Heavy vehicle simulator testing of trial sections for CALTRANS.

Abstract

Internationally, interest in accelerated pavement testing (APT) is increasing, in particular testing with mobile machines which allow the performance of in-service roads to be assessed. The Californian Department of Transportation (CALTRANS) commissioned the University of California at Berkely (UCB), Dynatest Consulting and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa to conduct a pilot study to evaluate the potential of the South African Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS) for conducting pavement studies for CALTRANS. The main objectives of the work were to evaluate the rutting behaviour of a dense-grades Asphalt Concrete (AC) overlay subjected to channelized traffic at 25 deg C and 40 deg C compared with its behaviour under wandering traffic with a normal distribution - compare the cracking behaviour of a 75 mm thick AC overlay at 10 deg C with that of a 38 mm thick Asphalt Rubber Hot Mix gap-graded (ARHM) overlay.