TRB hosts wide-base tires webinar

On September 10, 2013, the Transportation Research Board will conduct a webinar titled “Impacts of Wide-Base Tires (WBT) on Pavement Performance.” Webinar presenters are Eric Weaver, FHWA; Imad Al-Qadi and Jaime Hernandez-Urrea, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Hao Wang, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The webinar will cover:

• The importance of considering three-dimensional (vertical, longitudinal, and transverse) contact stresses for pavement modeling and response prediction.
• Flexible pavement damage prediction using pavement response and distresses.
• Effect of WBT on various pavement structures and their corresponding response.
• Impact of using WBT on pavement use cost.

To learn more about the webinar or to register, please visit the TRB website.

Several ICT researchers are part of an ongoing pooled fund study to model and validate the use of wide-base tires as an alternative to the conventional dual-tire system on trucks. The study, DTFH61-11-C-00025: The Impact of Wide-Base Tires on Pavement—A National Study, is conducted in cooperation with the Illinois Center for Transportation; the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration; the Rubber Manufacturers Association, and state departments of transportation for Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. This research is led by ICT in collaboration with Delft University in the Netherlands, the University of California-Davis, Florida DOT, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa.