B-Å. Hultqvist
Highway Engineering Department, Road and Transport Research Institute VTI
(Viario Institute of Research and Transport), Sweden

ABSTRACT
With the aim of improving knowledge about the relationship between fuel consumption and the type of firm, he was commissioned the Swedish National Institute of Road Transport Research (VTI) to investigate the difference between bituminous and concrete pavements. For this reason, they carried out a series of measures north of Uppsala, in Sweden; where one highway included sections of both types.

Before the measurements, a pilot study to calibrate the methodology and acquire an initial idea of ​​possible differences between the two types of flooring was made. The trials proved that there were differences and this led to the realization of large-scale study, which concluded that the differences in measurements were related to the surface texture of the pavement. a special vehicle for assaying the road surface (RST) and analyze its properties (for example, the average depth of the irregularities of the pavement, MPD) was used. These measurements revealed that both floors were virtually identical in terms of longitudinal and transverse slope, but the asphalt pavement had a macrotexture (MPD) rougher than the concrete pavement.

The measurements showed a saving in fuel consumption of a 1,1% in concrete pavement compared to the asphalt pavement, these being statistically representative results. The difference is mainly attributed to the different macrotextures pavement.

In the summer of 2009, measurements with very heavy vehicles, "megatrucks" (from 60 tons), Scania R500 were made. The results showed that the difference in fuel consumption could be higher in trucks cars, especially during the summer, when the rigidity of the final bituminous is lower.

Keywords: Pavement; Concrete; Bituminous mixture; Sign rigid; Flexible firm; Gas; fuel consumption; Texture; MACR