Citation

Quinn BE, DeVries TW. Highw. Res. Board bull. 1960; 250: 20-39.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1960, National Research Council (U.S.A.), Highway Research Board)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The performance of a vehicle on a highway depends on the characteristics of both the highway and vehicle. In this paper the term "performance" pertains to the vertical dynamic force that the wheels of a moving vehicle exert on the highway as a result of variations in the pavement profile. A fundamental problem considered in this investigation is that of selecting highway and vehicle characteristics that will enable a prediction of the dynamic force to be made. The power spectrum of the highway elevations is found to be useful for this purpose, and an experimental procedure is described for obtaining this information. The vehicle characteristic of greatest usefulness is the steady-state sinusoidal relationship betwen the vertical displacement, x, of the bottom of the tire and the vertical force, f, that the tire exerts on the supporting surface. This f/x relationship is determined experimentally for three different vehicles and is found to be non-linear inasmuch as it varies with the amplitude of the displacement, x. Other vehicle characteristics involving f are also presented. The effect of vehicle speed is seen to be significant in the special situation in which a section of highway considered "smooth" produces a higher mean squared force than a section considered "rough".