An overview of various new road profile quality evaluation criteria: part 1

Gagnon, Louis; Doré, Guy; Richard, Marc J. · 2014 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1080/10298436.2014.942814

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study addresses the limitations of the International Roughness Index (IRI) as a sole metric for road quality, which fails to capture specific impacts on vehicle efficiency, occupant health, and safety. Motivated by the significant costs associated with poor road surfaces—including increased fuel consumption, driver morbidity, and traffic incidents—the authors aim to establish precise links between specific road profile characteristics and these operational consequences. The research seeks to identify trends in how different wavelength components of road roughness affect these distinct impact categories. To achieve this, the researchers developed and validated a detailed multibody tractor-trailer model using the open-source software MBDyn. The model, representing a Freightliner Cascadia tractor and a Manac semitrailer with 331 degrees of freedom, was calibrated and validated against experimental coastdown tests conducted on degraded road surfaces. The study analyzed 54 real 1 km-long road profiles provided by Québec’s Ministry of Transport, which were filtered to isolate short (0.7–2.8 m), medium (2.8–11.3 m), and long (11.3–45.2 m) wavelengths, resulting in 270 total profiles. The virtual truck was simulated traveling at 100 km/h on these profiles. Impact assessments included energy dissipation calculations, human health evaluations based on ISO-2631-1 acceleration norms, and safety metrics derived from tire normal force thresholds. Additionally, 19 new profile rating indices were developed, including Health, Wear, and Safety indices based on a reference quarter-car simulation. The results identified clear relationships between specific profile wavelengths and their operational impacts. For the operating conditions tested, long wavelengths were found to have a strong effect on occupant health, likely due to low-frequency vibrations affecting the human body. Medium wavelengths significantly influenced safety, correlating with tire lift-off events that compromise vehicle control. Conversely, short to medium wavelengths had the most pronounced impact on energy consumption, increasing fuel usage through high-frequency suspension and tire dynamics. The study also demonstrated that the newly developed indices, particularly the Health and Safety indices, provided accurate predictions of profile impacts and showed strong correlations with the traditional IRI, though they offered more specific insights into distinct operational risks. The significance of this work lies in its provision of a more nuanced framework for evaluating road quality. By demonstrating that different wavelength ranges affect energy, health, and safety differently, the study suggests that relying solely on IRI may overlook critical performance factors. The proposed indices and the validated multibody model offer road agencies and engineers tools to better predict the specific consequences of road deterioration, potentially guiding more targeted maintenance strategies that optimize fuel efficiency, driver wellness, and traffic safety.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• road geometry