This paper presents a criteria based procedure for identifying which areas of the highway network are adversely impacting on the ride and handling of trucks. The procedure has been developed to utilise data already held in road maintenance management systems and so standard measures of road condition and road geometry are employed. To assess the reliability of the procedure and the need for possible refinement, an on-road experimental programme involving trucks instrumented to measure in-cab body accelerations and rotations was undertaken. Driver and passenger opinions of ride quality were also recorded. This experimental programme confirmed that the procedure accurately locates road sections exhibiting poor ride quality and that the dynamic response of trucks correlates well with travel speed, lane roughness, and the standard deviation of road crossfall. In addition, cab body roll, particularly when combined with cab body pitch, was found to be of most concern to occupants of trucks. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E208431.
Abstract