Equivalent standard axle load and number of heavy truck vehicles as a parameter in the pavement design

Abstract

One of the most important parameters in pavement design is the traffic load. In Serbia, the traffic load is expressed in the number of crossings of an equivalent standard axle. The following parameters are important for the calculation of the equivalent traffic load: average annual daily traffic, project period, percentage of cargo capacity utilization as well as the growth factor of the number of heavy truck vehicles, since passenger cars are not taken into account when calculating the traffic load.In this paper, an analysis of the factors of change in the number of heavy truck vehicles on the national road network of the Republic of Serbia was carried out. The period from 2014 to 2023 is covered. Data were analyzed for those sections that had traffic counts for each of the ten years. A total of 701 road sections were analyzed. By analysis, it was obtained that the average growth rate on the national road network of Serbia is +4.48%, and if we look only at highways, that rate is +7.98%.