validate a developed nite
element (FE) model. Indicators of distress for full-depth
exible pavement fatigue, top-down cracking and
secondary (in the subgrade) and primary (in the HMA
layer) rutting for medium-volume trafc were analysed
for various tyre congurations.
Background
In recent years, the trucking industry has developed
innovative ideas through the development of tyre structure
and suspension to improve the efciency of the
transportation network. One of these new technologies is
the introduction of wide-base tyres to replace the
conventional dual-tyre system. Compared to the conven-
tional dual-tyre assembly, it is reported that wide-base
tyres improve fuel efciency, reduce emission, increase
payload, exhibit superior braking and comfort and reduce
repair and maintenance costs (Al-Qadi et al. 2004). In
contrast, state Department of Transportation have been
concerned about the damage that could be caused to
exible pavements if wide-base tyres were used on
q 2013 Taylor & Francis
*Corresponding author. Email: samer.dessouky@utsa.edu
International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 2014
Vol. 15, No. 6, 512520, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2013.775443
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pavements. They point to the lower, total contact area of
the tyres on the pavement surface, which may result in
increasing the applied contact stress. Furthermore, driving
at relatively higher ination pressures could increase
surface deterioration. A balance between the economic
advantages to the industry and the impact on pavement
should be achieved. Although designed in accordance with
current pavement regulations, such as inch-width laws,
earlier studies indicated that the rst generation of wide-
base tyres (385 and 425) clearly resulted in increased
pavement damage compared to dual-tyre assemblies
(Bonaquist 1992, Sebaaly 1992).
Several projects were conducted to investigate the
aforementioned concern. In a study conducted on the
radial 11R22.5, the bias 11-22 and the wide-base
385/65R22.5; Sebaaly and Tabatabaee (1989) reported
that measured tensile strains at the bottom of the HMA
layer under dual radial tyres were the lowest for all axle
loads and HMA thicknesses. Tensile strains under the dual
bias tyres were on an average by 30% greater than the dual
radial tyres for all HMA layer thicknesses (50, 100, 150
and 200 mm), whereas wide-base tyres had shown tensile
strains higher by 50% than those under the dual radial
tyres. Dual radial tyres also resulted in the lowest surface
deection and compressive stresses at the pavement
interfaces compared to other tyre types.
A study conducted by the Turner Fairbank Highway
Research Center (TFHRC, 2006) used the APT to
investigate the effect of wide-base 425/65R22.5 on
pavements. Loads ranging from 44.8 to 100 kN at a
speed of 18.5 km/h were applied. The study reported that
the 425 wide-base tyres caused signicantly more fatigue
and rutting damage than conventional dual tyres under the
same loading conditions.
In Finland, an experimental study on 12R22.5 and
265/70R19.5 dual tyres and 445/65R22.5, 385/65R22.5
and 350/75R22.5 wide-base tyres was conducted (Huhtala
et al. 1989). The study suggested that wide-base tyres were
on average 2.34.0 times more damaging to the pavement
than dual tyres when conducted under the same
environmental conditions. In New Zealand, researchers
using an APT circular test track found that the wide-base
single tyre 14.00/80R20 caused twice the measured rutting
compared to that resulted from standard dual radial
10.00R20 (Metcalf 1996). Other studies using numerical
tools also reached the same conclusion (Siddharthan et al.
1998).
The majority of the studies comparing conventional
wide-base single tyres with conventional dual tyres have
reported that wide-base tyres are more damaging to
pavement systems than conventional dual tyres. The
conventional wide-base tyres were designed with rela-
tively thin tyre shoulder and narrow rib width to enhance
cooling, running temperature. Although it sustained high
operating ination pressure to minimise tyre deection,
high-vertical contact stresses resulted at the pavement
surface. The new generation of wide-base tyres has
improved engineering characteristics, which warrants a
completely new look at their impact on pavement.
The new generation of wide-base tyres was introduced
possibly in response to reducing pavement damage and to
offer safety and cost savings. The structural characteristics
of the new generation of wide-base tyres include a wider
and atter transverse prole for a uniform stress
distribution, larger load-carrying capacity and lower tyre
pressure to 690 kPa. It is optimised for a tandem axle load
of 151 kN at a nominal ination pressure of 690 kPa. This
results in a lower contact stress when compared to the
conventional wide-base tyres, which operate at compara-
tively higher ination pressures ranging from 790 to
900 kPa. The new generation of wide-base tyres utilise a
new crown architecture design that allows for a lower
aspect ratio geometry (the ratio between tyre height to total
width) and therefore a wider tyre. Due to these
modications, COST 334 (2001) has suggested the use
of wide-base tyres on trucks including the steering axles.
Several wide-base tyres have been introduced in the
past decade. The 455/55R22.5 wide-base tyre was
introduced in 2002 as an improvement to the
445/50R22.5 tyre. The 455/55R22.5 tyre, being even
wider, further reduces the contact stress at the pavement
surface under the same nominal tyre pressure. In addition,
the 455/55R22.5 wide-base tyre has a higher aspect ratio
than the 445/50R22.5. The commercially available
425/65R22.5 and 455/55R22.5 wide-base tyres were
investigated for this study. The latter tyre represents
some of the most recent improvements in tyre technology.
The improvement of the stress distribution at the contact
surface is evident.
The rst study on the new generation of tyres was
conducted by Al-Qadi et al. (2002), who measured
pavement responses to various tyre congurations at the
heavily instrumented Virginia Smart Road. Results of that
research project indicated that the new generation of wide-
base tyre would cause the same or slightly greater
pavement damage than conventional dual tyres. In
Quebec, Canada, Pascale et al. (2004) monitored the
strain at various depths of tested pavement sections using
optical strain gauges and deections at the interface layers
with a multi-depth deectometer. The testing included two
dual tyres, 11R22.5 and 12R22.5, and two types of single
wide-base tyres, 385/65R22.5 and 455/55R22.5. The study
concluded that the 385/65R22.5 caused the most
aggressive response in terms of fatigue cracking and
strains at the bottom of the HMA surface layer. At high
temperatures, the study reported that the 455/55R22.5 has
similar responses to the dual-tyre assembly.
Priest et al. (2005) conducted a study at the National
Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) Test Track to
compare wide-base single tyres and dual-tyre assembly
International Journal of Pavement Engineering 513
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performance. The test site, a 2.7-km closed-loop, full-scale
exible pavement located in Opelika, Alabama, was used
to record pavement responses (stresses and strains) under
trafc loading at 72 km/h. The wide-base tyre tested was
the 445/50R22.5, whereas the standard dual-tyre assembly
tested was the 275/80R22.5. The study concluded that the
predicted fatigue life is equal for the two tyre
congurations under the same testing conditions and
pavement cross section.
Although the majority of the studies previously
conducted have investigated the effect of wide-base tyres
on primary roads, researchers for this paper carried out a
study to evaluate the longitudinal (parallel to the trafc
direction) strains at the bottom of the HMA layer. APT
was conducted on full-depth, medium-volume pavement
to evaluate loading for different tyre congurations. A
conventional dual-tyre assembly, 11R22.5, and wide-base
tyres, 425/65R22.5 and 455/55R22, were used. The
experimental testing included the following variable
parameters: load level, speed, ination tyre pressure, tyre
offset and pressure differential in the case of the dual-tyre
assembly. Major pavement distress indicators were
evaluated using response values at critical locations
utilising a calibrated 3D FE model. It must be noted that
the wide-base tyre 425/65R22.5, used in part of this study,
is often used to accelerate pavement damage during testing
and may not be used on actual pavements.
Experimental programme
Pavement instrumentation
This study used a 3.6-m-wide full-depth exible pavement
section widely encountered on medium-trafcked routes,
composed of a 150-mm HMA layer placed over a lime-
stabilised subgrade (Figure 1). Two different asphalt
binders were used in the pavement HMA layers, a PG 64-
22 and a polymer-modied PG 70-22. The rst was used
for a binder base mix, the second for the wearing surface
mix. One of the most critical responses considered in
exible pavement design and performance evaluation is
the longitudinal strain at the bottom of the HMA layer. In
order to quantify the impact of tyre conguration on
pavement performance, longitudinal strain measurements
were obtained at the stabilised subgradeHMA interface
using an H-shape strain gauge. The strain gauge has a 120-
V resistance with a gauge factor of 2 and can measure up
to 2000 microstrains. The temperature was measured using
three twisted, stranded, shielded and soldered T-type
thermocouple wires embedded at 75-mm intervals from
the pavement surface. The instruments were connected to
a data acquisition system to record the pavement
responses. In-house software was developed to collect
the data, to organize it, to display it for analysis and to
store it in a database.
HMA properties
In addition to HMA volumetrics, a complex modulus test
of the HMA wearing surface and base mix was conducted
using a set of two replicates, 153 mm tall and 95 mm in
diameter. The complex modulus test used in this study
involved the application of a sinusoidal strain at three
temperatures, 210, 4 and 208C, and ve frequencies, 0.01,
0.1, 1, 10 and 25 Hz. The response of the material was
analysed in terms of the complex modulus (E
*
) and the
phase angle (f). Using the procedure developed by
Bonaquist and Christensen (2005), the master curve was
constructed for the data at the reference temperature
(258C) as shown in Figure 2.
Accelerated pavement testing
The APT facility used in this study was the Advanced
Transportation Loading Assembly (ATLAS), a full-scale
simulator of real-life trafc loading. The system is capable
of simulating various loading congurations and values on
all types of pavement systems, including applying load
levels exceeding that of highway limits. ATLAS is housed
at the Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering
Laboratory site at the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign. The total length of ATLAS is 26 m with
approximately 2023 m effective length of loading and a
maximum speed of 16 km/h. Figure 3 shows the loading
tyre applied to the pavement section that is to be
investigated.
The goal of this study was to measure the longitudinal
strain at the bottom of the HMA layer for different loading
conditions. Throughout testing, temperatures varied, in the
range of 11348C as shown in Figure 4. The testing
programme included ve loading levels, three tyre
ination pressures and two speeds applied in a uni-
directional mode on the lane centre. Three tyre
congurations one dual-tyre assembly and two wide-
base tyres were also considered. Hence, 90 testing
combinations were conducted, with 50 passes for each
application. In addition, 36 cases of pavement loading
Figure 1. Structural cross section of full-depth pavement used
for this study.
S.H. Dessouky et al. 514
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under various differential tyre pressures were conducted
for the dual-tyre assembly. Longitudinal strain measure-
ments were obtained for each pass. A summary of the
loading matrix is presented in Tables 1 and 2.
Data reduction and analysis
To quantify the effect of tyre parameters on pavement
response, pavement measurements were shifted to a
reference temperature, 258C. This was accomplished by
establishing best-t exponential function between the
measured strain values versus temperature. The regression
equation is then used to determine the response at the
reference temperature of 258C as shown in Figure 5. The
correction factor (CF) is obtained using Equation (1). The
raw measurements were then multiplied by the CF in order
to compare responses between the tyres,
Correction factor
Response at reference temperature 258C
Response at testingtemperature
:
1
As expected, the longitudinal strain is composed of initial
compression followed by tension (Figure 6). This can be
explained as follows: as the tyre approaches towards the
strain gauge, HMA layer exhibits tension strain immedi-
ately underneath the tyre and compression at the gauge
location due to bending and compression shear resulting
from the traction of the wheel with the surface. Hence,
compression strain is developed at the strain gauge
location. When the tyre is located above the strain gauge,
bending stresses become signicant causing peak tensile
strains at the bottom of the HMA layer. These bending
stresses reverse its direction as the tyre passes the gauge
causing compression strain at the bottom of the HMA
layer. As the tyre travels away from the gauge, stresses and
strains start to diminish (Al-Qadi et al. 2002). This
compressiontension cycles result in fatigue and reduce
the binder lm thickness over time. Hence, it may
accelerate cracking at that location when undergoing
tension. The maximum strain, which is the difference
between the peak response and the residual response, was
calculated for each tyre pass. The temperature prole
Figure 2. Extended master curve developed using complex modulus data for the 50-mm wearing surface mix (after 19;
1 ksi 6.89 MPa).
Figure 3. Testing the tyrepavement interaction using the ATLAS: (a) dual-tyre assembly and (b) wide-base tyre.
International Journal of Pavement Engineering 515
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during testing was also recorded and tabulated with the
corresponding measured strains. Figure 6 shows an
example of strain gauge response for a dual-tyre assembly
operated at two speeds. As would be expected, it is clearly
shown that the slower the speed, the higher the strain
response. This is due to the fact that when the speed
increases, the time of contact between the tyre and the
pavement decreases.
With no exceptions, strain measurements indicated
that increasing tyre loading will increase the longitudinal
strain (Figure 7(a)). Operated at the design tyre ination
pressure, it is shown that the strain difference between the
wide-base tyres, 455 and 425, increases as the tyre load
increases. Due to the non-uniform contact stress
distribution at the pavement surface for the wide-base
425 tyre, the maximum contact stress was recorded at the
centre of the tyre whereas minimum values were recorded
at the far edges, as shown in Figure 7(b). Although the
strain difference is more pronounced as the load level
increases, it is reported by Al-Qadi et al. (2005) that top-
down cracking is likely to occur near the tyre edge due to
concentrated contact stress and low-horizontal surface
stresses. Figure 7(c) implies that the wide-base 455 tyre
induced 7% more longitudinal strain than the dual-tyre
assembly when operated at the 550 kPa tyre ination
pressure on medium-volume, full-depth pavements.
However, it has been reported that the new generation of
wide-base tyre has 35% less dynamic loading than the
conventional wide-base or dual tyre assembly (Al-Qadi
et al. 2004). This could not be captured in APT because, at
this time, APT does not allow for the use of suspensions,
and the tyre load is applied by pulling.
Effect of dual-tyre assembly pressure differential
on pavement response
Load and pressure imbalance is a common problem with
dual-tyre assemblies as the pressure of the inner dual is
usually difcult to monitor. When the dual-tyre assembly
operates at different tyre ination pressures, the strain
under the lower pressure tyre is relatively lower due to the
fact that it carries a fraction of the load corresponding to its
internal ination pressure, as shown in Figure 8. In this
gure, various load levels ranging from 26 to 44 kN were
applied on an unequally inated dual-tyre assembly. The
ination for the lower pressure tyre was varied from 205 to
620 kPa, whereas the higher pressure (control) tyre was
maintained at 760 kPa. Strain response was measured
underneath each tyre in addition to beneath the middle
space in between the dual-tyre assembly. In general, the
strain increased when one of the tyres had its pressure
reduced. The strain underneath the control tyre may
increase by 1366% if the difference in ination pressure
between the tyres in the dual-tyre assembly ranged from
140 and 555 kPa, respectively. Hence, the greater is the
Table 1. Summary of the accelerated testing matrix.
Load level (kN) Tyre conguration Tyre pressure (kPa) Speed (km/h) Offset from the gauge (mm) Number of passes
26 Wide-base 455/55R22.5 550 8
0 50
35 Wide-base 425/65R22.5 690
16
44
Dual 11R22.5 760
53
62
Table 2. Differential ination pressure testing for dual-tyre assembly.
Load level
(kN)
Variable tyre pressure
(kPa)
Control tyre pressure
(kPa)
Speed
(km/h)
Offset from the gauge
(mm) Number of passes
26 205
760 16
0
50
44 345 150
62
480
2150
620
Figure 4. Temperature prole records through the HMA layer
over 2 weeks of testing.
S.H. Dessouky et al. 516
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difference in tyre ination pressure, the greater the
expected damage. This effect seems to diminish for the
measurements obtained away from the centre of the high-
pressure tyre. When compared to measured strain response
due to the 455 wide-base tyre loading, the relative increase
due to the latter is only 7%; all tyres are at the same tyre
pressure.
Pavement damage quantication
Because eld longitudinal strain measurements at the
bottom of the HMA layer are insufcient to assess
pavement damage, such as load-associated fatigue
damage, top-down cracking and primary and secondary
rutting, a FE model was developed to analytically
determine pavement responses. Field strain measurements
were used in this study to establish the needed benchmark
to calibrate and validate the 3D FE model. Figure 9 shows
the FE model and the deformation caused by applying
measured tyre contact stress distribution. More details
about the development of the model and the load
conguration are presented elsewhere (Yoo et al. 2006).
The model was developed for the dual-tyre assembly and
the wide-base 455 only because, at this point, there is no
measured tyre contact stress data available for the 425
wide-base tyre. Figure 10 depicts the calculated strains and
the eld measured values under a 35kN-load for both tyre
congurations operating at 8 km/h speed and 690 kPa tyre
ination pressure.
Upon the validation of longitudinal strains at the
bottom of the HMA layer calculated by FE analysis, the
responses at different locations in the pavement layers
were determined. The 2002 AASHTO Design Guide has
listed several transfer functions to evaluate pavement
Figure 7. Pavement longitudinal strain response at 8 km/h due
to the effect of (a) wide-base tyres at operational tyre ination
pressure, (b) tyre offset with respect to the gauge location at
550 kPa and (c) wide-base 455 vs. dual-tyre at 550 kPa tyre
ination pressure.
Figure 5. CF for strain due to different pavement temperatures.
Figure 6. Typical response of longitudinal strain gauge at
different speeds.
International Journal of Pavement Engineering 517
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distresses such as fatigue cracking, top-down cracking,
and primary and secondary rutting (El-Basyouny and
Witczak 2002). However, the accuracy of these functions
is still questionable. At this point, the pavement responses
are presented as indicators of pavement distress. The
tensile strain at the bottom of the HMA layer is an
indicator of pavement fatigue life, whereas the compres-
sive strain at the top of subgrade and the shear strain at
50 mm from the HMA surface are potentials for secondary
and primary rutting, respectively. Top-down cracking,
which is dened as a major failure that progresses outside
the wheel path, is recognised by the tensile shear strain at
the top of the HMA.
Table 3 presents the pavement responses between the
new generation of wide-base tyre and the dual-tyre
assembly using the aforementioned distress parameters.
Measurements for pavement response are compared to
those obtained for a primary road, as reported by Al-Qadi
et al. (2005), who compared the response ratio between
wide-base 445 and dual-tyre assembly. The study was
conducted on a typical interstate highway pavement
structure having a 188-mm HMA layer, 75-mm asphalt-
treated open-graded drainage layer, 150 mm of cement-
treated base layer and 175 mm of granular base layer on
top of a relatively strong subgrade. Although the measured
longitudinal strain levels in this study are almost twice of
that measured at the bottom of the 188-mm-thick HMA
due to the difference in pavement design, the resultant
longitudinal strain ratio of wide-base to dual tyres is
similar. Similarly, the ratios for the compressive strains at
the top of the subgrade and the bottom of the HMA are the
same. Although the wide-base tyre and dual-tyre assembly
may cause similar secondary rutting for thin pavements,
the dual-tyre assembly results in greater secondary rutting
in thick pavements due to the combined stress distribution
from both tyres of the dual-tyre assembly. Shear strain
results at 50 mm from the HMA surface suggested that the
dual-tyre assembly may cause greater primary rutting than
the wide-base tyre.
Distress from top-down cracking usually occurs near
the tyre edge. The surface tensile shear strain, responsible
for this distress, is more critical for the dual-tyre assembly
Figure 8. Pavement responses due to various inated tyre
pressures for the dual-tyre assembly under different loading.
Figure 9. 3D FE modelling of the tyre loading imprint for (a) dual-tyre assembly and (b) wide-base tyre.
S.H. Dessouky et al. 518
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because of the number of tyre edges. The dual-tyre
assembly has four tyre edges, whereas the wide-base tyre
has only two tyre edges. In addition, the single wide-base
tyre has the advantage of eliminating the middle tensile
strain area, resulting in less potential for top-down
cracking. This effectiveness of the wide-base tyre in
reducing top-down cracking becomes more pronounced as
the pavement structure becomes weaker.
Conclusions
The primary goal of this study was to measure the
longitudinal strains at the bottom of the HMA layer of
medium-volume, full-depth pavement. The APT was used
to investigate the effect of three-truck tyre design operated
at various speed, load and ination pressure on pavement
responses. A variation in pavement responses to the tyre
congurations was evident in this study. Longitudinal
strains at the bottom of HMA indicated that the
conventional wide-base 425/65R22.5, which was orig-
inally introduced to accelerate pavement damage during
testing, was the most aggressive tyre among the tyres
tested (dual-tyre assembly, 425/65R22.5 and
455/55R22.5). The new generation wide-base tyre,
455/55R22.5, yields 7% more longitudinal strain than
the dual-tyre assembly at the same tyre pressure. This
study did not consider the effect of dynamic loading,
which has been reported to be up to 35% less for wide-base
tyre than a dual-tyre assembly.
Imbalanced tyre pressure in dual-tyre assemblies is
very common; as ination pressure decreases in one tyre,
the load is mostly carried by the counterpart tyre, resulting
in a considerable increase in the response of pavement to
strain. The dual-tyre assembly shows different longitudi-
nal strains of 1366% if the difference in ination
pressure between the tyres in the dual-tyre assembly
ranged from 140 and 555 kPa, respectively.
The eld-measured longitudinal strains were used to
calibrate an FE model that was developed for this study.
Based on calculated pavement responses at critical
locations using the calibrated model, parameters indicat-
ing pavement distresses were evaluated. The study found
that for medium-volume, full-depth exible pavement
under the same loading and environmental conditions, the
455 wide-base tyre has the potential to cause similar
secondary rutting and fatigue cracking to that caused by
dual-tyre assembly. However, less primary rutting and
signicantly less top-down cracking are expected when the
wide-base tyre is used.
Figure 10. Calculated and measured longitudinal strains at the bottom of HMA layer for (a) dual tyre and (b) wide-base tyre.
Table 3. Comparison between calculated pavement responses using the FE model.
This study Al-Qadi et al. (2005)
Pavement response Wide-base 445 Dual Ratio Wide-base 445 Dual Ratio
Longitudinal strain (microstrain) 267.87 233.61 1.15 144.50 127.60 1.13
Shear strain at 50 mm from HMA surface (microstrain) 128.20 152.17 0.84 NA NA NA
Surface tensile shear strain (microstrain) 95.24 141.96 0.34
a
68.4 68.4 0.5
a
Compressive strain at top of subgrade (microstrain) 134.60 135.10 1.00 80.90 81.30 1.00
Compressive strain at bottom of HMA (microstrain) 301.10 304.50 0.99 621.70 631.30 0.98
a
The dual-tyre assembly has four tyre edges, whereas the wide-base tyre has only two tyre edges.
International Journal of Pavement Engineering 519
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Acknowledgements
This study is based upon work supported by the Illinois
Department of Transportation under contract no. IHR-R59. The
contents of this paper reect the view of the authors, who are
responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented
herein. The contents do not necessarily reect the ofcial views
or policies of the Illinois Center for Transportation, the Illinois
Department of Transportation or the Federal Highway Admin-
istration. This paper does not constitute a standard, specication
or regulation.
Notes
1. Email: alqadi@illinois.edu
2. Email: pjyoo@kict.re.kr
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