Comparing Rutting Performance Under a Heavy Vehicle Simulator to Rutting Performance at the NCAT Pavement Test Track

The Pavement Test Track is a full-scale, accelerated performance test facility for flexible pavements managed by the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) at Auburn University. Forty-six unique 200-foot test sections are installed around a 1.7-mile oval and subjected to accelerated damage via a fleet of tractors pulling heavy triple trailers. Methods and materials that produce better performance for research sponsors are identified so that future pavements can be selected based on objective life cycle comparisons. Using two sections built for the second cycle of testing, NCAT was asked by the research sponsor to validate rutting performance findings obtained with a Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS).A rutting performance model was previously developed using load-temperature spectra data from the first cycle of testing at the NCAT track. In this approach, separate model parameters account for the effect of age-hardening and temperature sensitivity of hot-mix asphalt. These two parameters were used to convert performance data over the range of ages and temperatures relevant to the second cycle of track testing to the single age and temperature relevant to the HVS experiment. The conversion process for track data and a comparison to the HVS data are presented herein.