Title: Properties of random component of longitudinal road profile influenced by local obstacles

Authors: Peter Mucka, Oldrich Kropac

Addresses: Institute of Materials and Machine Mechanics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Racianska 75, 831 02 Bratislava 3, Slovak Republic. ' Kankovskeho 1241/2, 182 00 Prague 8, Czech Republic

Abstract: This paper describes the statistical properties of the pure random component of longitudinal road profile. The individual obstacles were removed from the road profile by median filtering approach. A total of 25,830 test sections records from the long-term pavement performance (LTPP) programme were analysed. The differences between asphalt concrete (AC) and cement concrete (CC) wearing courses were outlined. The comparison was shown on statistics (mean, median, standard deviation values) and probability density functions (PDFs) of contemporary used road indices (international roughness index (IRI), road elevation variance, power spectrum density (PSD) parameters in one-, two- and three-wavelength bands, etc.). The simulation study revealed the marked influence of obstacles on the road indices. The spectral properties of the pure random part were quantified.

Keywords: longitudinal road profile; road roughness; vibration; PSD; power spectral density; unevenness index; waviness; IRI; international roughness index; LTPP; long-term pavement performance; local obstacles; median filtering; asphalt concrete; cement concrete; concrete wear.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVSMT.2009.032019

International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, 2009 Vol.4 No.4, pp.256 - 276

Received: 16 Mar 2009
Accepted: 16 Sep 2009

Published online: 04 Mar 2010 *

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