Temperature effect on flexural bowl determined by falling weight deflectometer testing

Abstract

The article presents the research results of the temperature influence on the flexural bowl on the road surface determined by falling weight deflectometer testing. The work relevance is conditioned by the high temperature effect of asphalt concrete on test results and the need to take it into account by bringing the results obtained at the actual temperature to a comparable form with the design data, when performing diagnostics of operating highways.Experiments identify the temperature factors that have an impact on the flexural bowl parameters. Temperature dependences are suggested for the flexural bowl on different road surfaces. A falling weight deflectometer is used to simulate the load produced by a moving truck, equipped with deflection meters located at the load center and various distances from it. Together with flexure bowl measurements, the temperatures of air, pavement and asphalt concrete at various depth is determined and dependences of these parameters are plotted.The paper identifies factors that have the greatest influence on the flexural bowl parameters. The results make it possible to bring flexural bowls into a form comparable with design values and subsequently use them to determine the overall bearing capacity of the pavement as well as to assess the condition of individual structural layers, thereby increasing the reliability of repair measures.