ABSTRACT
Permanent deformation or flow rutting in bituminous layers is a common distress mode in flexible pavements that is exhibited as an excessive deformation of bituminous material in the wheel paths. Rutting gradually increases with repeated loading of heavy vehicles. To predict surface rutting, it is therefore essential to include the influence of heavy vehicle parameters such as the number of passages of wheel loads, axle load configuration (single or dual wheel), tire type, inflation pressure, vehicle speed and lateral wandering of the traffic in addition to variation in mixture properties at ambient temperatures over elapsed time. The linear viscoelastic permanent deformation model for a bituminous layer of roads, PEDRO, has been adopted in this work to analyse the vertical strain distribution in a flexible pavement and prediction of rutting under various combination of heavy vehicle parameters. The effects of heavy vehicles with different axle load configurations are evaluated with support of field measurements over a 14-year period.
