Pavement Response and Rutting for Full-Scale and Scaled APT

Abstract

A new accelerated pavement testing (APT) tool has recently been developed between relatively inexpensive laboratory testing and expensive but more realistic full-scale accelerated load testing. The one-third scale model mobile load simulator (MMLS3) applies a scaled load on a single tire smaller than a standard truck tire used in full-scale devices and can be used for both laboratory and field applications. For two hypothetical and eight actual pavement structures at a location where both full-scale APT devices and the MMLS3 were used, stress analyses were conducted to: (1) explore the hypothesis of comparable stress distribution; and (2) compare theoretical and measured rutting performance toward validating a performance prediction methodology. For the hypothetical pavement structures, the comparable stress hypothesis was upheld. Theoretically calculated rutting ratios based on stress analyses after correcting for differences in loading and environmental conditions were compared with actual measured field rutting ratios. The results were credible and demonstrated that when all influencing factors are taken into account, rutting performance under full-scale loading can be predicted based on MMLS3 results and stress analysis.