The heavy vehicle simulator system in South Africa

The heavy vehicle simulator (HVS) is a unique mobile testing facility for subjecting actual road pavements to accelerated trafficking and has been in use in South Africa since 1970. Currently four simulators are being operated by the National Institute for Transport and Road Research and are being used to evaluate a wide range of pavement types. In this paper the hvs concept and its relationship to other forms of pavement evaluation are discussed. It is demonstrated that the concept confers a number of important advantages when compared with fixed test tracks. Examples are given of the range of problems which have been studied with the aid of the HVS fleet. This is followed by details of the equipment and its mode of operation, together with a discussion of the logistics and costs of HVS studies. Finally, the benefits of the hvs research program are summarised (a).

Language

  • English

Media Info

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01438058
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: ARRB
  • Files: ATRI
  • Created Date: Aug 24 2012 9:20PM