United States Department of Transportation
i
Quantifying the Impact of Wide Base Tires on Pavement Performance in Michigan
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2022-12-01
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[PDF-13.41 MB]
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Edition:Final Report 3/15/2021 – 12/31/2022
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Abstract:Since dual tires (DT) have been the trucking industry standard for many decades, existing modeling of the stresses imparted to the pavement through the tires is based on DTs. However, the freight industry has started to use wide base single tires (WBT) due to their economic benefits. This study aimed to investigate the use of WBTs in Michigan (MI) to quantify the effect of different percentages of WBT loads on flexible and rigid pavements. Surveys and field investigations were conducted to quantify WBT usage in MI. The JULEA (for flexible pavements) and Illislab (for rigid pavements) software programs were used to calculate the mechanical response between DT and WBT loads, while the Mechanical-Empirical (ME) pavement design process was utilized for damage accumulation and pavement distress analysis. Investigation results rationalized the assumption of WBT proportion for design purposes as 10% currently and up to 25% in the future for MI, with the majority of axle loads still employing DT assemblies. WBT loads were found to increase pavement distress mechanistically using this process, with fatigue cracking for flexible pavement and faulting for rigid pavement being the most critical. For flexible pavement, thicker hot mix asphalt (HMA) layers were beneficial in reducing WBT impact on fatigue cracking, while rutting was much less impacted by the thickness of the HMA under WBT. For rigid pavement, thicker concrete slabs helped reduce WBT impacts on both transverse cracking and faulting for jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP). It was also found that WBT loads did not significantly affect the international roughness index (IRI) for both HMA and JPCP. Based on analysis results, the WBT impact on pavement structures with 5-12" HMA or 6-13" JPCP were quantified for up to 25% WBTs, with the respective adjusted Pavement ME design threshold, traffic parameter, and recommendation for implementation. Additionally, weigh-in-motion (WIM) technologies were reviewed to support possible WBT update strategies and improve the identification of tire types.
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