LINTRACK rutting research project – ALT testing program

L.J.M. Houben & C.H. Vogelzang

Road and Railroad Research Laboratory, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands

A.E. van Dommelen

Road and Hydraulic Engineering Division, Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management,
Delft, the Netherlands

Keywords: Accelerated Load Testing, asphalt motorway structures, rutting, tyre types

ABSTRACT: Six test sections of asphalt motorway pavement structures have been subjected to ac-
celerated load testing by means of the LINTRACK test facility, that is jointly owned by the Delft
University of Technology and the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. In
the test sections different asphalt mixes are applied in the wearing course and the binder course.
The (high) asphalt temperatures and the lateral wander are the same for every tested wheel track.
Four tyre types are involved in the rutting research, i.e. a standard dual tyre, an alternative dual
tyre, a standard wide base tyre and an extra wide wide base tyre. On the basis of the measured de-
velopment of rutting during rutting performance tests, damage factors for the various tyre types
with respect to the practical rut depth have been determined.

1 INTRODUCTION

LINTRACK is a facility for Accelerated Load Testing of full scale pavements. The facility was
originally developed and constructed by the Delft University of Technology. Currently the facility
is jointly owned by the Road and Railroad Research Laboratory of the Delft University and the
Road and Hydraulic Engineering Division of the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and
Water Management. LINTRACK is located at the outdoor test area of the Road and Railroad Re-
search Laboratory of the Delft University.
The Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management and the Delft University have
performed a 3-years research program into rutting on asphalt motorway pavement structures, as rut-
ting is one of the major defects on such heavily loaded pavements.
This paper presents the results of the rutting performance tests that were done at high asphalt
temperatures with different tyre types on 4 test pavements, with 6 test sections, in which different
asphalt mixes were applied for the wearing course and the binder course.

In the chapters 2 to 6 the LINTRACK test facility, the various pavement structures, the applied
traffic loadings, the asphalt temperatures and the measuring program are shortly described. The test
results, with emphasis on the development of the practical rut depth, are presented in chapter 7. In
chapter 8 the damage factors (with respect to rutting) of the different tyre types are given for the
different test sections. Finally chapter 9 gives the main conclusions of the 3-years rutting research.

2 LINTRACK TEST FACILITY

LINTRACK primarily consists of a dual steel gantry (total length 20 m), along which a loading
carriage can move forward and backward, see Figure 1 and Figure 2 (Groenendijk 1998).

1
Figure 1. Side view of LINTRACK.

Figure 2. Side view of the LINTRACK loading carriage.

A single dual or wide base truck wheel can be mounted in the bottom part of this loading car-
riage, which can pivot up and down relative to the upper part. The wheel load (adjustable from 15
to 100 kN) is applied by means of pneumatic bellows (somewhat like the air suspension on a truck)
between upper and lower part of the loading carriage.
The total running length of the loading carriage wheel is about 12 m. The maximum speed is 20
km/h, but lower speeds are also possible. To reach 20 km/h, acceleration and deceleration each take
about 4 m, so 4 m measuring length remain, where the carriage has a constant speed.
At a maximum speed of 20 km/h about 500 forward and 500 backward wheel movements per
hour can be accomplished. Each full-length forward or backward wheel movement is counted as a
‘load repetition’.
A bogie, running on rails, supports either end of the steel gantry. These 55 m long rails run per-
pendicular to the gantry along the whole test area. The bogies are electrically powered and can
move the entire installation laterally over the test section during the forward and backward move-
ment of the loading carriage. In this way the loading can ‘wander’ sideways, up to 1 m to either
side of the centre line. This is important for a realistic simulation of heavy traffic. In this research
lateral wander has been implemented as a Laplace distribution of the lateral position of the wheel
centre. Based on measurements of lateral wander of truck traffic on Austrian motorways, the stan-
dard deviation of the Laplace distribution was taken as 0.19 m and the maximum distance to the
wheel track centre line was 0.30 m (Dommelen et al. 1999).
To shelter the test sections from climatic influences as rain or sunshine during testing, the entire
installation is covered with a hall (23 m long, 6 m wide and 5 m high) which moves with the instal-
lation. Furthermore, heating of the asphalt with infrared radiators was implemented in 1997. This
enables control of the asphalt temperature during testing, up to 30ºC to 35ºC (depending on the
wind speed) above ambient temperature.

2
3 PAVEMENT STRUCTURES

In the period 1998-2001 four pavements have been tested, where the 3rd and 4th pavement were
each divided into two sections. Table 1 gives an overview of the tested pavement structures that
were constructed on an existing 5 m thick sand sub-base, resting on a clay subgrade.

Table 1. Pavement structure of the test pavements/sections.

Test pavement 1 Test pavement 2 Test pavement 3 Test pavement 4
40 mm DAC 40 mm DAC 50 mm PAC 50 mm PAC 40 mm MDAC 40 mm SMA
80/100 45/60
60 mm OAC 60 mm OAC 60 mm STAC 60 mm MSTAC 60 mm STAC 60 mm STAC
80 mm STAC
90 mm STAC
250 mm AGRAC
.
The 250 mm AGRAC (Asphalt Granulate Cement) base course consists of 85% (by mass) recy-
cled asphalt aggregate 0/50 mm and 15% river sand, and 3.5% cement (type CEM III/B 42.5) and
6% water were added.
The two bituminous STAC (Stone Asphaltic Concrete) 0/22 mm base courses, with a thickness
of 90 mm and 80 mm respectively, consist of 50% (by mass) asphalt aggregate 0/40 mm and 50%
virgin aggregates, i.e. crushed granite of gradings 8/16 and 16/22 mm, crushed sand and Wigro
filler. Standard bitumen 80/100 was added to the aggregates.
These three layers were constructed in the autumn of 1998 and they remained present during the
whole 3-years research period. A new test pavement always was created by milling the existing
overlaying binder and wearing courses and replacing them by new binder and wearing courses.

The OAC (Open Asphaltic Concrete) 0/22 mm binder course of the 1st and 2nd test pavement
consists of 50% (by mass) asphalt aggregate 0/40 mm and 50% virgin aggregates, i.e. crushed gran-
ite of gradings 4/8, 8/16 and 16/22 mm, crushed sand and Vulcom 40K filler. Standard bitumen
80/100 is added to the aggregates.
The DAC (Dense Asphaltic Concrete) 0/16 mm wearing course material of the 1st and 2nd test
pavements only contains virgin aggregates, i.e. crushed granite of gradings 2/6, 4/8, 8/11 and 11/16
mm, sand (75% by mass crushed sand and 25% river sand) and Vulcom 40K filler. The DAC con-
tains standard bitumen 80/100 in the 1st test pavement and standard bitumen 45/60 in the 2nd test
pavement.

In the 3rd test pavement one section contains a standard STAC binder course which has the same
composition as the underlaying STAC layers. In the second section the MSTAC (Modified Stone
Asphaltic Concrete) binder course only contains virgin aggregates and a modified bitumen (Esso
Multigrade 76-28). Both sections have a PAC (Porous Asphaltic Concrete) 0/16 mm wearing
course with only virgin aggregates, i.e. crushed granite of gradings 4/8, 8/11 and 11/16 mm,
crushed sand and Vulcom 40K filler. The PAC contains standard bitumen 80/100.

The STAC 0/22 mm binder course material of both sections of the 4th test pavement contains
50% (by mass) asphalt aggregate 0/22 mm and 50% virgin aggregates, i.e. crushed granite of grad-
ings 4/8, 8/16 and 16/22 mm, river sand and Vulcom 40K filler. Standard bitumen 70/100 is added
to the aggregates.
The MDAC (Modified Dense Asphaltic Concrete) 0/16 mm wearing course material of one sec-
tion only contains virgin aggregates, i.e. crushed granite of gradings 2/6, 4/8, 8/11 and 11/16 mm,
crushed sand and Vulcom 40K filler. Polymer-modified bitumen (Flexxipave 106) is added as a
binder.

3
 The SMA (Stone Mastic Asphalt) 0/11 mm wearing course material of the second section con-
tains only virgin aggregates, i.e. crushed granite of gradings 4/8 and 8/11 mm, crushed sand and a
mix of Wigro and Bitucell 225K fillers. Standard bitumen 70/100 is added to the aggregates.

Each test pavement has a total width of 15.0 m which allows testing of 4 (or even 6) separate
wheel tracks. For practical reasons the width of 15.0 m is divided into 2 times 7.5 m. The distance
between 2 adjacent wheel tracks is 3.5 m (or 1.75 m), while the distance of the wheel track centre
to the pavement edge is 2.0 m, see Figure 3.

2.0m 1.75m 1.75m 2.0m 2.0m 1.75m 1.75m 2.0m

V1D80L V1D80R 0.4m V2D80L V2D80R

st
1 test pavement
V1D45L V1D45R V2D45L V2D45R
nd
2 test pavement
MV1ZOA MV2ZOAM
V1ZOAL V1ZOAR V2ZOAML V2ZOAMR rd
3 test pavement

V1DABL V1DABR V2SMAL V2SMAR th

4 test pavement

Figure 3. Cross section of a test pavement (not on scale) with indication of the wheel tracks (chapter 4) in
the rutting performance tests (chapter 7).

4 TRAFFIC LOADING

In the rutting performance tests on the 1st and 2nd test pavement 4 tyre types are included, i.e. a
standard dual tyre, an alternative dual tyre, a standard wide base tyre and an extra wide wide base
tyre. In the tests on the 3rd and 4th test pavement, that each are divided into 2 sections (Table 1),
only the standard dual tyre and the standard wide base tyre are involved.

For the mutual comparison of the 4 wheel tracks of a test pavement, or the 2 or 3 wheel tracks
of a test section, every wheel track is first subjected to 1000 standard wide base tyre load repeti-
tions (load 45 kN, tyre pressure 0.9 MPa).
After these initial 1000 load repetitions, in the regular rutting performance tests each wheel
track is exclusively subjected to a certain number of repetitions of one specific type of tyre, see
Table 2 and Table 3. The number of load repetitions per wheel track is different for the various test
pavements/sections. The results of the regular rutting performance tests will be discussed in chapter
7.
After the regular rutting performance test, on some wheel tracks additional loading is applied,
for instance a greater number of load repetitions with the same tyre type, a number of load repeti-
tions with another tyre type, or a number of load repetitions with the same tyre type but with
greater load magnitude. For the results of these additional rutting tests reference is made to (Hou-
ben et al. 1999, Houben et al. 2000a, b, Houben et al. 2001).

4
Table 2. Tyre characteristics.
Description Code Industrial code Load (kN) Tyre pressure (MPa)
Alternative dual tyre for drive ADL 295/60 R 22.5 57.5 (= 2 x 28.75) 0.9
axle
Standard dual tyre for drive SDL 315/80 R 22.5 57.5 (= 2 x 28.75) 0.7
axle
Standard wide base tyre for SS 385/65 R 22.5 45.0 0.9
trailer axle
Extra wide wide base tyre for SSS 495/45 R 22.5 57.5 0.9
drive axle

Table 3. Tyre types and number of load repetitions on all wheel tracks of 4 test pavements.
Test pavement Test section Wheel track Tyre type Number of load
repetitions
1 - V1D80L ADL 33,000
V1D80R SDL 33,000
V2D80L SS 33,000
V2D80R SSS 33,000
2 - V1D45L ADL 36,000
V1D45R SDL 36,000
V2D45L SS 36,000
V2D45R SSS 36,000
3 STAC binder course V1ZOAL SDL 20,000
V1ZOAR SS 20,750
MV1ZOA* SS 21,000
MSTAC binder course V2ZOAML SDL 20,750
V2ZOAMR SS 19,811
MV2ZOAM* SS 19,575
4 MDAC wearing course V1DABL SDL 62,000
V1DABR SS 69,000
SMA wearing course V2SMAL SDL 38,000
V2SMAR SS 34,000
* older asphalt at time of testing compared to other SS wheel track

As already mentioned in chapter 2, the lateral wander of truck traffic on in-service roads is
simulated in the LINTRACK rutting research by means of a Laplace distribution (Dommelen et al.
1999) which is truncated for practical reasons. The standard deviation of the original (non-
truncated) Laplace distribution is 0.19 m and the maximum distance to the wheel track centre is
0.3 m. The actually applied lateral wander in the LINTRACK research is exactly the same for
every wheel track of all test pavements. For illustration Figure 4 gives the lateral wander for the
first 22,000 load repetitions (including the 1000 initial wide base tyre load repetitions) on every
wheel track.

5 ASPHALT TEMPERATURE

In 1997 an infrared heating system was installed at the LINTRACK test facility which enables
control of the asphalt temperature during testing, up to 30ºC to 35ºC (depending on the wind speed)
above ambient temperature.
Control of the asphalt temperature is done through a thermocouple that is installed at the inter-
face between the wearing course and the binder course, so at a depth of 40 mm or 50 mm below the
pavement surface (Table 1). The target temperature at that depth is 38ºC, which leads to an asphalt
temperature at the pavement surface of about 40ºC.

5
 1200

Total

25000 22000
1000 20000
15000 10091 10814
10000
Number of load repetitions

5000
0
800 lleft total right
-9.88 0.04 9.30

600

400

200

0
-30 -28 -26 -24 -22 -20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30

Position lintrack (cm)

Figure 4. Lateral distribution of the first 22,000 load repetitions.

During the rutting performance tests, by means of other installed thermocouples, the tempera-
ture is continuously measured at every interface between the asphalt layers and also at the top and
at the bottom of the AGRAC base layer. It appears from these measurements that during a rutting
performance test the temperature at a certain depth shows a variation of 1ºC to 2ºC.
Figure 5 shows a typical development of the asphalt temperatures during the heating process of
the asphalt pavement structure. The most right curve is (about) present during a whole rutting per-
formance test.

Gradients V2zoaml during heating of the pavement

Temperature (C)
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
0

100
Depth from pavement surface (mm)

200 Temperature (16-06-2000; 16:20)

Temperature (17-06-2000; 1:20)
Asphalt
Temperature (17-06-2000; 11:20)
300 Temperature (18-06-2000; 7:20)
AGRAC Temperature (18-06-2000; 17:20)
Temperature (19-06-2000; 8:20)
400

500

600

Figure 5. Example of development of asphalt temperatures during the heating process of the asphalt pave-
ment structure (wheel track V2ZOAML of 3rd test pavement).

6
 It is emphasised that the low temperature gradient, i.e. the high asphalt temperatures in the
lower pavement layers during the LINTRACK rutting research test is not in accordance with real-
ity. In a real in-service asphalt pavement, the asphalt surface temperatures in summer may be the
same as in the LINTRACK test, however due to daily air temperature and sun radiation variations
the temperature gradient in in-service pavements will be much greater, i.e. the asphalt temperatures
at some depth will be much lower.
The discrepancy between the asphalt temperatures in the LINTRACK test pavements and those
in real in-service pavements is one of the reasons why the LINTRACK rutting results can not di-
rectly be transformed to practice.

6 RUTTING MEASUREMENTS

During the rutting performance tests the development of the rutting in the wheel tracks is regularly
measured by means of a transverse profilometer, see Figure 6. In each wheel track these measure-
ments are performed in 7 cross-sections.
The transverse profilometer consists of a measuring wheel, moving in an aluminium frame. The
frame is positioned on steel pins attached to each wheel track. The pins ensure correct and repeat-
able positioning, and serve as a reference level. The pins are positioned at 1.7 m on either side of
the centre of the wheel track. This distance appears to be outside the rutting profile. The transverse
profilometer records the surface level of the pavement with an accuracy of 0.1 mm, at intervals of
10 mm.

Figure 6. Transverse profilometer.

From the measured rutting profiles the development of the following parameters is analysed,
see Figure 7:
- the maximum rut depth under each tyre of a dual tyre system (a and b, i.e. rut depth south
and north) or below a wide base tyre (c, i.e. rut depth);
- the magnitude of the heave at either side of the rut (d and e, i.e. heave south and north);
- the magnitude of the heave between the two tyres of a dual tyre system (f, i.e. heave in cen-
tre);
- the transverse position (X) of the rutting parameters a to f;
- the practical rut depth (g), which is defined as the maximum height difference between the
rutting profile and a straightedge, laid over the rutting profile;
- the area A of the rutting profile, where A = A1 + A2 – A3. A positive A-value means an
overall decompaction of the asphalt pavement structure and a negative A-value an overall
postcompaction due to the repeated loadings during the rutting performance test.

7
 X

A1 A2 A2
A1
e d e d

f
b c g
a g
A3 A3
north south
Figure 7. Rutting parameters.

7 RUTTING PERFORMANCE TEST RESULTS

As already mentioned in chapter 4, every wheel track is first subjected to 1000 standard wide base
tyre load repetitions. The rutting obtained during this initial loading is mathematically set to zero to
enable a fair comparison of the damaging effect of various tyre types on various asphalt pavement
structures during the regular rutting performance tests on the wheel tracks (Table 3).
In this chapter some typical results of the regular rutting performance tests will be presented.

As an example Figure 8 shows the development of the average rutting profile of the wheel track
MV1ZOA of the 3rd test pavement that was subjected to 21,000 standard wide base tyre load repeti-
tions. Figure 9 presents the development of the average rutting profile of the wheel track V1D45R
that was subjected to 36,000 standard dual tyre load repetitions. Both figures clearly show that with
increasing number of load repetitions both the rut depth (parameter c respectively the parameters a
and b in Fig. 7) and the heaves at both sides of the wheel track (parameters d and e in Fig. 7) in-
crease. Similar rutting profiles for all the other wheel tracks/tyre types on all four test pavements
are included in (Houben et al. 1999, Houben et al. 2000a, b, Houben et al. 2001).
Distance from center of track (mm)
-1500 -1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500

2
Average displacement (mm)

0 N=0
N = 1000
N = 4000
-2 N = 10750
N = 16000
N = 21000

-4

-6

-8

Figure 8. Development of the average rutting profile during the rutting performance test with 21,000 stan-
dard wide base tyre (SS) load repetitions on wheel track MV1ZOA of the 3rd test pavement.

8
 Distance from center of track (mm)
-1500 -1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500
4

Average displacement (mm)

0 n=0
n = 200
n = 1000
n = 4000
-2 n = 9000
n = 15750
n = 22750
n = 29500
-4 n = 36000

-6

-8

Figure 9. Development of the average rutting profile during the rutting performance test with 36,000 stan-
dard dual tyre (SDL) load repetitions on wheel track V1D45R of the 2nd test pavement.

Figure 10 and Figure 11 present, for the same wheel tracks as shown in Figure 8 and Figure 9,
the development of the average rut depth(s) and the average heaves as a function of the number of
load repetitions during the rutting performance tests. Similar graphs for all other wheel tracks/tyre
types of all the test pavements again can be found in (Houben et al. 1999, Houben et al. 2000a, b,
Houben et al. 2001).
Displacement of characteristic points, track MV1ZOA, SS

Number of loadcycles (N)

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000 22000
6.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0
Displacement (mm)

0.0

-1.0

-2.0

-3.0

-4.0

-5.0

-6.0

-7.0

Heave North Depression Heave South

Figure 10. Development of the average value of the rutting parameters during the rutting performance test
with 21,000 standard wide base tyre (SS) load repetitions on wheel track MV1ZOA of the 3rd
test pavement.

9
 Displacement of characteristic points, track v1d45R, SDL
Number of loadcycles (N)
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
4.0

3.0

2.0

1.0

0.0
Displacement (mm)

-1.0

-2.0

-3.0

-4.0

-5.0

-6.0

-7.0

Heave North" Depression North Heave center Depression South Heave South

Figure 11. Development of the average value of the rutting parameters during the rutting performance test
with 36,000 standard dual tyre (SDL) load repetitions on wheel track V1D45R of the 2nd test
pavement.

The rutting profiles were regularly measured at 7 cross-sections of every wheel track during the
rutting performance test. At the end of the rutting performance tests the coefficient of variation of
the rut depth parameters a, b and c (Fig. 7) varied between 5% and 15% and the coefficient of
variation of the (relative) heaves d, e and f (Fig. 7) varied between 10% and 35%.

The development of the average practical rut depth (parameter g in Fig. 7) on all the wheel
tracks of the 4 test pavements is shown in Figure 12.

8 RELATIVE DAMAGE PER TYRE TYPE

In this chapter a comparison is made between the damage caused by the various tyre types during
the rutting performance tests on all the wheel tracks of the 4 test pavements. In this comparison
damage is expressed as the average value of the various practical rut depth parameters. The follow-
ing parameters are taken into account:
1. the average practical rut depth after 20,000 load repetitions (every wheel track of all 4 test
pavements, see Table 3);
2. the average practical rut depth after 33,000 load repetitions (every wheel track of 1st, 2nd and 4th
test pavement);
3. the average practical rut depth rate over the range of 10,000 to 20,000 load repetitions (every
wheel track of all 4 test pavements);
4. the average practical rut depth rate over the range of 20,000 to 33,000 load repetitions (every
wheel track of 1st, 2nd and 4th test pavement).

In Table 4 the average values for the above-mentioned rut depth parameters are given for all the
wheel tracks. Table 5 gives for every test pavement or test section the average values for the rut
depth parameters relative (in percentages) to the values that were obtained for the wheel track sub-
jected to standard dual tyre (SDL) load repetitions (values are 100% by definition).

10
 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
5

-5
Practical Rut Depth (mm)

second test pavement

-10
V1D45L ADL 295/60
V1D45R SDL 315/80
V2D45L SS 385/65
-15
V2D45R SSS 495/45
Series9
V1D80L ADL 295/60
-20
V1D80R SDL 315/80
V2D80L SS 385/65
V2D80R SSS 495/45
-25

first test pavement

-30

-35
Loadcycles (N)

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000 22000
0.0

-2.5
Practical Rut Depth (mm)

-5.0 V1ZOAL SDL

MV1ZOA SS
V1ZOAR SS
V2ZOAML SDL
MV2ZOAM SS
-7.5 V2ZOAMR SS

-10.0

-12.5
Loadcycles (N)
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000
0

-2

-4

-6

-8 V1DABL - SDL
V1DABR - SS
V2SMAL - SDL
-10
V2SMAR - SS

-12

-14

-16

-18
loadcycles (N)

Figure 12. The development of the average practical rut depth on the wheel tracks of the 1st and 2nd test
pavement (top), the 3rd test pavement (centre) and the 4th test pavement (bottom) during the rut-
ting performance tests.

11
Table 4. Absolute average practical rut depth parameters for all wheel tracks of 4 test pavements.
Test Test section Tyre Load repetitions Range of load repetitions
pavement type 20,000 33,000 10,000-20,000 20,000-33,000
Value (mm) Value (mm) Rate (mm/N) Rate (mm/N)
1 - ADL 17.62 26.05 57e-5 65e-5
SDL 18.97 24.55 57e-5 43e-5
SS 20.44 29.25 53e-5 68e-5
SSS 17.63 23.05 71e-5 42e-5
2 - ADL 5.95 7.05 15e-5 8e-5
SDL 5.93 8.21 16e-5 14e-5
SS 10.54 13.71 46e-5 24e-5
SSS 10.09 12.88 28e-5 21e-5
3 STAC binder SDL 6.82 - 17e-5 -
course SS 11.09 - 40e-5 -
SS* 9.58 - 28e-5 -
MSTAC binder SDL 9.38 - 23e-5 -
course SS 12.06 - 45e-5 -
SS* 9.98 - 31e-5 -
4 MDAC wearing SDL 2.57 2.93 5e-5 3e-5
course SS 4.84 6.24 10e-5 11e-5
SMA wearing SDL 8.16 9.51 14e-5 10e-5
course SS 11.19 16.18 36e-5 38e-5
* older asphalt at time of testing compared to other SS wheel track

Table 5. Relative average practical rut depth parameters for all wheel tracks of 4 test pavements.
Test Test section Tyre Load repetitions Range of load repetitions
pavement type 20,000 33,000 10,000-20,000 20,000-33,000
Value (%) Value (%) Rate (%) Rate (%)
1 - ADL 93 106 100 151
SDL 100 100 100 100
SS 108 119 93 158
SSS 93 95 125 98
2 - ADL 100 86 94 57
SDL 100 100 100 100
SS 178 167 288 171
SSS 170 157 175 150
3 STAC binder SDL 100 - 100 -
course SS 165 - 236 -
SS* 140 - 165 -
MSTAC binder SDL 100 - 100 -
course SS 130 - 195 -
SS* 106 - 135 -
4 MDAC wearing SDL 100 100 100 100
course SS 188 213 200 367
SMA wearing SDL 100 100 100 100
course SS 137 170 257 380
* older asphalt at time of testing compared to other SS wheel track

Table 5 allows the determination of damage factors that give the damage (in terms of practical
rut depth parameters) of a specific type of tyre compared to the damage of another type of tyre. For
instance, compared to the damage caused by the standard dual tyre(SDL), the standard wide base
tyre (SS) gives 1.06 to 2.13 times more damage depending on the type of asphalt mixes applied in
the wearing and binder courses.
In evaluating these damage factors one should realise that in the rutting performance tests the
wheel load of the standard wide base tyre (SS) was 45 kN, while the wheel load of the other tyre
types was 57.5 kN (see Table 2).

12
9 CONCLUSIONS

It appears from the rutting performance tests on 4 test pavements, i.e. 6 test sections, that the de-
velopment of rutting is not only dependent on the tyre type (with specified tyre load and tyre pres-
sure) but also on the type of asphalt mixes applied in the binder course and especially the wearing
course of the motorway pavement structure.
The test section with the polymer-modified Dense Asphaltic Concrete wearing course (4th test
pavement) clearly shows the least rutting and the 1st test pavement with the Dense Asphaltic Con-
crete 80/100 wearing course shows by far the most rutting. The test pavements/sections with either
a Dense Asphaltic Concrete 45/60 or a Porous Asphaltic Concrete or a Stone Mastic Asphalt wear-
ing course show an intermediate, and mutually comparable, rutting behaviour.
The ranking of the damage factor of the 4 tyre types with respect to the practical rut depth is dif-
ferent for on the one hand the 1st test pavement (where problems were encountered with respect to
the bonding between the various asphalt layers) and on the other hand the 2nd, 3rd and 4th test pave-
ment. But on all test pavements/sections the standard wide base tyre (45 kN load) caused (consid-
erably) more rutting than the standard dual tyre (57.5 kN load).
It should be realised that during the rutting performance tests constantly high asphalt tempera-
tures were present, varying from about 40ºC at the pavement surface to about 33ºC at the top of the
cement-bound base. This implies that the temperature gradients in the asphalt during the rutting
performance tests is much smaller than the gradient in actual road pavements under summer condi-
tions with regularly changing air temperature and sun radiation.

Finally it is remarked that parallel to the LINTRACK rutting research a very extensive cyclic
loading triaxial testing program on all the asphalt mixes, applied in the LINTRACK test pave-
ments/sections, is carried out (Houben et al. 2002).

REFERENCES

Dommelen, A.E. van & Houben, L.J.M. 1999. Random generation of Laplace frequency distribution for
the lateral wheel position for the LINTRACK rutting research program. Report 7-99-200-25M, Road and
Railroad Research Laboratory, Delft University of Technology.
Groenendijk, J. 1998. Accelerated testing and surface cracking of asphaltic concrete pavements. PhD
Thesis, Delft University of Technology.
Houben, L.J.M. & Dommelen, A.E. van. 2001. LINTRACK research into Rutting of Asphalt Concrete
Test Pavement 2001. Report 7-01-200-40M, Road and Railroad Research Laboratory, Delft University of
Technology.
Houben, L.J.M., Miradi, A. & Dommelen, A.E. van. 2002. LINTRACK rutting research project – Triaxial
testing program. Proc. 6th Int. Conf. On the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways and Airfields, Lisbon, 24-
26 June 2002. Rotterdam: Balkema.
Houben, L.J.M., Visser, A.F.H.M. & Dommelen, A.E. van. 1999. LINTRACK research into Rutting of
Asphalt Concrete Test Pavement 1998/1999. Report 7-99-200-27M, Road and Railroad Research Laboratory,
Delft University of Technology.
Houben, L.J.M., Visser, A.F.H.M. & Dommelen, A.E. van. 2000a. LINTRACK research into Rutting of
Asphalt Concrete Test Pavement 1999/2000. Report 7-99-200-28M, Road and Railroad Research Laboratory,
Delft University of Technology.
Houben, L.J.M., Visser, A.F.H.M. & Dommelen, A.E. van. 2000b. LINTRACK research into Rutting of
Asphalt Concrete Test Pavement 2000. Report 7-00-200-32M, Road and Railroad Research Laboratory, Delft
University of Technology.

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