Evaluation of Heavy Traffic and Its Application to the Structural Design of Highways.

The evaluation of the moving loads carried by pavements and road structures is seen to be essential to rational construction and maintenance. Existing methods of evaluating traffic loads and their effects are in general cumbersome and inadequate. In France, the piezo-electric ceramic cable has been the subject of much study and development as a detector of traffic, and more precisely, loads. This detector is more economical and easier to maintain than traditional systems; it is susceptible of widespread use in many fields of application. A method of evaluating traffic on the basis of the real effects of loads, based on the use of this type of detector, would doubtless make it possible to improve the precision of methods of structural design of pavements and to establish priorities where maintenance is concerned.