Pavement strains induced by spent-fuel transportation trucks

The application of finite-layer moving-load model to compute pavement strains caused by four types of trucks that are to be used in spent-fuel transportation is described. One approach to deducing viscoelastic material from falling-weight deflectometer (FWD) data is also presented. In the study, it is indicated that the strain response is affected strongly by the axle configuration and by the speed of the vehicle. Increased vehicle speed reduces the pavement strain substantially; longitudinal strains in the asphalt concrete layer decrease by as much as 33% when the speed of the vehicle increases from 30 to 60 km/hr. A substantial compressive strain component is also present when tandem and tridem axle loading are considered. The difference in contribution to pavement distress between the two legal-weight trucks and between the two overweight trucks is minimal.