FHWA conducted controlled loading tests on the US-23 test road in hot weather conditions in Ohio. The tests used four tire types in both dual and wide-base configurations, which were fitted on a single unit two-axle truck, maintaining a constant gross vehicle weight. Two pavement sections, one 8 in. (200 mm) and one 4 in. (100 mm) thick, were instrumented with strain gauge rosettes oriented vertically to measure strain traces induced from the passing wheel loads at three speeds and tire inflation pressures. Pavement temperature was monitored with depth during testing as well as wheel track offset distance from the strain sensors. Because of time constraints, only the sensors in the plane parallel to the direction of loading were analyzed, and response data were compared only with linear elastic pavement response models. The as-measured data were processed and evaluated for all rosettes oriented in the direction of loading. Stress relaxation modulus data were used to adjust the pavement modulus to a common temperature and loading time so all measured data could be compared at the same loading conditions. The WinLEA linear elastic model was used to determine the relationship of structural modulus to strain. Lateral offset distributions were determined from measured data to adjust all strains to the offset where maximum strain response is observed in the as-measured data. The adjustments were then applied to the as-measured strain data to make consistent comparisons between tires. Three of the four tire configurations produce nearly equivalent pavement response, which was attributed to similarities between the tire footprint widths.

The Federal Highway Administration conducted controlled loading tests on the U.S. Route 23 Test Road in hot weather conditions in Ohio, including two dual and two wide-base configurations. This paper is to reveal the influence of tyre configuration on pavement and provide some suggestions on tyre configuration from the perspective of reducing pavement damage. The raw strains were adjusted to common temperature, lateral offset distance and nominal speed for consistent comparison. MEPDG fatigue cracking and rutting models were used to predict damage brought by different tyres to pavement sections. The results indicate that newer generation of wide-based tyres with wider interface with pavement could be road-friendly, inducing similar or even less damage than the conventional dual tyres. At the same time, certain conventional dual tyres, which are commonly used in the current market, might cause larger damage to the pavement than other tyres in certain environmental and loading conditions.

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A quantification of the difference in the wavelength content produced by K. J. Law Engineers and International Cybernetics Corporation (ICC) profilers is presented. Transfer functions were developed to modify the power spectral density (PSD) of profiles recorded by the ICC profilers to produce a pseudo–K. J. Law PSD so that it is compatible with the spectral content of the profiles recorded by the K. J. Law profiler. Comparison of PSDs of the original K. J. Law and pseudo–K. J. Law profilers exhibited an excellent match in most pavements. Furthermore, a transfer function was developed and used to reconstruct a pseudo–K. J. Law pavement profile from the ICC profile, whose spectral content is similar to that of the K. J. Law profile, by using the inverse fast Fourier transform technique. The international roughness indexes (IRIs) of pseudo–K. J. Law profiles were in general closer to the IRIs of K. J. profiles than those of the ICC profiles. The technique presented here has the potential to be applied to inertial profile equipment types other than those considered in this study, therefore allowing comparisons of data sets.