The Design, Construction and Operation of the APT Facility at the University of Texas at Arlington

The University of Texas at Arlington has decided to own and operate an Accelerated Pavement Testing (APT) facility in 2012 to expand its research capabilities. The facility is located in the Dallas-Fort Worth urban area on university owned land. The loading machine is a mobile linear device capable of loading two pavements simultaneously at a rate of about 100,000 passes per week. The maximum axle load that can be applied is 162 kN (36 kip). Uni-directional and bi-directional loading can be accommodated. Controlled heating and cooling of the air above the tested pavement section is also possible. The facility and the loading machine were designed and built entirely with internal funds over an eighteen-month period. Two research projects have been conducted in close collaboration with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) to study the optimization of asphalt mixes containing various percentages of Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and Recycled Asphalt Shingles (RAS). The paper presents the development of the APT facility and the main features of the loading machine and discusses the experience with the construction and the four-year long operation. The reasoning behind the design choices, the financial decision making, the challenges as well as the successes are highlighted.