Modeling Road Roughness Through Vibration Analysis for Driving Quality and Extended Discussion on AI Potential

Driving quality is a concept that includes factors affecting the quality of a vehicle trip. Pavement damages, including roughness, has negative effects on travel comfort and driving quality. The vibration created in the car is one of the most important negative effects. In general, the main reasons for this type of vibration are: The mechanical structure of the vehicle and the surface roughness of the road. In short trips, the quality of driving is affected by safety and driving comfort indicators. While, in long-term trips, the threat to human health is also raised due to long-term vibration on the body. Therefore, it can be concluded that the evaluation of the driving quality and especially the impact of road surface roughness, which is responsible for the phenomenon of vibration, is a vital issue for pavement engineers. As the most common method of assessing road surface roughness, the IRI index is considered an essential element in the framework of this research due to its intrinsic relationship with the vehicle’s reaction. This study seeks to reconsider the IRI index according to the vibration created in the car during a trip. For this purpose, first, some pavement segments with certain roughness were defined. Then, with the help of ProVAL software, IRI values were calculated for them. After that, in the main part of the research, the defined pavement segments were made in the ADAMS software, and the vibration results were outputted when a passenger car passed over them. The results of the review and comparison of vibration data and IRI values showed that the IRI method contains an important problem: not fully covering the concept of passenger travel comfort and driving quality. Considering that the IRI index is an important and common factor in the decisions of pavement management systems around the world, this research confirms that this index needs important modifications to effectively include the concept of driving quality in roads’ maintenance and repair programs.