Falling weight deflectometer (FWD) is widely used as one of the most reliable and cost-effective methods to assess the bearing capacity of a pavement structure and its separate layers. Although FWD-based bearing capacity measurement and evaluation techniques were fairly well developed over several decades, little attention was paid to roads with low traffic flow. The applicability of existing techniques to evaluate bearing capacity of low-volume road pavements is limited. Furthermore, the results of the analysis may be inconsistent with the complete set of data, which includes visual pavement condition and structure material sampling data. This leads to subjective treatment of research results and the risk of questionable decisions. This article reviews commonly used pavement bearing capacity analysis techniques and presents the practice applied in Lithuania. Case studies on low-volume roads highlight limitations and possible improvements in methodology to optimise the assessment of the pavement condition of low-traffic roads and related decision-making.

Pavement condition; bearing capacity; FWD; deflection; falling-weight-deflectometer