ESAL and Axle Loading

Download as docx, pdf, or txt
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 4

Equivalent single axle load (ESAL)

Vehicle Damage factor (VDF)

Axle loading
An accurate estimate of the current traffic loading is essential for an appropriate pavement
design. Traffic volumes can be determined by traffic counts, but for current vehicle loads can be
found by an axle load survey. It is not rational to design pavement layer on the basis of legal
axle load limits because of the widespread problem of overloading. In addition to this, the
proportion of vehicles with partially loaded in unknown. In these circumstances of axle loading,
pavement design across the world is accepted to design on the basis of Standard Axle i.e. 8.16
tonnes (80 kN). In Nepal, the legal axle load limit is 10.2 tonnes.
There are several basic vehicle wheel arrangements: Single wheel, duel wheel, single axle and
tandem axle. The maximum legal single axle load in Nepal is 8.16 (8.2 ton). Loads per wheel
equal to the axle load divided by the number of wheels.

Equivalence factor/ EALF


The damage that vehicles do to a road pavement depends very strongly on the axle loads of the vehicles.
For pavement design purposes the damaging power of axles is related to a 'standard' axle of 8.16 tonnes
(80 KN) using
equivalence factors which have been derived from empirical studies. In order to determine the cumulative
axle load damage that a pavement will sustain during its design life, it is necessary to express the total
number of heavy vehicles that will use the road over this period in terms of the cumulative number of
equivalent standard axles (esa).
Axle load surveys must be carried out to determine the axle load distribution of a sample of the heavy
vehicles using
the road. Data collected from these surveys are used to calculate the mean number of equivalent standard
axles for
a typical vehicle in each class. These values are then used in conjunction with traffic forecasts to
determine the predicted cumulative equivalent standard axles that the road will carry over its design life.
Equivalence factor is calculated by using the following relationships:
Forth power Rule

Conversion of Different Axle loads to single equivalent axle load


Nos of Standard axles = (EALF*no of Axle), EALF must be calculated a/c to above formula

Vehicle Damage Factor (VDF)

Where sufficient information on axle load is not available and project size does not warrant conducting an
axle load
survey, the indicative values of Vehicle damage factor (VDF) may be used as given in the table below.
The Vehicle Damage factor (VDF) is the multiplier to convert the number of commercial vehicles of
different axle loads and axle configuration to the number of standard axle load repetitions. It is defined as
equivalent number of standard axle per commercial vehicle. The VDF varies with the vehicle axle
configuration, axle loading, and terrain type and from region to region. The VDF is arrived at axle load
surveys on typical sections so as to cover various influencing factors, such as traffic mix, mode of
transportation, commodities carried, time of the year, terrain, road conditions and degree of enforcement.

For the design purposes, it is necessary to convert numbers of commercial vehicles of different axle load
into to the number of standard axle load repetitions.

VDF = (Nos. of St axles/Nos. of trucks sample (vehicle sample))


For VDF calculation nos of standard axles must be calculated from axle load survey.

ESAL

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy