Network Analysis of Virginia’s Interstate Pavement-Vehicle Interactions: Mapping of Roughness and Deflection-Induced Excess Fuel Consumption

The sustainable development of our nation’s roadway system requires quantitative means to translate pavement condition and design into lifecycle energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Recent developments in mechanistic pavement-vehicle interaction (PVI) models aim at providing such engineering estimates. Herein, the authors illustrate how these models can be implemented at the network scale considering the interstate network of Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). This road network is analyzed and the excess fuel consumption due to roughness and deflection induced PVI is calculated for passenger cars and trucks. It is shown that the mapping of the excess fuel consumption due to roughness and deflection induced PVI provides a useful additional criterion for maintenance and rehabilitation scheduling. Specifically, the authors find that the ranking of the excess fuel consumption follows Zipf’s Law, which means that the rehabilitation of a few lane miles allows a significant improvement of the fuel economy of the analyzed interstate network.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFD90 Surface Properties - Vehicle Interaction. Alternate title: Network Analysis of Virginia’s Interstate Pavement-Vehicle Interactions: Mapping of Roughness and Deflection Induced Excess Fuel Consumption.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Akbarian, Mehdi
  • Louhghalam, Arghavan
  • Shetty, Sameer S
  • Ulm, Franz-Josef
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
• Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p
• Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Deflection; Fuel consumption; Interstate highways; Pavement maintenance; Rehabilitation; Rolling contact; Roughness
• Geographic Terms: Virginia
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Pavements; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways; I23: Properties of Road Surfaces; I60: Maintenance;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01553011
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 15-5752
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 9 2015 4:31PM