Research ArticleField Measurement and Calibration of HDM-4 Fuel Consumption Model on Interstate Highway in Florida

ABSTRACTFuel consumptions are measured by operating passenger car and tractor-trailer on two interstate roadway sites in Florida. Each site contains flexible pavement and rigid pavement with similar pavement, traffic and environmental condition. Field test reveals that the average fuel consumption differences between vehicle operating on flexible pavement and rigid pavement at given test condition are 4.04% for tractor-trailer and 2.50% for passenger car, with a fuel saving on rigid pavement. The fuel consumption differences are found statistically significant at 95% confidence level for both vehicle types. Test data are then used to calibrate the Highway Development and Management IV (HDM-4) fuel consumption model and model coefficients are obtained for three sets of observations. Field measurement and prediction by calibrated model shows generally good agreement. Nevertheless, verification and adjustment with more experiment or data sources would be expected in future studies.