Study of Axle Load Limit Based on Asphalt Pavement Rutting Spectrum

Abstract:

To study the influence of axle load on asphalt pavement rutting, large amounts of highway axle load data around China were collected and analyzed. Then, the shear stress of pavements under three different axle types was analyzed, based on which the method to convert axle load spectrum of various axles to one standard axle was established and the collected load data were processed. The contribution of axle load at each level to pavement rutting was calculated and the rutting spectrums with axle load spectrums of typical provinces were plotted. The influence of different axle load on pavement rutting was studied using the processed data. It is found that the influence can be divided into three levels: for the standard axle load which is less than 10 tons, the pavements resist the deformation very well; for those between 10 to 15 tons, the pavements resist deformation well; for those bigger than 15 tons, the pavements resist the deformation poorly. Then the relationship between shear strength and standard axle load was studied, it is found out that using modified asphalt which has high shear strength can alleviate the rutting problem.