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Vehicle Estimated Equivalent Standard Axles (ESA) Tool

Design traffic loading is commonly described in terms of the number of Equivalent Standard Axles (ESA). The Standard Axle is defined as a single axle with dual tyres (SADT) applying a load of 80 kN to the pavement.

This calculator enables determining the number of ESAs and Standard Axle Repetition(s) to cause the same damage (i.e. overall pavement damage when using the empirical procedure, and rutting and loss of surface shape in the mechanistic-empirical design procedure) for a different loaded axle configuration. Note that no ‘road friendly suspension’ adjustment factor is applied by this tool.

For granular pavements with a thin bituminous surfacing, the SAR4 is commonly referred to as ESA. SAR5 relates to the fatigue of asphalt and SAR12 for cemented material. SAR7 relates to rutting and shape loss.

Select from a pre-defined vehicle categories and customise vehicle specific axles and loads to determine the equivalent ESAs for your vehicle.

Select Current Vehicle
N/A
N/A
Typical Max GCM:  N/A
Length:  N/A
Axles:  N/A
Current GCM:  N/A t
Configure Axle Groups

Customise the number of axles, tyres and load for each axle group below.

Current Vehicle: Pavement Wear
ESA (SAR4)

Granular

N/A

Per axle group: N/A

Per payload tonne: N/A

SAR5

Asphalt

N/A

Per axle group: N/A

Per payload tonne: N/A

SAR7

Rutting

N/A

Per axle group: N/A

Per payload tonne: N/A

SAR12

Cemented

N/A

Per axle group: N/A

Per payload tonne: N/A

Group Code Max (t) Load (t) ESA SAR5 SAR7 SAR12
Select Proposed Vehicle
N/A
N/A
Typical Max GCM:  N/A
Length:  N/A
Axles:  N/A
Current GCM:  N/A t
Configure Axle Groups

Customise the number of axles, tyres and load for each axle group below.

Proposed Vehicle: Pavement Wear
ESA (SAR4)

Granular

N/A

Per axle group: N/A

Per payload tonne: N/A

SAR5

Asphalt

N/A

Per axle group: N/A

Per payload tonne: N/A

SAR7

Rutting

N/A

Per axle group: N/A

Per payload tonne: N/A

SAR12

Cemented

N/A

Per axle group: N/A

Per payload tonne: N/A

Group Code Max (t) Load (t) ESA SAR5 SAR7 SAR12
Compare Vehicles
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Current Vehicle Proposed Vehicle Proposed Change
Vehicle
Description N/A N/A
Network / Length N/A N/A
Axles N/A N/A
Payload (t) N/A N/A
GCM (t) / Tare (t) N/A N/A
ESA  (for granular pavements with thin bituminous surfacing)
ESA per payload tonne N/A N/A N/A
ESA per axle group N/A N/A N/A
Total N/A N/A N/A
SAR5  (for asphalt)
SAR5 per payload tonne N/A N/A N/A
SAR5 per axle group N/A N/A N/A
Total N/A N/A N/A
SAR7  (for rutting and shape loss)
SAR7 per payload tonne N/A N/A N/A
SAR7 per axle group N/A N/A N/A
Total N/A N/A N/A
SAR12  (for cemented)
SAR12 per payload tonne N/A N/A N/A
SAR12 per axle group N/A N/A N/A
Total N/A N/A N/A