Abstract
<jats:p>On the E16 just north of Borlänge, a new research site was installed for collecting data on traffic, climate, and road dynamics. This was done in connection with the reconstruction of the road section from a two-lane road to being a four-lane road. The purpose of the research site is to increase our knowledge of the complex interaction between traffic, climate, and road deterioration during different seasons. The research site is owned by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), which was also responsible for the traffic data collection system, while VTI was responsible for the installation of the road dynamics and climate sensors. This report describes the climate and road dynamics instrumentation that has been installed. The climate sensors consist of temperature sensors in the pavement, a frost rod that measures temperature down to just over two meters depth, two moisture rods that measure the moisture content in the unbound part of the road structure to nearly two meters depth, and an equitensiometer that measures the negative pore water pressure in the subgrade material. Road dynamics sensors consist of asphalt strain gauges that are installed on the underside of the asphalt pavement, as well as stress cells and strain gauges for measuring vertical pressure and strain in the unbound materials in the structure. In addition, geophones and accelerometers were installed, providing a measure of the road's deflections when vehicles pass over the road surface. Two identical sets of road dynamics sensors have been installed in the right wheel path of the out lane in both directions, with the difference that geophones and accelerometers are only in the southbound direction. In total, 24 asphalt strain gauges have been installed, 12 stress cells, 36 EMU coils (28 measurement intervals), 10 geophones, and 6 accelerometers. In the initial measurements, a large proportion of the strain gauges did not deliver good results, and some hardware errors occurred in the data provided by the EMU coils, resulting in difficult-to-interpret results. Measures to remedy this are planned.</jats:p>