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PREDICTION OF SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE TO ROAD ROUGHNESS BY USE OF THE RAPID TRAVEL PROFILOMETER

THE MICHIGAN RAPID TRAVEL PROFILOMETER (RTP) IS USED TO MEASURE ROAD PROFILES AND NO INTERPOSITION OF VEHICLE BETWEEN SUBJECT AND ROAD ARE ACKNOWLEDGED IN THE STUDY CONDUCTED ON ROAD ROUGHNESS. THE POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIPS ARE EXAMINED BETWEEN ROAD PROFILE PER SE AND SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE OF THE DRIVER. TWO FIELD EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED. THE FIRST CONSISTED OF 96 OBSERVERS RATING 16 ROADS AND WAS DESIGNED TO: (1) EXAMINE DIFFERENCES AMONG TYPES OF CATEGORY RATING SCALES, (2) EXAMINE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUBJECTIVE RESPONSES UNDER NORMAL DRIVING CONDITIONS AND UNDER CONDITIONS OF RESTRICTED SIGHT AND SOUND, AND (3) EXAMINE THE AFFECTS ON SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE OF DIFFERENT PASSENGER CAR SIZES. THE SECOND TEST SERIES WAS DESIGNED TO CONTRAST THE SCALE PRODUCED BY MAGNITUDE ESTIMATION TECHNIQUES WITH THAT OF THE CATEGORY METHODS USED IN THE FIRST SERIES. WHEN MEASUREMENTS OF HUMAN SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE TO RIDE WERE MADE ON CATEGORY SCALES, VERY LITTLE DIFFERENCE WAS DETECTED BETWEEN CATEGORY SCALE TYPES, AUTOMOBILES, OR PERCEPTUAL CONDITIONS PRODUCED BY VARIOUS DEGREES OF SIGHT AND HEARING RESTRICTIONS. WHEN HUMAN SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE TO RIDE IS MEASURED BY MEANS OF CATEGORY RATING SCALES, THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE AND PROFILE PARAMETERS IS OF THE FORM (SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE) EQUAL LOG (PHYSICAL INPUT). PHYSICAL INPUT CAN BE MEASURED BY ROUGHOMETER ROUGHNESS OR THE AMPLITUDE VARIANCE DENSITY OF ANY OF THE COMMONLY USED PROFILE DERIVATIVES. WHEN HUMAN SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE TO RIDE IS MEASURED BY MEANS OF MAGNITUDE ESTIMATION METHODS (SUBJECTS REPORTING RIDE RATIOS), THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE AND ROUGHOMETER ROUGHNESS IS OF THE FORM (SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE) EQUALS (ROUGHNESS). THE EQUATIONS PREDICTING RIDE FROM PHYSICAL INPUT BY MEANS OF MAGNITUDE ESTIMATION SCALING ARE TO BE PREFERRED BECAUSE: (1) THEY GIVE RESULTS THAT ARE INDEPENDENT OF SUBJECTIVE DISAGREEMENT OR ERROR VARIANCE, (2) THEORETICAL FORMULATIONS ARE GENERALLY BASED ON VARIABLES MEASURED ON MAGNITUDE SCALES, AND (3) THERE IS REASON TO THINK THAT MAGNITUDE ESTIMATION PROCEDURES CAN BE ADMINISTERED WITHOUT ADAPTATION LEVEL PROBLEMS. PROFILE DERIVATIVES (SLOPES, ACCELERATION, JERKS) DO NOT APPEAR TO OFFER ANY ADVANTAGES PREDICTING SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE OVER THE PROFILE ITSELF. THE BEST CORRELATIONS OF SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE WITH PROFILE VARIANCE IS OBTAINED FOR THE PROFILE WAVE LENGTH REGION UNDER ABOUT 5 FEET. PREDICTION OF SUBJECTING RESPONSE WAS NOT SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED BY UTILIZING VEHICLE SPEED DATA AND A TIME-FREQUENCY ANALYSIS. GOOD RESULTS CAN BE OBTAINED FROM THE EXAMINATION OF THE ROAD PROFILE ALONE PROVIDED THE TEST VEHICLE SPEED RANGE IS NOT LARGE.

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  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Paper sponsored by Committee on Surface Properties--Vehicle Interaction and presented at the 48th 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:
    • Holbrook, L F
  • Publication Date: 1969

Media Info

  • Media Type: Print
  • Features: Figures; References;
  • Pagination: pp 212-226
  • Monograph Title: Design, evaluation, and performance of pavement systems
  • Serial:

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00207062
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: Mar 9 1970 12:00AM