The field evaluation of pavement roughness in conjunction of the response-based compact roughness evaluation device

Abstract

The research objective was to evaluate and monitor the pavement roughness over a test track of the urban road in conjunction with the response-based compact roughness evaluation device (CRED) as well as the high-speed laser-based profilometer. The use of CRED starts by installing the device on the dashboard of the vehicle, powering on the device, ensuring the GPS connection, and engaging the recording of the vertical responses through the accelerometer. The research outcomes unveil that the average IRI and AARI of Northside were from 2.0 and 2.5 down to 2.0 and 2.0, respectively. On the other hand, the average of IRI and AARI of Southside were from 2.6 and 2.8 up to 4.2 and 3.4, respectively. The traffic wears and impacts may make the pavement surface smoother in Northside, while the construction of man/utility holes installed on the right wheel path might worsen the pavement roughness in Southside. It also shows that AARI is a capable but bargained device (less than USD 3,000) to monitor the pavement roughness. It is to recommend a longer span of the pavement roughness monitoring and a vehicle detector are required in the future project. Longer monitoring may disclose how the traffic flow to degrade the pavement surface and cause irregularities, while VD is able to provide quantitative data to assist the analysis of pavement roughness associated with traffic flow.