CivE 542

Pavement Structural Design

Lecture 2: Traffic Loading
and Volume
El-Hakim

Lecture Outline

Traffic Data
Challenge
Single Load Equivalency (Solution!)
AASHTO Road Test
Relative Damage
Truck Factor
Variation of Truck Flows and Loads
Load Equivalency Factors (LEF)
Equivalent Single Axle Load (ESAL)

Traffic Data

Regional Traffic Office

Commercial Vehicle Surveys
Transportation Planning Branch
Weigh-In-Motion (WIM)
Vehicle Inspection Stations (Static Scales)

Challenge

Challenge

Challenge

Challenge
Traffic Data
Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT)
Percentage of Commercial Vehicles
Truck Count Survey

Single Load Equivalency

Load Equivalency Factor
Standard Axle is 18 kip (18,000 lbs or 80.1 KN)
Damage caused by an X lbs axle is equivalent
to damage caused by LEF number of standard
axles (18,000 lbs)

Single Load Equivalency

Example
100,000 reps of 18 kip (Single Axle Loads)
14,347 reps of 30 kip load (Single Axle Loads)
Find LEF 30 kip SAL
LEF30-kip single = 100,000/14,347 = 6.97

Single Load Equivalency

Definition According to AASHTO
LEF =

LEF =

Number of Standard Axle Loads (80KN)

Number of a given axles load (e.g. 133
KN) required to cause a certain level of
damage
N80KN
N133KN

AASHTO Road Test

American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials

Relative Damage
Example
Whats the Relative Damage of 36 kip single
axle compared to 18 kip standard single axle?
LEF= (36/18)4 = 16
Fourth Power Law
Relative Damage = (Ratio between axle loads)4

Relative Damage

Relative Damage

Single Axle Load (kip)

Truck Factor
Average amount of Damage done by one
vehicle
Expressed for various vehicle classes

Truck Factor

Truck Factor

Truck Factor

Truck Factor

Variation of Truck Flows and

Loads
Variability in Truck Traffic Pattern
Site Specific Variation
Time Specific Variation
Day of Week Variation
Season of Year Variation
Geographic Location

Variation of Truck Flows and

Loads
Site specific estimates of truck loads are
better than mean Truck Factor estimates
Number of data collection sites are limited
by cost and available workforce

Load Equivalency Factors

Load Equivalency Factors

Fourth Power Law
4

LEF=

Axle Load
Standard Load

LEF and ESAL

Load Equivalency Factor (LEF): Measure of
relative damage of an axle
Equivalent Single Axle Load (ESAL):
Measure of relative damage associated with
a truck
Design Application: Convert Trucks to
ESALS

Equivalent Single Axle Load

(ESAL)

Equivalent Single Axle Load

(ESAL)

ESAL

Example

Single Axles
Truck Classes
Load (lbs)

22,000

206

57

70

26,000

100

69

64

29,000

74

52

50

32,000

59

48

38

Tandem Axles
Truck Classes
Load (lbs)

22,000

163

74

65

26,000

156

52

57

29,000

120

47

48

32,000

93

45

36

ESAL
MTO Tables Refer to MTO report posted on
LEARN

ESAL (Approx)
ESAL = [AADT(one direction)]
x [Heavy Vehicle (Truck) %]
x [Heavy Vehicle Distribution Factor]
x [Truck Factor]
x [Traffic Days per Design Period]
AADT: Average Annual Daily Traffic (all lanes, per directions)
HVDF: Percent of heavy vehicles in the design lane)
TF: Number of Equivalent Axle Loads per Heavy Vehicle

Example

ESAL (Approx)

AADT (Both Directions)=10,000 %Trucks = 12%

4-lane road
90% trucks in Outer Lane (Design Lane)
ESAL per Truck = 3 ESALs
Design period = 20 years
Trucks per day (one Direction) = 10,000 x 0.5 x 0.12 = 600
Trucks per day on Design Lane = 600 x 0.9 = 540
Cumulative Trucks on Design lane in Design Period = 540 x
365 x 20 = 3,942,000
Design ESAL per Design Period = 3,942,000 x 3 = 11.826 M
ESAL

Traffic Database

Ontario - MTO
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/iCorridor/

Thank you
Questions