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Methods for Predicting Truck Speed Loss on Grades - Final Technical Report

File Language:
English


Details

  • Creators:
    Gillespie, Thomas D.
  • Corporate Creators:
    University of Michigan. Transportation Research Institute
  • Corporate Contributors:
    United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
  • Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Publication/ Report Number:
  • Resource Type:
    Tech Report
  • Right Statement:
    Public Domain
  • Geographical Coverage:
    United States
  • Edition:
    Final Report
  • Corporate Publisher:
    United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
  • Abstract:
    Truck speed loss on grades reduces highway capacity and increases the risk of accidents. The rational design of a truck climbing lane as a solution to this problem requires means for predicting truck speed changes on grades. Experimental measurements of the speed loss of trucks operating on highways were conducted at 20 sites throughout the country. These data were analyzed to compare performance to present guidelines for highway design embodied in the AASHTO Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets. The performance of the straight truck and tractor-trailer population is notably better than reflected in the AASHTO publication. Methods were developed for modeling the hill-climbing performance of the four major truck classes at the 12.5 and 50 percentile population level using empirically determined weight-to-power values. Speed-distance plots are provided for each class on constant grades, along with a simple computer program for calculating speed versus distance on arbitrary grades defined by the user. These speed-loss models are recommended as alternatives to the AASHTO standard for highways carrying primarily straight trucks and tractor-trailers. Trucks pulling trailers, and doubles and triples are the truck classes with lowest hill-climbing performance. For the limited data obtained, the AASHTO model appears to provide a reasonable performance prediction for the 12.5 percentile population. Methods for estimating performance at the 12.5 percentile level for mixed truck populations are presented. The need of a rationale for making design decisions with mixed truck populations is recognized, and suggested as a future research topic.
  • Format:
    PDF
  • Funding:
    DTFH61-83-C-00046
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:bd38e4c5112d53c895006d7b6df7051392cdef6b4393c375d7c34cb78d3c67e23d8093e1c8286607c4c5f1b21fa258ffa97be2982a432639d9a9cd45682a4677
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 3.42 MB ]
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