Revealing the impact of losses on flexible pavement due to vehicle overloading

Abstract

Pavement overload has become a significant concern in Indonesia due to its damaging effects on the pavement system, where most roads use flexible pavements. Meanwhile, overloading is also typical in other developing countries, causing everything from damage to accidents to the detriment of road users and operators. The current problem is that there is no definite knowledge of handling these overloaded vehicles, which has adverse effects. Therefore, this study aims to reveal the impact of losses caused by overloaded vehicles on flexible pavement. This research uses vehicle traffic load data to examine actual conditions in the field, which are converted to axle load values for each vehicle and used to determine pavement condition using the truck factor approach, mechanistic-empirical design, pavement smoothness level, and the impact of overloading due to fuel consumption by vehicles on flexible pavement. The results show that overloaded vehicles harm the flexible pavement. The increase in truck factor values for all vehicles in overloaded vehicles beyond the maximum allowable load results in more damage to the flexible pavement with an increase in truck factor values up to 83 %. The effect of overloading can be mitigated by increasing the thickness of the asphalt layer and the modulus of asphalt, so it is essential to pay attention to the quality of asphalt in anticipation of this overloading. To anticipate the overload phenomenon, it was found that the thickness of the asphalt overlay in the range of 170–205 mm could mitigate this detrimental effect. In addition, overloading affects the flexible pavement roughness and vehicle fuel consumption. Increased roughness and fuel consumption will increase road maintenance costs and affect driving comfort and safety. In addition, excessive fuel consumption can pollute the surrounding environment