United States Department of Transportation
i
Evaluate methodology to determine localized roughness.
-
2016-03-01
[PDF-2.12 MB]
Details:
-
Creators:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Corporate Contributors:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
Publication/ Report Number:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
Corporate Publisher:
-
Abstract:The Texas Department of Transportation implements a smoothness specification based on inertial profile
measurements. This specification includes a localized roughness provision to locate defects on the final
surface based on measured surface profiles. To identify defects, the existing methodology uses the
deviations between the average of the left and right wheel path profiles, and its moving average as
determined using a 25-ft base length. Stations where the deviations exceed 150 mils in magnitude are
considered defect locations. While this methodology provides an objective approach for evaluating localized
roughness based on profile data, some districts have introduced an additional step to determine the need for
corrective work. Specifically, these districts have used a bump rating panel to select, from among the
defects identified using the existing procedure, those bumps and dips that will require correction based on
the panel’s opinion of the severity of the defects from a ride quality point of view. Clearly, a standard
methodology needs to be developed so that consistency in ride quality assurance testing can be maintained.
Otherwise, differences in results of quality assurance tests between projects within a district and between
districts can easily arise because of differences in road user perception of ride quality. Consequently, this
project examined the existing methodology for evaluating localized roughness to develop recommendations
for an improved methodology that engineers can use to objectively decide where corrective work is
necessary so as to maintain consistency in quality assurance testing of pavement smoothness.
-
Format:
-
Funding:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
