The impact of truck platooning action on asphalt pavement: a parametric study

ABSTRACT

Partially/fully self-driven trucks in platoon configurations promise to increase transport efficiency, reduce fuel consumption/gas emissions and improve road safety through the use of connectivity technologies and automated driving support systems. However, truck platooning means the introduction of new types of loads on pavements which are characterised by: multiple loads, generated by the multi-axle configurations of the different trucks forming the platoon, traffic channelisation by the reduction of the lateral deviation of the trucks, and reduced inter-truck time gaps, which may reduce the self-recovery capacity of asphalt concrete materials, reducing the pavement service life. In this context, this study presents a parametric analysis carried out to evaluate a pavement structure subjected to several platoon truck configurations. The results of the study indicated that to keep the same pavement structural response as for individual trucks, it is possible to act on the following parameters in the platoon configuration: traffic distribution along the year and along the time of the day (avoiding traffic at higher temperatures), percentage of platoon penetration in the daily and annual traffic, level of loading of the trucks, number of trucks in platoon configuration, wandering, and inter-truck time-gaps/distances.

KEYWORDS:

• Truck platooning
• autonomous trucks
• pavement performance
• wandering
• multi-axle loads
• reduced rest periods

Acknowledgements

The research presented in this paper is part of the ENSEMBLE project, co-funded by the European Union under the Horizon2020 Research and Innovation Program, under grant agreement No 769115.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Horizon 2020 Framework Programme: [Grant Number Grant agreement No 769115].