ROUGH ROADS = BOUNCING TRUCKS OR BOUNCING TRUCKS = ROUGH ROADS?

This article discusses the impacts of heavy vehicle loads on road infrastructure. A key result, derived from the results of AASHO road tests in the late 1950s and early 1960s, is the 'fourth power law', which states that the pavement wear, caused by the passage of an axle, is proportional to the fourth power of its static load. The law implicitly includes an undetermined amount of dynamic loading, because it was derived empirically for experiments which included real vehicles on real roads. Different suspensions produce different patterns and amounts of dynamic loading. In 1992, the OECD initiated the Dynamic Interaction Vehicle-INfrastructure Experiment (DIVINE), consisting of six research elements, as an international coordinated research programme to resolve some outstanding issues about the effects of vehicle loading. DIVINE's first element was conducted at Canterbury, New Zealand, where parallel tracks of a test pavement were subjected to repeated loading by 'vehicles' with identical static load but widely differing dynamic loads. It was found that steel suspension generated higher dynamic loads and more roughness than air suspension. Tests on real roads showed that rougher roads generate higher dynamic loadings, which in turn accelerate pavement wear and increase roughness.

  • Availability:
  • Corporate Authors:

    Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand

    158 The Terrace
    Wellington,   New Zealand 
  • Authors:
    • de Pont, J
  • Publication Date: 1996-2

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Pagination: p. 28
  • Serial:
    • NEW ZEALAND ENGINEERING
    • Volume: 51
    • Issue Number: 1
    • Publisher: Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand
    • ISSN: 0028-808X

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00723166
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
  • Files: ITRD
  • Created Date: Jul 26 1996 12:00AM