Impact of Wide-Based Tires on the Near-Surface Pavement Stress States Based on Three-Dimensional Tire-Pavement Interaction Model

ABSTRACT The effects of truck tire types on near-surface pavement responses were evaluated via finite element anyalysis. First, two wide-based truck radial tires (425/65R22.5 and 445/50R22.5) were modeled based on the tire geometries and specifications from the tire manufactures. Accordingly, tire-pavement interaction models were developed. These models were then calibrated to make sure models can be used for further evaluation purpose. A study on how truck tire types affect near-surface respones were investigated based on calibrated tire-pavement contact models. The results indicated that the Super Single (SS) (425/65R22.5) tire produced the worst damage to the pavement in terms of top-down cracking and AC rutting in Asphalt Concrete (AC) layers, while New Generation Wide-Based (NGWB) tire (445/50R22.50) induced approximately the same damage as the standard dual tire assembly (11R22.5) evaluated in this study.