Analysis of Current Truck Tire Pressure Levels on the Kingdom's Road Network PDF

Keywords

tire pressure, tensile strain, trucks

Abstract

Truck tire pressure is one of the main traffic inputs to any pavement analysis procedure. High tire pressure levels are known to have two effects. The first effect is related to the pavement structure. The second effect is related to vehicle operators. High tire pressure levels produce higher levels of stresses and strains in pavement structures, thus reducing their servile lives. On the other hand, higher levels of tire pressure result in less contact with pavement surface, thus reducing the energy consumed by the traffic. The main purpose of this study was to identify the operating levels of truck tire pressure in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and to analyze the effects of those levels on main pavements response parameters. The results presented in this paper are based on a sample of 1658 trucks. The sample data was collected from seven weight stations located on different locations on the Kingdom's highway network. Tire pressure measurements were obtained from about 22760 tires. In addition, axle loads and wheel spacings were also collected to allow a theoretical analysis of the effect of tire pressure levels on pavement responses. The effect of the sample operating levels of tire pressure on pavement response parameters was conducted using two Elastic Layer System computer programs (ELSYM5 and DAMA), to study the effect of tire pressure levels on pavement response parameters and the corresponding effect on pavement service life. Pavement response parameters included in this analysis were: surface deflection, tensile strain at the bottom of the lowest bituminous layer and the compressive strain at the top of subgrade. The results indicated that the operating levels of tire pressure are very high (about 96% of the sample are operated with tire pressure higher than 90 psi [621 kPal]) Tensile strain was found to be the most effected pavement response due to the high levels of tire pressure. The analysis showed that current tire pressure levels produce tensile strains of 5% to 53% higher than those produced under a standard tire pressure of 90 psi (621 kPa) which can cause reduction in pavement service lives ranging from 20% to 70%