Objective
Primary Objectives
To establish the relative effects of wide-base single tyres and dual tyre assemblies in respect of road pavement damage, vehicle operating costs, vehicle safety and comfort, and environment (particularly noise).
The Action will also contribute strongly to the development of vehicle operating-cost models and to the wider use of whole-life cost models for road pavements.
Secondary Objectives
The Action will generate information which will be useful in several other respects. These will include, for example, data (where available) on tyre wear for input to a vehicle operating cost model, the effects of tyre type, tyre and axle configuration on payload stress and information on rolling resistance of different tyre types.
The information obtained through the Action will also assist in the design of vehicles intended for use with wide single tyres and, on a broader scale, more effective network management should become possible as a result of road wear to the pavement.
Current status
At the time of writing, the Action has recently begun its three year work program. During this time, much work has been done on the Literature Review task, and a mature first draft has been produced. The task, including evaluation, is programmed for completion in late 1997. In addition, the detailed work programmes for a number of the other tasks have been agreed.
One of the major benefits of work undertaken within the Action will also be to input to legislation at national and European level, and the Management Committee has entered into discussions with the European Commission on the subject in order to determine the most appropriate methods. Overall, the work is progressing according to the planned programme.
Work planned
The Action has a mandate until September 1999, and all of the tasks are due for completion during this time. These are as follows :
literature review and evaluation;
specification of experimental work;
specification, development and validation of a European Vehicle Operating Cost (VOC) model;
assessment of pavement wear effects;
assessment of non-pavement effects;
report on the consequences of using different tyre types;
report on specific case studies and their evaluation;
guidelines document.
Work is due to begin on the VOC Model, Pavement Wear and Non-Pavement Effects work packages in mid-1997, while the later work packages will not be addressed until 1998. All will be completed in early 1999, with the exception of work on the Guidelines document and Final Report, which will be carried out in 1999.
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
Data not availableCoordinator
1049 Brussels
Belgium