Analysis of factors affecting the bearing capacity of a principal-type paved highway

The holding power of a highway is one of the most important indicators for its effective operation. The traffic capacity of the road reduces significantly when this indicator decreases. This is especially true for seasonal highway haul. To preserve the holding power of the highway, it should be properly operated with all negative factors taken into account. Currently, many characteristics have been studied and measures have been proposed to reduce the negative impact on the highway. However, multifactorial modeling should be used in complex road processes. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors affecting the holding power of a principle-type paved highway, as well as their significance. According to the results of the literary analysis, 35 factors were identified for the study. Tentatively each factor was placed into one of the groups: natural-climatic, technological, and operational. The analysis of the factors was based on the results of expert assessments. The experts were engineering and technical workers of road enterprises, employees of the Ministry of Transport of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and representatives of the Department of Highways and Urban Structures of the Siberian Federal University, Russia. A total of 18 people participated in the assessment. When analyzing the estimates, the weighting of each factor was determined. The indicators «Soil moisture» and «Pavement material» had the greatest weight of 9.2 %. It was also possible to identify factors with a weight of more than 0.04. The number of such indicators was six. These factors should be the first ones to take into account when controlling the highway holding power. Besides, 17 out of 35 factors with a weighting index of less than 0.025 were assumed insignificant. In assessing the variance and variation, the consistency of expert opinions was determined to be satisfactory. In general, the research results are consistent with those previously obtained and presented in reputable scientific publications. For further laboratory tests it is necessary to take into account the six most significant factors: soil moisture, pavement material, air temperature and solar radiation, the magnitude of the load on the axle of the vehicle and the tire pressure indicator, the number of repetitions of heavy load application and the interval between these applications, the density of layers of pavement and roadbed.