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Cover of Practical Application of an Alternative Roughness Profile Validation Technique (Prem Method)
Practical Application of an Alternative Roughness Profile Validation Technique (Prem Method)
  • Publication no: AP-T284-14
  • ISBN: 978-1-925037-95-1
  • Published: 8 December 2014

The main objective of this study was to assess the profiler gain validation technique as an alternative method for validating laser profilers that measure road roughness. The study sought to identify a suitable reference profiler against which other profilers are assessed. A series of field tests were undertaken to address the main objective of this study, where the Walking Profiler (WP) was used as the reference device as a comparison to Laser Profilers A and B in measuring IRI roughness over five test sites with varying roughness and texture. These field tests did not conclusively confirm the profiler gain validation technique. The field test suggests that the profiler gain validation technique should be conducted under a standard test speed for the profiler which can be maintained and allows repeatable tracking of the profiler to minimise variation in the auto-spectral density plots.

  • 1. Introduction
    • 1.1. Background
    • 1.2. Aims of the Study
  • 2. Profiler Validation: Theory and Background
    • 2.1. Traditional Method of Profiler Validation
    • 2.2. Profiler Gain Technique: Theory and Background
    • 2.3. Auto-spectral Density of a Road Profile
      • 2.3.1. Assessment of Gain Characteristics of a Profiler
  • 3. Field Test for Profiler Validation
    • 3.1. Test Requirements
    • 3.2. Selected Test Sites
    • 3.3. Field Work
    • 3.4. Data Processing and Analysis
      • 3.4.1. Roughness Analyses
      • 3.4.2. Profile Gain Validation Technique (Prem Method)
  • 4. Review of Field Test Results
    • 4.1. Power Spectral Density (PSD) Plots
      • 4.1.1. Walking Profiler
      • 4.1.2. Laser Profiler A
      • 4.1.3. Laser Profiler B
      • 4.1.4. Influence of Laser Profiler Test Speed
    • 4.2. Profile Gain Analysis
      • 4.2.1. Gain for Laser Profiler A
      • 4.2.2. Gain for Laser Profiler B
    • 4.3. Discussion on Profile Gain Analysis
      • 4.3.1. Laser Profiler Gain
      • 4.3.2. Walking Profiler (WP)
    • 4.4. Summary of Results
  • 5. Conclusions
    • 5.1. General
    • 5.2. Further Work
  • References
  • Appendix A Power Spectral Density (PSD) Analysis Plots
  • A.1 PSD Analysis
  • A.1.1 Walking Profiler
  • A.1.2 Laser Profiler A
  • A.1.3 Laser Profiler B
  • Appendix B Profiler Gain Characteristics
  • B.1 Profiler Gain Analysis
  • B.1.1 Gain for Laser Profiler A
  • B.1.2 Gain for Profiler B