Citation

Cunagin WD, Grubbs AB. Transp. Res. Rec. 1987; 1123: 112-121.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1987, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Recent field studies have established that operational truck tire inflation pressures are much higher than those typically assumed in the pavement design process. Field data have shown that tire inflation pressures for trucks operating on the highway average between 95 and 100 lb/sq in (psi), whereas 75 to 80 psi is usually assumed in pavement design. Other work has shown that these tire pressures are not uniformly distributed across the area of contact between the tire and the road surface. One of these studies indicated that contact pressures at the outer edge of the contact area can be as high as twice the tire inflation pressure. This situation is suspected of causing significant levels of premature failure in pavement structures in Texas. Presented in this paper are the results of a study into the feasibility of automatically monitoring the contact tire pressures produced by trucks while they are in motion by monitoring tire footprint dimensions and weight. The work undertaken has included (a) a review of principles of tire contact pressure measurement and available sensor technology; (b) an assessment of the feasibility for using each principle/technology for truck contact pressure measurement; and (c) development of the concept for an independent tire contact pressure measurement system, as well as options for incorporating an automatic contact tire pressure-sensing feature into current operational truck weigh-in-motion systems. Described in this paper are the results of work performed by the Texas Transportation Institute, sponsored by the Texas State Department of Highways and Public Transportation in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Language: en

Keywords

PAVEMENTS; MOTOR TRUCKS - Testing; SENSORS; TIRES - Pressure Measurement