Citation

Wambold JC, DeFrain LE, Hegmon RR, McGhee K, Reichert J, Spangler EB. Transp. Res. Rec. 1981; 836: 21-29.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1981, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper is a review of the state of the art of the measurement and analysis techniques used to evaluate road roughness. A summary of some European work is included in this review; however, the emphasis of this paper is on work done in the United States. Road roughness is defined as the deviations of a pavement surface from a true planar surface with characteristic dimensions that affect vehicle dynamics, ride quality, dynamic pavement loads, and pavement drainage. Road roughness is measured by two general types of equipment: profilometers, which measure these characteristic dimensions directly, and response-type equipment, which measure surface roughness as a dynamic response of the measuring equipment to that roughness. This paper discusses (a) the characteristic of road roughness, operating characteristics, and output of each type of roughness measuring equipment and (b) the various methods of analysis and their application to highway safety, ride comfort, dynamic pavement loading, and pavement serviceability. These methods of analysis have been categorized into two general groups: those that provide a single number of index such as root mean square, slope variance, or present serviceability index and those that statistically provide more detail than a single index, such as harmonic analysis or power spectral density. Finally, a summary of present research projects on new equipment and analysis methods is given.