Evaluating road surface conditions using tire generated noise

Yubo Zhao; H. Felix Wu; J. Gregory McDaniel; Ming L. Wang

doi:10.1117/12.2012269

11 April 2013 Evaluating road surface conditions using tire generated noise

Yubo Zhao, H. Felix Wu, J. Gregory McDaniel, Ming L. Wang

Proceedings Volume 8694, Nondestructive Characterization for Composite Materials, Aerospace Engineering, Civil Infrastructure, and Homeland Security 2013; 869409 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2012269
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2013, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Classifications of road conditions are crucial because officials prioritize road maintenance decisions based on them. Pavement condition index (PCI) surveys are performed manually and used by many cities in the U.S. to evaluate road surface conditions. In this research, a more efficient method is used to detect road surface conditions. This method applies a probabilistic analysis to acoustic pressure data collected from a vehicle-mounted microphone. The data is collected while the driving and processed in real time. Acoustic pressure data contains information on road surface conditions because acoustic pressures change when the tire impacts different road surfaces. This change is audible to human ears, for example, a driver transitions from a normal road to a bridge. The acoustic pressure data used in this research was collected from roads with known PCI values that are used as a reference. To reveal the dominant common features and neglect trivial differences within a certain length of road, a probabilistic method is used to evaluate road surface conditions. This approach uses the Weibull probability density function (PDF) to evaluate road surface conditions. This distribution was chosen because it is closest to the actual PDF among other distributions such as the normal distribution and lognormal distribution. A key finding of this paper is that the Weibull PDF shows the largest change between roads with different PCI values. Another finding is that the Weibull pdf changes when the van hits road defects such as cracks and patches.

Citation Download Citation

Yubo Zhao, H. Felix Wu, J. Gregory McDaniel, and Ming L. Wang "Evaluating road surface conditions using tire generated noise", Proc. SPIE 8694, Nondestructive Characterization for Composite Materials, Aerospace Engineering, Civil Infrastructure, and Homeland Security 2013, 869409 (11 April 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2012269

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available