Accelerated pavement testing in New Zealand

Accelerated pavement testing has been conducted in New Zealand since the late 1960s.

Key milestones are:

• The first New Zealand accelerated pavement testing machine built in 1969–70 William Paterson’s PhD project
• Used until 1983 – research results justified significant upgrade
• CAPTIF facility built 1984–86
• Major refurbishment 1997–98
• Materials storage and major refurbishment 2012

Clients have included:

• Austroads
• BP Oil International Ltd
• National Roads Board
• Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
• Transfund New Zealand
• Transit New Zealand
• NZ Transport Agency (NZTA)
• Ministry of Transport
• Cement and Concrete Association of New Zealand
• Opus International Consultants

CAPTIF has been used by a number of roading agencies for a diverse range of projects. Among the projects undertaken to date, the OECD’s dynamic interaction of vehicle and infrastructure experiment (DIVINE) project perhaps provides the most outstanding compliment to CAPTIF’s unique abilities.

Accelerated loading facilities throughout OECD member countries were evaluated in terms of their potential to serve the research objective. CAPTIF was selected primarily because, alone among accelerated loading facilities, it was designed to generate realistic dynamic wheel loads. And because the facility has dual arms, so that the effects of two different suspensions can be compared simultaneously. The CAPTIF ‘vehicles’ which apply the loads are fitted with suspensions based on actual heavy vehicle components.

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