| Abstract: | Road surface roughness is the excitation source for the dynamic response of a moving vehicle system. Driving comfort is indicated by either the driver absorbed power level or the vehicle vertical acceleration level. An autocorrelation function model for road roughness is proposed to specify the road surface random characteristics. Subsequently, the power spectral densities (PSDs) for both road roughness and vehicle response, the driver-absorbed power level, are formulated. A road quality index (RQI) in accordance with such energy considerations is defined to catalog the road grade. The laboratory test results show the applicability of the RQI method for road classification using the ISO criteria as a comparison check. |
