Abstract
PURPOSES : The purpose of this article is to investigate the predicted life of jointed concrete pavement (JCP) with two variables effecting on axle load spectra (ALS). The first variable is different data acquisition methods whether using high-speed weigh-in-motion (HS-WIM) or not and the other one is spectra distribution due to overweight enforcement on main-lane of expressway using HS-WIM. METHODS : Three sets of ALS had been collected i) ALS provided by Korea Pavement Research Program (KPRP), which had been obtained without using HS-WIM ii) ALS collected by HS-WIM before the enforcement at Kimcheon and Seonsan site iii) ALS collected after the enforcement at the same sites. And all ALS had been classified into twelve vehicle classes and four axle types to compare each other. Among the vehicle classes, class 6, 7, 10 and 12 were selected as the major target for comparing each ALS because these were considered as the primary trucks with a high rate of overweight loading. In order to analyze the performance of JCP based on pavement life, fatigue crack and International Roughness Index (IRI) were predicted using road pavement design program developed by KPRP and each ALS with same annual average daily traffic (AADT) was applied to design slab thickness. RESULTS : Comparison ALS of KPRP with those of HS-WIM shows that the ALS of KPRP has a low percentage of heavy spectra such as 6~9 tonnes for single axle, 18~21 tonnes for tandem axle and 27~30 tonnes for tridem axle than other two ALS of HS-WIM in most vehicle classes and axle types. It means that ALS of KPRP was underestimated. And after the enforcement, percentage of heavy spectra close to 10 tonnes per an axle are lowered than before the enforcement by the effect of overweight enforcement because the spectra are related to overweight regulation. Prediction results of pavement life for each ALS present that the ALS of HS-WIM collected before the enforcement makes the pavement life short more than others. On the other hand, the ALS of KPRP causes the longest life under same thickness of slab. Thus, it is possible that actual performance life of JCP under the traffic like ALS of HS-WIM could be short than predicted life if the pavement was designed based on ALS provided by KPRP. CONCLUSIONS : It is necessary to choose more reliable and practical ALS when designing JCP because ALS can be fairly affected by acquisition methods. In addition, it is important to extend performance life of the pavement in service by controlling traffic load such as overweight enforcement.
