Evaluating the impact of overweight trucks on rigid pavement performance using AASHTOWare pavement ME design

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of overweight vehicles on pavement performance over its design life, with Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCPs) particularly considered for analysis. The Long-Term Pavement Performance database was used to provide information on pavement construction, age, overall structure, specific traffic inputs, and recorded historical pavement performance. AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design (PMED) was used to analyze data extracted from LTPP based on legislation by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) regulating gross vehicle weight (GVW) and single and tandem axle weights of overweight trucks (OWTs) to estimate pavement performance and service life. The overall findings indicated that although increasing overweight by 20% on single or tandem axles could considerably reduce pavement service life by up to 20% in the various scenarios examined in this study, OWT exceeding the GVW limit legally-allowed by FHWA could damage pavement more than OWT exceeding axle weight limits.