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Mechanistic Basis for Permit Fee Decision of Superloads Traveling on Low-Volume Roads Using Structural Damage Evaluation

Date and Time: Wednesday, July 26: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Grand Ballroom A

 

Lead Presenter: Yongsung Koh

Ph.D. candidate, Iowa State University

Speaker Biography

Yongsung Koh received his M.Sc. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2013. After receiving a master's degree, he worked as a structural engineer in a private design company for five years. Currently, he is a Ph.D. candidate in Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at Iowa State University. The main research interest of Yongsung is on the Mechanistic-Empirical (M-E) analysis and design of pavement structures, especially those under superheavy loadings.

Co-Authors 

Halil Ceylan, Ph.D., Dist.M.ASCE, Pitt-Des Moines, Inc. Professor in Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering (CCEE), Iowa State University; Sunghwan Kim, Ph.D., P.E., Associate Director of PROSPER, Iowa State University; In Ho Cho, Ph.D., Associate Professor in CCEE, Iowa State University.

Presentation Description/Paper Summary

Superloads, including Implements of Husbandry and Superheavy Loads transporting significant amounts of heavy agricultural and industrial products, frequently travel on county or municipal roads designed for low-volume traffic so as not to interrupt highway traffic flow by their slow-moving behavior and wide vehicle widths. Such non-standardized loading configurations and high gross vehicle and axle weights of superloads have significant potential for causing unexpectedly greater distress on low-volume roads than general vehicle classes categorized by the Federal Highway Administration. To evaluate the impact of superloads on paved and granular roads designed for low-volume traffic, a mechanistic road structural and damage-associated cost analysis is needed for predicting unexpected damage induced by various types of superloads, and to provide a logical basis for superload permit fee decisions. In this study, a Layered Elastic Theory-based road and pavement analysis was performed to quantify damages to flexible pavements and granular roads caused by superloads. Road-damage-associated costs of flexible pavements and granular roads subjected to a single pass of various superload types were also derived and compared through multivariate life cycle cost analysis. Suggested potential permit fees for each type of superload traveling under different road conditions were developed by calculating damage-associated costs related to traffic, road structure, material, and treatment types.

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