An Economic Assessment Model for Asphalt Pavement Design Considering Energy Efficient Platooning of Automated Trucks

Truck platooning has garnered significant interest over the last decade due to its potential to reduce aerodynamic drag and energy consumption compared with conventional crewed operations. However, the unique axial load spectra induced by truck platooning, which critically impact pavement service life, remain inadequately addressed in existing structural design methodologies. This study proposes a novel pavement design model based on vehicle–pavement economic assessment from the perspective of a vehicle–road–cloud collaborative system. The factors influencing the drag coefficient are studied through computer aerodynamic simulations, and a prediction model for aerodynamic drag is developed. A novel fatigue model incorporating platoon-induced aerodynamic effects is proposed and calibrated based on software simulations. Subsequently, by employing multiobjective optimization on the cloud side, a new scheme for optimizing pavement design under full truck platooning scenarios is proposed, balancing pavement service life and platooning energy efficiency, and it is confirmed to be economically efficient and adaptable for future automated truck platooning transport.