ABSTRACT
An experiment was carried out on the ALT facility of the LCPC (Nantes – France) in 1999 to analyse the effects of different tyre mounts on pavement durability. The experimental pavement was a very thick bituminous structure (80 mm AC/400 mm RBAC/400 mm UGM). Four different tyre mounts, with various inflation pressures and/or applied loads (leading to twelve different configurations) have been tested. Strains measured at the bottom of the structure for two speeds, at different temperatures, have been analysed with a model. It led to the following conclusions: (i) for an equal load, a large imprint tyre mount is less aggressive than a tyre mount with a smaller one: wide base single tyre assemblies, according to their geometry, may be penalized when compared to dual ones; (ii) the longitudinal strain measured at the bottom of the structure is always greater than the transverse one; (iii) an under inflated tyre induces smaller strains in the pavement.
