Model Development, Field Section Characterization, and Model Comparison for Excess Vehicle Fuel Use Attributed to Pavement Structural Response

Key words: In this study, consumption of energy attributed to pavement structural response through viscoelastic deformation of asphalt pavement materials under vehicle loading was predicted for 17 field sections in California by using three different models. Calculated dissipated energy values were converted to excess fuel consumption (EFC) to facilitate comparisons under different traffic loads (car, SUV, and truck) and speeds and different temperature conditions. The goal of the study was to compare the different modeling approaches and provide first-level estimates of EFC in preparation for simulations of annual EFC for different traffic and climate scenarios, as well as different types of pavement structures on the California state highway network. Comparison of the predicted EFC for test sections showed that all three models produced different results, which can be attributed to the differences in the three modeling approaches. However, predictions from the three models were generally of the same order of magnitude or an order of magnitude different, indicating that overall these models can be calibrated with data from field measurements, which is the next step in the research program.