Assessment of Interaction Between Road Roughness and Heavy Vehicles

Abstract

Road surface roughness excites low- and high-frequency vibration modes of a heavy articulated vehicle body. These vibrations result in motions in all directions that detract from the driver’s perceived ride and comfort and increase pavement damage due to dynamic wheel loads (DWLs). A subjective assessment survey was conducted to identify surface roughness characteristics that mainly influence the perceptions of heavy-vehicle drivers of pavement rideability and their comfort. The latter was achieved by correlating drivers’ ratings to roughness contents in different roughness wavebands. The results indicated that the drivers mainly object to low-frequency body vibrations excited by roughness wavelengths in the range of 4.88 to 19.5 m. Roughness content in this band was used to establish a new profile-based index called the profile index for truck ( PIt). Drivers consider pavement rideability to be poor when PIt exceeds 2.75 m/km. PIt provides better predictions of heavy vehicle ride than the international roughness index (IRI). The methodology for developing the PIt and assessment of its reliability as a measure of heavy vehicle ride are described. The latter was achieved by testing the statistical significance of the effects of factors other than road roughness that influence the perceived ride of truck drivers. They include factors related to the vehicle, the road, and the driver as well as situational factors. In addition, PIt was found to be a better indicator than IRI of the levels of whole body vibrations transmitted to the driver through the seat and a better predictor of the magnitude of DWL to which the test pavements are subject.

Current approaches to quantify the longitudinal road roughness

“…A subjective assessment survey was conducted to identify surface roughness characteristics that mainly influence the perceptions of heavy-vehicle drivers of pavement rideability and their comfort (Hassan and McManus 2003). The latter was achieved by correlating drivers' ratings to roughness contents in different roughness wavebands.…”

Passsenger Ride Comfort and International Roughness Index Specifications in the Slovak Republic

“…Such results have not been previously summarized and discussed. Field measurements that reported this relation were rare in the past and most measurements were provided only in recent years [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Comprehensive overview of published relations between the WBV and IRI was provided in [16].…”

International Roughness Index Thresholds Based on Whole-Body Vibration in Passenger Cars

“…Field measurements are still rare and have only been available in recent years ( 4–14 ). An overview of published relationships between WBV and IRI was provided in Múčka ( 15 ).…”

“…An overview of published relationships between WBV and IRI was provided in Múčka ( 15 ). Measurements have been taken for: a passenger car using a dummy ( 9 ), a luxury sport utility vehicle (SUV) ( 11 ), a luxury sedan ( 16 ), a multifunctioning vehicle ( 12, 13 ), a van ( 10 ), a van and ambulance ( 4 ), a bus ( 6 ), and a truck with trailer ( 4, 7 ). Vehicle speeds ranged from 30 to 120 km/h.…”

“…The total length of the processed sections ranged from several hundred meters to 58 km ( 4 ). Wheel path(s) used for IRI calculation were mostly not introduced in ( 4–14 ). The elapsed time between road roughness and vibration measurements was not reported.…”