Ride Quality Measurement and User Ratings: Results from Main Field Trials

Improved techniques for assessing ride quality have been developed by the authors that more closely simulate the responses of humans to whole-body vibration and vehicle ride dynamics across a broad range of vehicle classes. The new ride model aims to address some fundamental issues related to road unevenness measurements which frequently do not correlate well with subjective ratings of pavement rideability. Field trials were conducted to test the models on a total of twenty-one pavement sections covering a wide range of roughness levels. Nine vehicles were used in the main trials, two from each of four vehicle classes (motorcycles, cars, SUVs and trucks) and an extra car, and a further two cars were added from an earlier pilot trial. In total, ten test subjects were recruited with a range of driving backgrounds, each driving one of the test vehicles. The modelled ride responses were compared with measured ride vibration and user ride ratings, all were taken on the same pavement test sections. Portable vibration measuring equipment was used to record ride vibration comprising accelerometers and a data logger and incorporating GPS. Subjective ratings of ride vibration on each pavement section were obtained from test subjects during the conduct of tests.