Investigation of ESALs Versus Load Spectra for Rigid Pavement Design

The influence of traffic as an input parameter for mechanistic-empirical (M-E) pavement analysis on the percentage of fatigue cracks on slabs or the required slab thickness for jointed concrete pavements was investigated. Site-specific traffic data from Illinois weigh stations exhibiting different axle load and vehicle class distributions were compared against the default traffic inputs used in Pavement M-E design programs. The load spectra for several sites were adjusted by changing the annual average daily truck traffic (AADTT) volumes for the simulations to produce the same equivalent single axle loads (ESALs) for a typical interstate highway design in Illinois. The influence on the required jointed plain concrete pavement thickness varied less than 2.0 in. (50 mm) for combinations of all traffic distributions and climate regions given the same level of ESALs. For a given climate station with a fixed ESAL level, there was no significance in cracking level for the load spectra data gathered at different stations across Illinois. Only in extreme overload traffic cases, where a significant percentage of the single axle weights were 50 percent greater than the legal limit, did the distribution of traffic significantly influence the slab cracking performance for a fixed number of ESALs and climate. Changes in climate for fixed load spectra had a larger sensitivity in the slab thickness requirements than did traffic input variations. For jointed plain concrete pavement design, the difference between using an ESAL-based design and load spectra design for fatigue cracking prediction was determined to be negligible when using Pavement M-E design programs with current Illinois traffic inputs and a realistic magnitude of overloads.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABJ35 Highway Traffic Monitoring.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Bordelon, Amanda C
  • Hiller, Jacob E
  • Roesler, Jeffery R
  • Cervantes, Victor G
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Concrete pavements; Equivalent single axle loads; Fatigue cracking; Mechanistic-empirical pavement design; Rigid pavements; Thickness; Weather conditions
• Uncontrolled Terms: Average annual daily truck traffic; Load spectra
• Geographic Terms: Illinois
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Pavements; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways; I23: Properties of Road Surfaces;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01516033
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-3156
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 26 2014 12:40PM