A STABLE, CONSISTENT, AND TRANSFERABLE ROUGHNESS SCALE FOR WORLDWIDE STANDARDIZATION

Since the AASHO Road Test there has been great interest in the measurement of road roughness for evaluation of serviceability as defined by Carey and Irick, and, perhaps more broadly and importantly, for evaluation of road roughness as it affects vehicle operating costs and road maintenance, particularly in developing countries. In this paper work done in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Bolivia, Nigeria, Panama, and elsewhere with respect to the selection of a uniform method for calibrating road roughness devices is reviewed. Because most roughness measurements are made with response-type roughness measuring instruments, there needs to be a calibration technique for such instruments that can be easily used by any country. It is essential that the method be based on characteristics of the road surface and not on characteristics of any individual vehicle or measuring velocity of the response-type roughness meter. A specific calculation algorithm is also needed. A calibration technique is recommended that is based on a true profile of the roadway surface analyzed with wavebound analysis to determine root-mean-square vertical acceleration for several applicable waveband statistics that are combined to produce the calibration factor. The development of the methodology is presented.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1984/997/997-006.pdf
• Summary URL:
  https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=A+STABLE%2C+CONSISTENT%2C+AND+TRANSFERABLE+ROUGHNESS+SCALE+FOR+WORLDWIDE+STANDARDIZATION&author=C.+Queiroz&author=W.+Hudson&author=A.+Visser&author=B.+Butler&publication_year=1984
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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. Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Monitoring, Evaluation, and Data Storage.
• Authors:
  • Queiroz, Cesar A V
  • Hudson, W Ronald
  • Visser, Alex T
  • Butler Jr, Bertell C
• Publication Date: 1984

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 46-55
• Monograph Title: Pavement management activities
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 997
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Algorithms; Calibration; Developing countries; Highway maintenance; Motor vehicles; Operating costs; Pavement performance; Ratios; Roughness; Standardization
• Old TRIS Terms: Pavement serviceability ratings; Scale (Ratio)
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Pavements; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00450700
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309038065
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Feb 28 1986 12:00AM