Three decades of development and achievements: the heavy vehicle simulator in accelerated pavement testing

Abstract

Since the 1970s, the South African Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS) Programme has had a major technological and economic impact on the design, construction and maintenance of South African roads. It has impacted, for instance, on the development of national and regional pavement design standards and guidelines, the development of material specifications and guidelines, the development of human resources, capacity building in the road construction industry, the development of innovative products and designs, and the provision of cost-effective infrastructure engineering solutions. A historical overview of technological developments associated with the HVS and related technologies/instrumentation is addressed. This covers the period from concept initiation in the late 1960s, to the current state-of-the art HVS Mk-IV Plus and HVS-A Mk-V. An overview of the research activities, outcomes and impacts of the various HVS programmes is also presented. Although this overview predominantly focuses on the South African experience, other international HVS research programmes are also discussed, including studies undertaken by the Partnered Pavement Research Center (California), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center (CRREL and WES), as well as the Swedish and Finnish HVS-Nordic programme and the Florida DOT HVS test programme, and the sharing of knowledge and experience amongst the HVS users. The paper also provides an overview of the management of the HVS research programme, including the involvement of the road construction industry in the activities of the programme and the transfer of technology to practitioners. It concludes with an overview of benefits achieved from over thirty years of experience in accelerated pavement testing.