Impact of Wide-Base Tires on Pavements: A National Study

Abstract

This paper summarizes a multi-year effort comparing the new-generation wide-base tires (NG-WBT) and dual-tire assembly from a holistic point of view. The tires were compared considering not only pavement damage but also environmental impact. Numerical modeling, prediction methods, experimental measurements, and life-cycle assessment were combined to provide recommendations about the use of NG-WBT. A finite element (FE) approach considering variables that are usually omitted in the conventional analysis of flexible pavement was used for modeling pavement structures combining layer thickness, material properties, tire load, tire-inflation pressure, and pavement type (interstate and low volume). A prediction tool, ICT-Wide, was developed based on an artificial neural network to obtain critical pavement responses in cases excluded from the FE analysis matrix. Based on the bottom-up fatigue cracking, permanent deformation, and international roughness index, the life-cycle energy consumption, cost, and green-house gas emissions were estimated. To make this research useful for state departments of transportation and practitioners, a modification to AASHTOware is proposed to account for NG-WBT. The revision is based on two adjustment factors, one accounting for the discrepancy between the AASHTOware approach and the FE model of this study, and the other addressing the impact of NG-WBT. Although greater pavement damage may result from NG-WBT, for the analyzed cases, the extra pavement damage may be outweighed by the environmental benefits when NG-WBT market penetration is considered.

Quantitative Assessment of the Effect of Wide-Base Tires on Pavement Response by Finite Element Analysis

“…The model is capable of considering the conditions omitted by LET. Moreover, the developed model has been successfully validated by using experimental field data from various pavement sections (23).…”

“…A brief explanation for each key feature is given in the following sections. Details can be found in Al-Qadi et al (23).…”

“…FE analysis is capable of overcoming these limitations and simulate pavement more accurately and realistically; however, it is computationally too expensive to adapt FE in the MEPDG framework. Therefore, the idea of developing adjustment factors was suggested to modify the MEPDG's response to mend the gap between reality and the current flexible pavement simulation approach of the MEPDG (23).…”

Esnek üstyapılarda tekerlek temas gerilmesi ve deplasman dağılımlarının üç boyutlu sınır eleman metodu ile belirlenmesi

“…O zamandan sonra esnek üstyapı analizi için birçok sonlu elemanlar metodu ile işlem yapan birçok bilgisayar programı geliştirilmiştir. Bu programlarda esnek üstyapı problemleri statik [10,11] veya dinamik sabit [12][13][14] veya hareketli yükler [15][16][17] altında elastik [18][19][20] veya visko-elastik [21,22] yarım uzay olarak modellenmiştir. Sonlu elemanlar ile sınır elemanlar metotlarının birlikte kullanıldığı esnek üstyapı problemleri ile ilgili literatürde yer alan çalışmalar [23,24] numaralı referanslarda görülebilir.…”

Relative Pavement Performance for Dual and Wide-Based Tire Assemblies Using a Finite Element Method

“…An individual tyre can have a large range of vertical, transverse and longitudinal contact pressure depending on the inflation pressure and tyre loading [5,19,20]. This means that to characterise pavement behaviour to truck loading a F o r R e v i e w O n l y combination of tyre types, inflation pressures and tyre loading is needed to assess the behaviour of a specific truck axle [4,21].…”