Evaluation Method for the Impacts of Truck Platoons Lateral Control on Pavement Performance

The introduction of autonomous truck platoons is expected to result in drastic changes in operational characteristics of freight shipments, which may in turn have significant impacts on efficiency, energy consumption, and infrastructure durability. Since the lateral positions of autonomous trucks traveling consecutively within a lane are fixed and similar (channelized traffic), such platooning operations are likely to accelerate damage accumulation within pavement structures. To further advance the application of truck platooning technology in various pavement environments, this study develops a flexible evaluation method to evaluate the impact of lateral arrangement within autonomous truck platoons on asphalt pavement performance. This method simplifies the impact of intermittent axle load applications along the driving direction within a platoon, supporting platoon controllers in directly evaluating pavement damage for different platoon configurations. Specifically, a truck platoon axle load lateral distribution function is proposed to characterize the cumulative damage effects of the platoon on the pavement, enabling the analysis of rutting performance and longitudinal tensile stress at the bottom layer under varying platoon offset values and distribution patterns. Case study analyses demonstrate the application of this evaluation method, validating its feasibility. The results reveal that the uniform offset lateral distribution scheme causes less structural damage to the pavement. When wheel path overlap is minimized and a tighter wheel path distribution is achieved, it can effectively reduce pavement structural damage.