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WIDE BASE SINGLE TIRES VS. DUAL TIRES: ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT ON ASPHALT PAVEMENTS

Abstract

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation initiated a research project in 2006 with the Centre for Pavement and Transportation Technology (CPATT) at the University of Waterloo to assess the potential impact on pavements and the associated cost if the axle load on the second generation single wide-based tires (SWB) was increased to 9000 kg. The scope of this study included a comprehensive experimental investigation using the instrumented pavement sections. The objectives of the experiment were: 1) to determine the axle load on dual tires that would be equivalent to a 9,000 kg single axle load on the SWB tires and 2) to examine the effects of unequal tire pressure, wander and tire types on pavement response. The results showed that the axle load on dual tires causing the equivalent damage as the 9000 kg axle load on SWB tires could range from 10,700 kg to 12,300 kg depending on the pavement structural strength. The weaker the pavement, the greater the damage due to SWB tires. The analysis based on ESAL indicated that the SWB tire could potentially cause 2 to 3.5 times the overall damage caused by dual tires. The fatigue cracking analysis showed that the SWB tires could cause 1.7 to 1.9 times the damage associated with dual tires. The study indicated that the combined adverse effects of unequal tire pressure on dual tires, wander, dynamic load and speed do not give SWB tires any advantage over dual tires in terms of reducing the overall pavement damage.

Conference Paper Details

Session title:
INNOVATIONS IN PAVEMENT MONITORING AND EVALUATION
Author(s):
Joseph Ponniah
Ralph Haas
Zhiyong Jiang
Ron Madill
Adedamola Adedapo
Topics:
Pavements
Year:
2009