Impact of Load Transfer during Braking on the Reliability of Bituminous Pavements

Abstract

This investigation examines the influence of braking on the reliability of bituminous pavements. For this purpose, different loading conditions of a two-axle truck are simulated using vehicle dynamics software. Individual response surface methodology models to predict critical strain values are developed for various thickness and modulus values and loading combinations. Monte Carlo simulations are then used to generate random variabilities of input parameters, and the reliability is estimated accordingly. Three different cases are simulated. In the first case, it is assumed that all the vehicles impact the pavement by braking, and the reduced reliability is found to vary between 99.8% and 1.2% for the different loading and braking conditions. In the second case, the allowable load repetitions for fatigue damage are computed for a given reliability of 90% and are found to vary between 24 and 1 million standard axle (MSA). In the third case, different combinations of braking conditions are investigated, and the reliability is estimated.