The OECD Expert Group responsible for this Report brought together vehicle, pavement and policy experts and industry representatives to produce a state-of-the-art assessment of the significance of dynamic road loading. Seventeen countries participated as well as the Commission of the European Communities and four truck manufacturers. The Report covers the nature of dynamic wheel loading from heavy vehicles (Chapter 2), effects on pavements and bridges (Chapters 3 and 4), the effects of vehicle design and operation (Chapter 5), policy options (Chapter 6) and needs for research co-ordination (Chapter 7). The five annexes present a glossary of terms and reviews of vehicle, pavement and profile measurement methods as well as weigh-in-motion. Research has shown that vertical dynamics, excited by road surface roughness of various wave lengths cause moving dynamic wheel loads of up to 40 per cent of the stationary constant wheel loads. The Group's detailed conclusions and recommendations are presented in Chapter 8. The Report recommends a co-operative international research programme involving (I) a common accelerated pavement loading test directly comparing the effects of conventional and "road friendly" suspensions on road wear, (II) cross-referencing of road, laboratory and simulation techniques for assessing dynamic pavement loading and (III) research into the spatial distribution of moving dynamic wheel load peaks from actual heavy vehicle traffic.
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