Effect of heavy multiple axle trucks on flexible pavement damage using in-service pavement performance data

Truck axle configurations and weights have changed significantly since the AASHO road study was conducted in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Emerging concerns about the effects of new axle configurations on pavement damage, which is unaccounted for in the AASHTO procedure, have prompted several researchers to investigate the impacts of different axle and truck configurations on pavement performance. However, there is still a need to strengthen the mechanistic findings using field data. In this paper, actual in-service traffic and pavement performance data for flexible pavements in the state of Michigan are considered. Monitored truck traffic data for different truck configurations are used to identify their relative damaging effects on flexible pavements in terms of cracking, rutting, and roughness. The analysis included simple, multiple, and stepwise regression. The results indicated that trucks with multiple axles (tridem or more) appear to produce more rutting damage than those with only single and tandem axles. On the other hand, trucks with single and tandem axles tend to cause more cracking. Pavement roughness results did not show enough evidence to draw a firm conclusion.