An approach for the determination of optimal speed hump/table profiles by field tests and simulation stage

Abstract

The study presented here attempts to establish an approach for the selection of optimum speed hump/table profiles that were produced during simulation stage by taking into account different speed ranges. For this purpose, in-situ and simulation tests were carried out in which root-mean-square (rms) values were obtained. Field tests were performed on seven parabolic speed humps and one trapezoidal speed table within the boundary of Istanbul Technical University Ayazaga Campus Area. These tests were conducted twice with different loads. As in-situ tests focused on the measurement of the vertical acceleration when crossing the speed hump/table, rms values were recorded by means of an accelerometer, a data logger, a Testlab Network software and a computer. As for the numerical model in the simulation tests, a general purposed finite element simulation software Ls-dyna 3.1 version was used. Results from the field tests and the simulation were compared in order to calculate a correction factor for each vehicle speed range considered during the experiments. These correction factors have enabled the transfer of simulation results to real environment. Consequently, an approach has been established in terms of selecting the optimum speed hump/table profiles.