ABSTRACT
New technologies of materials and heavier vehicles generated today new conditions of bituminous pavements degradation. The surface layers, now thinner and subjected to intense traffic are more often damaged by rutting and cracks. Both degradation types are closely linked to the pressure generated by tire-pavement contact. In this paper, the real tire-pavement contact problem is solved with Hertz theory. A model is developed to simulate the surface pavement stresses and compared with experimental tests at different inflation pressures and different loads. The model requires exact geometry of tire and equivalent Young’s modulus. For this, an optical method based on fringe projection provides relief displacement field. Estimation of Equivalent Young’s Modulus is also proposed as a function of the inflation pressure from press load tests. Comparison is finally performed between the measured footprint of the tire and the result of the semi analytical computation.
