ANALYTICAL AID FOR EVALUATING HIGHWAY AND ROADSIDE GEOMETRICS

A MATHEMATICAL MODEL IS DESCRIBED THAT REPRESENTS THE DYNAMIC MOTIONS OF A MOTOR VEHICLE IN CONTACT WITH A VARIETY OF ROADWAY AND ROADSIDE GEOMETRIC DESIGN FEATURES INCLUDING FIXED OBSTACLES. THE MODEL HAS 15 DEGREES OF FREEDOM, AND ALL MAJOR NONLINEARITIES ARE INCLUDED IN THE MOTION EQUATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN PROGRAMMED FOR TIME-HISTORY SOLUTIONS ON A DIGITAL COMPUTER. THE TASK OF INTERPRETING THE EXTENSIVE OUTPUT INFORMATION FROM THE MODEL IS EASED BY A COMPUTER-GRAPHICS DISPLAY TECHNIQUE THAT PROCEDUES DETAILED PERSPECTIVE DRAWINGS OF THE VEHICLE AND TERRAIN AT SELECTED INTERVALS OF TIME DURING A SIMULATED MANEUVER. SAMPLE COMPARISONS ARE PRESENTED OF ANALYTICALLY PREDICTED VEHICLE RESPONSES AND FULL-SCALE TEST RESULTS. A DESCRIPTION OF THE VALIDATION APPROACH FOLLOWED IN THIS RESEARCH EFFORT IS INCLUDED. A SERIES OF SAMPLE APPLICATIONS IS DESCRIBED, AND THE CAPABILITIES OF THE MODEL TO AID IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF IMPROVED DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS FOR HIGHWAY AND ROADSIDE SAFETY ARE EMPHASIZED. /AUTHOR/

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    • Sponsored by Committee on Operational Effects of Geometrics. 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:
    • McHenry, Raymond R
    • DeLeys, Norman J
    • Eicher, John P
  • Publication Date: 1971

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; References;
  • Pagination: pp 36-46
  • Monograph Title: Highway Design Practices
  • Serial:

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00226211
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 0309019842
  • Report/Paper Numbers: HS-011 999
  • Files: TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: Mar 7 1972 12:00AM