European Co-operation in Accelerated Load Testing – COST 347

Abstract

Investment in road construction and maintenance in Europe is at a very high level and any improvement will significantly affect the overall benefit cost analysis. An important way of analysing road pavements or maintenance options before commencing the expensive process of road construction is accelerated load testing (ALT). Traditionally, most ALT research has been conducted through national programs, but a Pan-European approach would be more efficient with regard to investment as well as acceptance of results. Since 2000, 17 European countries have been involved in COST 347 ‘Improvements in Pavement Research with Accelerated Load Testing’ under the European Commission with the main objective to harmonise the efforts of the individual European countries. The harmonisation was aimed at securing more efficient use of the ALT facilities in Europe through sharing of results, common testing methods and joint projects. In addition to the European countries, representatives from North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand have played
active roles in COST 347 thus creating a world wide ALT network. The Final Report of COST 347 is now available and the results are impressive. The main result is a common code of good practice for the use of ALT, which ties together the results of the work in COST 347. The common code is seen as a major tool for improving European co-operation in ALT. Among the specific results from COST 347 are a catalogue of European ALT facilities, and a
database of European ALT research projects and reference literature. The use of ALT in connection with other types of pavement research like desk studies, computer modelling, laboratory studies and test roads is discussed and finally a catalogue of ideas for future ALT applications is presented.