The influence of tyre characteristics on the normal stresses in asphalt concrete pavements

In contradiction to the general idea of road mechanic engineers the tire stress distribution in the contact area between tire and roadway exhibits a highly non-uniform three-dimensional (3D) character instead of a uniform vertical one. In this paper an example of this 3D stress distribution is conducted out of literature. With the linear elastic multi-layer program BISAR the normal stresses in an asphalt concrete layer are calculated due to this stress distribution. From these calculations it is concluded tnat the normal stresses at the bottom of the asphalt concrete layer are hardly" influenced by the stress distribution in the contact area. However large tensile stresses occur at the surface of the asphalt concrete layer due to the transverse shear stress component of the 3D distribution. These tensile stresses can cause longitudinal cracks at the surface of asphalt concrete layers.