Measuring the Bearing Capacity of Forest Roads with an Improved Benkelman Beam Apparatus

Abstract

Abstract Bearing capacity measurements of roads were traditionally carried out using the Benkelman beam. The Benkelman beam measurements provide the maximum vertical deflection of the pavement under 50 kN of wheel load. Nowadays the bearing capacity of public roads is measured with falling weight deflectometers. Falling weight deflectometer measurements provide the full deflection basin. It is convenient to use these high precision instruments on forest roads, but their application is inefficient and costly. The Department of Forest Opening Up developed a new method to measure the full deflection basin with the Benkelman beam. Besides the instrument improvement the authors developed a new method for the processing of the deflection basin data. Results are presented through the case study of a 2nd class opening up forest road.