HIGH-SPEED ROAD PROFILE EQUIPMENT EVALUATION

EQUIPMENT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR MEASURING PAVEMENT ROUGHNESS LIMITS THE ACCURACY AND SPEED OF MEASURING THE TRUE ROAD PROFILE. GREATER ACCURACY GENERALLY IS POSSIBLE WITH THE SLOWER EQUIPMENT, BUT A DEVICE CAPABLE OF MEASURING ROAD ROUGHNESS MORE RAPIDLY AND WITH GREATER ACCURACY THAN IS PRESENTLY POSSIBLE REQUIRED. LONG-WAVELENGTH ROUGHNESS /OVER 25 FT/ IS NOT BEING EVALUATED SATISFACTORILY. OF THE EQUIPMENT INVESTIGATED, ONLY THE SMALL, COMPACT AND RELATIVELY INEXPENSIVE PROFILOMETER DEVELOPED BY GENERAL MOTORS APPEARS CAPABLE OF ACCURATE PROFILE MEASUREMENTS. AN ANALOG COMPUTER INTEGRATES THE ACCELERATION SIGNAL OF THE DEVICE TWICE AND SUMS THE RESULTING VERTICAL MOTIONS WITH A VERTICAL MOTION TRANSDUCER TO OBTAIN TRUE PROFILE. THE DEVICE GIVES A GOOD INDICATION OF TRUE PROFILE FOR WAVE- LENGTHS SHORTER THAN ABOUT 200 FT AND PRODUCES A SIGNAL PROPORTIONAL TO TRUE PROFILE FOR LONGER WAVELENGTHS. THE MAIN DRAWBACK OF THIS PROFILOMETER IS ITS OUTPUT, WHICH IS AN ANALOG RECORD OF THE PAVEMENT SURFACE. USE OF THE DEVICE FOR ONLY 4 HOURS PER DAY AT 50 MPH COULD RESULT IN 200 MI OF PROFILE PER DAY. IT IS UNECONOMICAL AND ALMOST HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE TO READ SUCH QUANTITIES OF DATA WITH HAND METHODS. COUPLING ELECTRONIC DATA PROCESSING WITH THIS DEVICE TO PRODUCE A DIGITAL OUTPUT WAS URGED.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1967/189/189-008.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Paper sponsored by Committee on Pavement Condition Evaluation and presented at the 46th Annual Meeting. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Hudson, W Ronald
• Discussers:
  • Milliman, Paul
• Publication Date: 1967

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References;
• Pagination: pp 150-165
• Monograph Title: Design,Performance and Surface Properties of Pavement
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 189
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accuracy; Digital computers; Economic benefits; Information processing; Measuring instruments; Output; Pavements; Profilometers; Smoothness; Speed; Testing; Utilization
• Uncontrolled Terms: Digital techniques
• Old TRIS Terms: Pavement smoothness
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Pavements; Research;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00206609
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Nov 26 1994 12:00AM