The PACCAR Pavement Test Section: Instrumentation and Validation
Abstract
This study discusses the instrumentation and validation of a full- scale, instrumented, flexible pavement section at the PACCAR Technical Center designed to measure critical pavement responses evaluated in the mechanistic- empirical analysis methodology. Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) testing was conducted to characterize the layer properties of the pavement section and compare the strains measured under the FWD load to those calculated using layered elastic analysis. From backcalculated layer moduli for the PACCAR section, it was found that the saturated condition of the subgrade triggered the stiff layer algorithm in EVERCALC 3.3. Further, a stiff layer modulus of 40 or 50 ksi (instead of the traditional value of 1000 ksi) resulted in more realistic layer moduli for the other pavement layers. This has been true for a series of FWD tests during three seasons (Fall, Summer, and Winter). Analysis of the strains under FWD loading conducted on October 10, 1991 has shown that 90 percent of the measured strains are within + or - 20 percent of their calculated values. Fifty percent of the strains measured during the FWD testing conducted on February 3, 1993 were within + or - percent of calculated.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 18, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA263081
Entities
People
- Brian C. Winters
Organizations
- University of Washington