Investigating the Relationship between Pavement Roughness and Heart-Rate Variability by Road Driving Test

Traffic safety and driving comfort are the key service performances of pavements, and they depend on the pavement roughness to a certain extent. In this study the relationship between pavement roughness and heart rate variability (HRV) of drivers were investigated based on road driving tests. A total of 12 road sections with international roughness index (IRI) ranging from 1.06 to 5.53 mm/m were selected. A KF2 electrocardiogram tester was used to determine the heart rate variability of driver and a three-direction vibration acceleration tester was also used for determining the vibration felt by the driver. Test results show that HRV parameters, such as RMSSD (square root of the mean squared difference of successive NN intervals) and HF (High Frequency components of HRV spectrum), changed obviously when the pavement roughness and travel speed of the vehicle changed. If the vehicle moves with a constant speed, high pavement roughness makes the RMSSD of the driver decrease. Moreover, if the vehicle moves on a road section with constant pavement roughness, the increase of speed makes the RMSSD of the driver decrease too. Decreasing RMSSD of the driver indicates that the functions of the vagus nerve reduce and the driver will feel uncomfortable accordingly. Test results also show that the vibration acceleration of the vehicle increases when the travel speed of vehicle or the pavement roughness increases, and it is obviously related to the RMSSD of the driver.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/conferences/2011/RSS/2/Zhang,J.pdf
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • 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
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

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• Authors:
  • Zhang, Jinxi
  • Du, Yanhua
  • Su, Ruiwei
• Conference:
  • 3rd International Conference on Road Safety and Simulation
  • Location: Indianapolis Indiana, United States
  • Date: 2011-9-14 to 2011-9-16
• Publication Date: 2011

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p
• Monograph Title: 3rd International Conference on Road Safety and Simulation

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Comfort; Driving simulators; Heart rate; Pavements; Roughness; Speed; Traffic safety; Vibration
• Identifier Terms: International Roughness Index
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01504248
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 24 2014 2:29PM