University of California Transportation Center

A framework for consideration of the effects of dynamic loads on pavement performance is presented. The paper discusses requisite research which will permit both the pavement engineer and the truck designer to effectively utilize such a framework to arrive at optimal solutions which will result in overall savings to the agencies responsible for design, construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation of pavement facilities and to the users of the facilities as well.

Included is a discussion of needed research to evaluate: the dynamic response of jointed portland cement concrete pavements to load, the influence of dynamic loads on the development of rutting in asphalt concrete pavements, and the development of new suspension concepts to reduce dynamic load variations with pavement roughness.

Also included are recommendations for field measurement procedures to truly identify dynamic load spectra, methods to identify pavement profiles to reflect the effects of such profiles on truck suspension performance, and measurements to evaluate the methodology developed within the proposed framework.