Field Verification of Moving Load Model for Pavement Response

Abstract

A validation study undertaken to verify the predictive capability of a recently developed moving load model to predict pavement response is described. The full-scale field-measured responses of longitudinal strain at the bottom of the asphalt concrete (AC) layer were used in the verification. The field testing program, in which the strain responses induced by a semitrailer truck were measured as a function of vehicle speed, was carried out at the Pennsylvania State University test track. The material behavior of the AC layer, which was assumed to be viscoelastic, was deduced from the laboratory behavior of the AC and from the backcalculated AC modulus from falling-weight deflectometer data. The unbound material layer properties were assumed to be elastic. The moving load model reproduced many important general observations made from the field tests, such as the existence of a complex interaction in the case of a tandem axle configuration and the strong influence of vehicle speed on the strain response. Good agreement exists between the predictions made by the model for the strain response for single and tandem axle configurations under different loading and vehicle speeds and those measured in the field. The difference is less than 14 percent, thus verifying the applicability of the moving load model to predict pavement response.