In 1988 the texas state department of highways and public transportation initiated a study to develop a strategy to acquire a mobileaccelerated pavement testing device. Many methods were evaluated, and the mobile load simulator (mls) was selected for future application on pavements in texas. The mls, for which a provisional patent exists, incorporates a method of accelerated load application different from existing mobile accelerated pavement testers. A higher degreeof traffic simulation and much higher production rates are attainable with the proposed mls. The role of accelerated pavement testing in texas and the degree of real traffic simulation of the proposed mls are evaluated. A methodology for including environmental effects in accelerated pavement testing is presented. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1293, Backcalculation of pavement moduli 1991 .
Abstract