Design and implementation of a full-scale accelerated pavement testing facility for extreme regional climates in China

With the rapid development of expressway construction in China, more and more pavement researchers and engineers have realized the importance of Accelerated Load Test (ALT) in pavement evaluation. It is widely accepted that ALT is the most direct and efficient way to understand structural behavior of pavements, which is crucial to the structural design, performance prediction, and maintenance decisions. In addition, ALT is also a powerful tool to identify the causes of premature failure and the effects of heavy traffic and different regional climate conditions.