Effect of truck suspension and tire properties on pavement damage spatial distribution

Strain energy is stored within pavement by a measured distribution of heavy vehicle traffic. A simulation methodology based on this strain energy is proposed to study the spatial distribution of pavement damage. Stored energy in the model depends on the magnitude and speed of the tire loads and on the pavement response. Pavement response is a function of different asphalt binder and mix properties, including temperature, softening temperature, void content, and penetration index. Aggregated stored energy for measured heavy vehicle traffic is obtained in terms of suspension stiffness and damping and tire stiffness properties. A pavement-traffic model is derived after linear in-plane vehicle models are integrated with the distributed pavement model. The accumulated stored energy is compared with AASHO test data to validate the proposed methodology. Results for the spatial concentration of the potential road damage revealed that normalized-to-average difference between the maximum and minimum values for pavement potential damage along the road profile is a function of pavement roughness, with average values of approximately 45%, 20%, and 11.5% for rough, medium-rough, and smooth pavements, respectively. Variations in normalized road damage concentration because of changing suspension and tire properties are from 40% to 50% for a rough pavement, from 18% to 22% for a medium-rough pavement, and from 9% to 14% for a smooth pavement.