Pavement roughness evaluation method based on the theoretical relationship between acceleration measured by smartphone and IRI

ABSTRACT

Smartphones have integrated various sensors (e.g. GPS, acceleration sensor) and can be used to evaluate roads roughness. In this study the theoretical algorithm, in which the vehicle suspension parameters were included, would be established to calculate International Roughness Index (IRI) from acceleration using smartphones. Firstly, based on Android Studio 2.0, a client application installed on smartphones was developed. Next, the physical parameters of a quarter actual vehicle model (QAVM) were identified utilizing the front wheel drop test in accordance with complex modal theory. Then, the relationships among acceleration, IRI and the profile elevation were established through the derivation of theoretical formula. Finally, a validation analysis was implemented to evaluate the feasibility and reliability of this methodology. The validation experimental results on three asphalt pavement segments indicated that the collected acceleration data utilizing smartphone were basically consistent with that by accelerometers. Meanwhile, IRI calculated by the proposed theoretical methodology was close to that obtained by digital survey vehicle (DSV) and the maximum relative error between them was below 10%. Overall, due to the consideration of vehicle dynamic characteristics, the proposed method could improve the measurement accuracy and enable various vehicles to be used for road roughness evaluation.

KEYWORDS:

• Road engineering
• pavement roughness
• smartphone application
• parameter identification
• International roughness index (IRI)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Provincial Communication Department [Grant No. 2018-9]. This support is gratefully acknowledged. The authors express their sincere appreciation to Shaanxi Transportation Construction Group for their support in accessing the roughness measurements. We confirm that the manuscript has been read and approved by all named authors and that there are no other persons who satisfied the criteria for authorship but are not listed. We further confirm that the order of authors listed in the manuscript has been approved by all of us.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Provincial Communication Department [grant number 2018-9], and sponsored by Shaanxi Provincial Communication Construction Group.