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22nd ARRB Conference – Research into Practice, Canberra Australia, 2006

DEVELOPMENT OF HATI – HEAVY ARTICULATED

TRUCK INDEX
Rayya Hassan, ARRB Group Ltd, Australia
Kerry McManus, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Ian Cossens, VicRoads, Australia

ABSTRACT
This paper describes the development of a profile-based ride measure, denoted Heavy
Articulated Truck Index (HATI) to highlight road sections providing a poor ride to occupants of
heavy articulated trucks. The paper also describes the validation of HATI and the assessment of
its effectiveness in highlighting poor sections in different regions in comparison with other ride
measures. The study results showed that, for the sections tested, HATI is better than the other
measures in highlighting sections with characteristics that excite vertical, lateral, longitudinal
and rotational responses of an articulated heavy vehicle body.

Sections with HATI values greater than the threshold have high contents of long wavelength
roughness (5-20 m) that are typically found in expansive soil areas. These surface irregularities
are responsible for the vertical and longitudinal vibrations resulting from exciting body bounce
and pitch vibration modes of the vehicle body. Most of these sections are also associated with
either high roughness variation between the two wheel paths or high variation in transverse
crossfall, which are responsible for inducing translational and rotational lateral vibrations.
These findings help asset managers better understand the characteristics of pavement surface
roughness and road geometry elements that affect a truck driver’s perception of pavement
rideability and identify candidate sections for improvements.

INTRODUCTION
Road surface irregularities with different wavelengths and amplitudes excite different vibration
modes of the truck body at different levels. These modes result in vertical motion due to
excitation of body bounce, axle hop and pitch modes. They also result in translational
longitudinal (fore/aft) motion due to excitation of body pitch and frame bending and rotational
motion due to pitch. These modes occur at frequencies between 1.5 and 10 Hz. At normal
highway speeds (100 km/h), these modes can be excited by roughness wavelengths in the
range 2.75-18.5 m. The wavelength (inverse of wavenumber, length per cycle) equals the
speed (length per second) divided by the frequency (cycles per second).

Another vibration mode that affects truck ride is body roll, which occurs at frequencies below 1
Hz and results in translational sideways and rotational motion. This mode is excited by the
effects of crossfall variation and the differences in the longitudinal profile properties of the two
wheelpaths in terms of waviness pattern and amplitudes.

These motions affect the comfort of heavy vehicle occupants and their perceptions of ride since
the most effective excitation frequency of the human body for vertical vibration lies between 4
and 10 Hz and 0.5-2 Hz for longitudinal and lateral vibrations (ISO-2631-1, 1997) with higher
sensitivity to the first. Jamison and Cenek (2003) and Hassan (2003) have shown that heavy
vehicle occupants object to vertical, lateral and longitudinal translational and rotational
accelerations (body roll and pitch motions), while travelling at highway speeds on major freight
routes in New Zealand (NZ) and Australia respectively.

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The results of recent surveys of whole body vibrations (WBV) exposure levels experienced by
Australian heavy vehicle drivers indicate that the measured WBV exceed the ISO (1997)
comfort and perception thresholds (0.315 and 0.01 m/s2 respectively (Sweatman and McFarlane
2000; Hassan 2003). In both studies the weighted vertical and fore and aft vibrations
dominated. This implies that an ideal truck ride roughness index should be capable of capturing
all/most of these motions. Hassan (2003) noted that the highest vertical vibrations occurred in
the range 1-4 Hz. This implies that roughness measures that characterise vertical vibrations in
this frequency range could also be reasonable indicators of truck ride.

Most State Road Authorities (SRAs) in Australia and New Zealand (NZ) use the International
Roughness Index (IRI) as a measure to trigger pavement rehabilitation programs. The current
intervention level for rural arterials (which are major routes for heavy transport) ranges between
3.5 m/km and 4.0 m/km IRI. However, for many years transport operators have complained
about the rideability of road sections with IRI values lower than the intervention level. The IRI
represents the vertical response of a quarter car model (QCM) to the measured road surface
profile. However, frequency response characteristics of cars and trucks in road-vehicle
interaction are different. The differences arise from factors related to the suspension system
and structural differences. Truck ride is mainly sensitive to excitations of the low frequency body
vibration modes (induced by long wavelength roughness) whereas QCM/IRI is more sensitive to
excitations of the high frequency modes (induced by short wavelength roughness)
(Papagiannakis and Gujarathi, 1995; Austroads, 2000).

To address this problem, Australasian SRAs sponsored a number of research projects to identify
road surface and geometry characteristics that affect heavy vehicle ride and develop measures
that highlight candidate sections for improvement. Accordingly a number of measures were
proposed. They are the Truck Ride Index (TRI) reported in Austroads (2000), the Truck
Rotational Response (TRR) and TR-Index reported by Jamison and Cenek (2003) and the
Profile Index for Trucks (PIt) by Hassan (2003),

This paper describes the development of another ride measure denoted Heavy Articulated Truck
Index (HATI), which addresses the objective of detecting sections with different characteristics
that affect how the occupants of heavy articulated trucks perceive pavement rideability and
reduce their comfort. Heavy articulated trucks are responsible for 80% of the Australian road
freight transport task (BTRE 2003). The research project for developing HATI was sponsored
by VicRoads, the road authority of Victoria/Australia.

In the following sections, a review of available ride measures is provided first followed by a
description of how HATI was developed and validated together with an assessment of its
applicability to other regions. The paper also describes an assessment of the contributions of
road characteristics other than surface roughness to the deteriorated ride and the effectiveness
of HATI in highlighting sections with characteristics (longitudinal profile and geometry) that affect
the ride of heavy articulated vehicles.

REVIEW OF AVAILABLE RIDE MEASURES

This section provides descriptions of the available heavy vehicle ride measures and the
development of HATI.

Truck Ride Index (TRI)

The truck ride index (TRI) is a profile-based roughness index that represents the vertical
vibrations experienced by heavy vehicle occupants due to vehicle body excitation caused by
road surface roughness. The TRI model proposed in Austroads (2000) is shown in Figure 1. It
consists of a quarter truck model with parameters that correspond to the front suspension
properties of a typical truck combined with a driver and seat model.

The predicted vertical acceleration response of the combined truck/seat/driver system to road
profile is weighted using established human vibration tolerance curves to take into account the

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sensitivity of the human body to the vertical vibrations in the frequency range 4-8 Hz. Figure 2
shows the response transfer function of the proposed truck ride model compared to the IRI as a
function of spatial frequency. The TRI shows high sensitivity at low frequencies within a band
centred on wavenumber 0.085 cycles/m (wavelength 11.2 m) with more contribution from the
longer wavelengths (lower wavenumbers/frequencies). The IRI filter, however, amplifies the
input profile (gain >1) at spatial frequencies between 0.045 and 0.57 cycles/m (wavelengths
1.75-22.2 m) with higher gains at higher frequencies.

The proposed scale for TRI provides approximate indications of the likely driver reactions to
various magnitudes of frequency weighted vertical rms accelerations (Austroads, 2000). The
scale values and corresponding reactions are similar to those proposed in ISO2631-1 (1997) for
overall vibration total values (whole body vibrations, WBV) in public transport. Acceleration
levels (TRI values) > 0.5 m/s2 correspond to a fairly uncomfortable ride.

Truck Rotational Response

The Truck Rotational Response (TRR) is a truck ride measure proposed by Jamison and Cenek
(2003) to identify road sections that provide unpleasant ride to truck drivers in New Zealand
(NZ). This index is a measure of the truck’s pitch and roll rotational responses. The combined
rotational responses were found to correlate well with drivers’ subjective ratings of ride quality.
The threshold for the resultant pitch and roll rotational response (denoted TR-Index) is 4.25
deg/s i.e. sections that result in a combined rotational response greater than the threshold are
considered candidates for truck ride improvement programs.

In developing this measure a selection criteria approach was used utilising road condition and
road geometry data. The resulting criteria included road roughness represented by the IRI and
geometry variables. These variables and their threshold values are listed below in order of
decreasing significance.
• Criteria 1, Lane IRI∗√Speed >18
• Criteria 2, Standard Deviation of Crossfall∗√Speed (m/s) >5
• Criteria 3, Speed (m/s) >18

The threshold values for the different parameters of the TRR were established using the
articulated truck rotational response model detailed in Equation 1 (Jamison and Cenek, 2002).
The resultant Pitch/Roll (deg/s) i.e. the TR-Index is the resultant magnitude of the standard
deviations of measured pitch and roll angular velocities.

TR-Index = (0.102∗R + 0.026∗SC) V0.5 + 1.355 (1)

where, V = speed (m/s),
R = lane IRI roughness (m/km),
SC = standard deviation of crossfall (%),
r2 = 0.60,
standard error = 0.32,
model error = + 0.64deg/s
Criteria 1 to 3 are referred to as the TRR criteria and were found to be the most critical in
identifying state highway sections displaying poor truck ride. In an attempt to validate the TRR
criteria and TR-Index, roll and pitch rotational responses were measured in a relatively new
tractor-trailer combination unit while traversing a state highway section with varying roughness
levels and geometric elements. Jamison and Cenek (2003) reported that TRR criteria
successfully located the majority of sections identified by the driver as causing uncomfortable
ride. TRR criteria had a 70% strike rate in locating road sections causing a rotational response
(TR-Index) of 4.25 deg/s or greater. These results indicate that unpleasant truck ride sensations
are experienced whenever a high level of roughness is combined with rapid changes in crossfall
caused by road geometry or localised road surface irregularities. In other words TR-Index and

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TRR criteria capture both vertical vibrations, represented by IRI, and rotational vibrations,
represented by the effect of transverse slope variation in addition to the effect of speed.

The Profile Index for Trucks (PIt)

The Profile index for Trucks (PIt) is another profile-based roughness index and serves to
represent heavy vehicle driver’s perception of pavement rideability (Hassan 2003; Hassan and
McManus 2003). The development of PIt involved correlating truck drivers’ subjective
assessment of pavement rideability (represented by Mean Panel ratings, MPR) to surface
roughness characteristics, represented by the amount of roughness in different wavebands of
the roughness spectrum. The rating scale used in the subjective assessment survey ranged
between 0 for extremely poor to 5 for perfect. A rating between 0 and 1 corresponds to a very
poor ride, 1-2 poor ride, 2-3 fair ride, 3-4 good ride and 4-5 for a very good ride. Roughness
content in the band 4.88-19.51 m (wavenumbers 0.0513-0.2051 cycles/m) was found to
correlate best with drivers’ ratings of pavement rideability. The PIt (Equation 2) is defined as the
Root Mean Square (RMS) average of RMS values of the Power Spectral Density (PSD)
functions of profile slope calculated in the outer (PItOT) and inner (PItIN) wheel paths in this
waveband. Figure 2 shows the transfer functions of the TRI and IRI with the PIt filter
superimposed (dashed line) on them. The figure shows that all three indices cover the same
low frequency roughness band but with different weightings.

2 2
PI t OT + PI t IN
PI t = (2)
2

An exponential statistical transform was developed between PIt and MPR called the Truck Ride
Number (TRN) with a coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.89. The TRN transform can predict
the perceived pavement ride quality with an accuracy of <+ 0.3 of a scale interval at 95%
confidence level for the majority of the sections considered in the study. A scale of PIt and the
corresponding TRN values was developed. The TRN values and the corresponding perception
are similar to the rating scale used in the subjective assessment survey i.e. a TRN values
between 2 and 3 correspond to a fair ride. The threshold value for PIt was set to 2 m/km, which
results in TRN < 2.5 i.e. on the boundary between acceptable (fair) and unacceptable (poor)
ride.

Most of Victoria’s rural highway network comprises thin granular flexible pavements founded on
expansive subgrade soils with different reactivity levels and lie in different climatic regions.
Hence the test sections (27 sections, 200-1000 m long, IRI range 1.11-4.24 m/km, each was
rated by 10-15 drivers) used in the study for developing the PIt were selected to cover a wide
range of soil reactivity/climate combinations. They have straight and flat alignments and are
situated in 100 km/h speed zones. The test vehicles were tractor-semi-trailer combination units
with different properties (suspension system, cabin configuration, age, etc.). The effects of
vehicle properties were tested and found to be not significant for most except for cabin
configuration (Hassan, 2003). However, considering that the drivers who travelled in these
conditions comprise the majority of the sample makes the PIt valid for the worst cases of
vehicles considered in the study. This implies that the PIt is applicable for these conditions and
needs to be validated for other soil/climatic conditions, truck configurations and roughness
levels.

WBV transmitted to the driver through the seat were measured while traversing the test
sections. The correlation between WBV and PIt was found to be very good (r=0.72) considering
that there are other sources of excitation of the vehicle body. WBV values > 0.7 m/s2 were
measured on most sections with PIt >2 m/km (Hassan, 2003), which correspond to a fairly
uncomfortable ride (ISO-2631-1, 1997). In the frequency bands of maximum sensitivity, namely
4-10 Hz for vertical and 1-2 Hz for transverse vibrations, the perception threshold lies at
approximately 0.01 m/s2 and at 0.315 m/s2 for comfort (ISO-2631-1 1997). The highest
weighted rms accelerations occurred in the vertical axis with a minimum value of 0.45 m/s2,
which implies that the level of vibrations measured on all test sections would influence the
perception of the drivers and their comfort.

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When travelling at highway speed (100 km/h), the wavelengths within the PIt band can excite
the low frequency body modes of heavy vehicle in the range of 1.42-5.7 Hz. In this frequency
range, modes such as body bounce and pitch could be excited, which result in vertical and
fore/aft motions. However, the drivers also complained about sideways motion while traversing
the test sections with PIt > threshold. The correlation coefficient between PIt and sideways
weighted accelerations was found to be 0.74. Excitation of this motion could be related to the
effects of crossfall variation and/or the differences in the properties of the longitudinal profile of
the two tracks in terms of waviness pattern, length and amplitude. The fact that PIt explains 89%
of the variation in MPR and correlates well with measured WBV indicates that it is capturing the
dominant vibration modes induced by road surface characteristics.

The TRI and IRI values of the test sections were also determined and found to correlate very
well with PIt with correlation coefficients of (r=0.97) and (r=0.88) respectively. The TRI was
found to explain 87% of the variation in MPR compared to 76% variation explained by the IRI
(Hassan 2003). This clearly indicates that truck drivers are more sensitive to excitations caused
by low frequency (long wavelength) roughness.

Development of HATI
As mentioned in the pervious section, calculating the PIt for a section requires performing PSD
analysis, which involves performing Fast Fourier Transform Function (FFT) on the profile data of
that section. The number of sampled points that can be used by the FFT is a power of two. The
number of points must be N=2 to the power of I, where I is an integer from 1 to 12 (LABTEC,
2001) i.e. a total of 4100 sample points. This limitation makes PIt calculation using PSD
analysis unfeasible for managing pavements at network level since the profile data is stored in
an average length of 15 km, equivalent to approximately 400,000 sample points at 0.0401m
sample interval. Accordingly, attempts were made to develop another index using an analysis
method other than PSD. The resulting index has to:
• Correlate well with PIt and MPR
• Be a distance-domain index i.e. can be reported for different lengths of road segments.
The reporting interval for road roughness adopted by Australasian road authorities is 100
m.

Using RoadRuf shareware (RoadRuf, 1998) a number of indices were tested using the data set
(27 sections) employed in PIt development. These indices were correlated to MPR and PIt to
identify the best. These indices were calculated by filtering the profile data through a number of
4-pole band pass Butterworth filters with different upper and lower wavelengths (including PIt
waveband) and a quarter car filter with different parameters. A butterworth filter is defined by
the two wavelengths where the filter gain is 0.707. The index that resulted in the best
correlation with MPR and PIt is obtained using the Quarter Truck Filter (QTF). The QTF is the
quarter car filter used for calculating the IRI but with parameters (see figure 1) similar to those of
the quarter truck model of TRI. The resulting index is called Heavy Articulated Truck Index
(HATI) since PIt was developed using articulated vehicles only. HATI is calculated by
accumulating heavy vehicle’s body vertical response to road input. It also captures the effects of
the lower frequency rotational modes such as pitch due to its sensitivity to the long roughness
wavelengths.

The correlation coefficient between PIt and HATI is 0.99. HATI is calculated by processing the
longitudinal profile of a road surface through the QTM. HATI can be calculated utilising the
same software used for calculating the IRI, which makes it a more viable option than the TRI,
which requires specialised software. The frequency response for HATI is shown in Figure 3
compared to the TRI and PIt. It was determined by excluding the effect of the driver/seat model
of the TRI.

HATI values for the sections used in developing the PIt were determined using RoadRuf
shareware then used in developing an exponential statistical transform denoted Truck Ride
Number with a subscript of HATI (TRNHATI) to predict drivers’ ratings from the profile index HATI.

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The transform has the form shown in Equation 3 and can predict MPR with an accuracy of <
+0.3 at 95% confidence. HATI explains 90% of the variation in MPR.

0.92
TRN HATI = 5e −255 HATI (3)

HATI values and the corresponding MPR values shown in Figure 4 were employed to develop a
scale for HATI (Table 1) similar to that of PIt. The threshold for HATI between acceptable and
unacceptable ride is 1.7 m/km, which results in a TRNHATI < 2.5. However, Figure 4 indicates
that MPR starts to drop to 2.5 at HATI of 1.7 m/km (at the boundary between fair and good) and
above this value MPR fluctuates a bit then drops after a HATI value of 2.2 m/km (at the
boundary between fair and poor) to well below 2.5. The scale values apply to articulated heavy
vehicles travelling on state highways at 100 km/h. Hassan (2003) reported that PIt is applicable
at normal highway speeds (60-100 km/h). Hence HATI will be also applicable, however its
values at different speeds are different and a scale, similar to that of the IRI, should be
developed for different heavy vehicle operating speeds.

Table 1: HATI and TRNHATI scale

HATI, m/km Perception TRNHATI Scale

< 0.5 Very Good 4-5
0.5 – 1.20 Good 3-4
1.20 - 2.20 Fair 2-3
2.20 – 4.0 Poor 1-2
> 4.0 Very Poor 0-1

Discussion on HATI and PIt

PIt is a measure for drivers’ perceptions of pavement rideability and captures all types of
vibrations induced by surface roughness characteristic. It is a measure of longitudinal profile
variation (waviness) that induces vertical and fore aft vibrations due to excitation of body bounce
and pitch modes. However, while traversing most sections with a PIt greater than the threshold
value, the rating panel complained of sideways vibrations, which are excited by body roll motion.
This vibration mode is induced by the variation in roughness between the two wheelpaths and
variation in crossfall. These features are expected for the test sections considering that they are
all in expansive areas and are subject to profile distortion. Further, they have typical rural type
cross-sections with shoulders and table drains, which make the outer wheel path subject to
higher roughness variations since it is closer to the area of seasonal moisture variation.

The sections used in developing PIt had flat and straight alignments as the main aim of that
study was to identify surface roughness characteristics that affect truck drivers’ perception of
pavement rideability. Further, crossfall data were not readily available at the time the study was
undertaken. However, roughness variation between the two wheel paths was assessed using
the standard deviation of the difference in IRI between the paths. IRI values were calculated for
every 10 m sections in the outer and inner wheel paths then the standard deviations of their
differences (STDdiff) were calculated over 100 m segments. It was found that most sections
with PIt > threshold are associated with STDdiff > 1.5.

HATI on the other hand represents the vertical response of a QTM to the measured road
surface profile in the frequency range that affects the comfort of heavy vehicle occupants. This
means that, like PIt, HATI is effective in highlighting sections with high contents of long
wavelength roughness responsible for exciting body bounce and pitch motions, which are the
most dominant on Australian roads.

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A summary of the characteristics and data requirements of the five indices is provided in Table
2. An interesting comparison of the threshold values can be made for four out of the five
roughness indices, namely, HATI, IRI, PIt and TRR- NZ (using roughness data only). From table
2, it can be found that the threshold values at 100 km/hr (speed limit on most long haul roads)
are:
• HATI – 1.7 m/km
• IRI – 3.5 m/km
• PIt – 2.00 m/km
• TRR-NZ – (IRI value to satisfy criterion 1 = 3.42 m/km)

This suggests that HATI flags road roughness to which trucks are sensitive at a lower threshold,
thus inviting early intervention in the maintenance cycle.

ASSESSING VALIDITY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF HATI

Two data sets were used to address the objectives of the study. The first set includes sections
from state highways in rural Victoria that were reported by truck drivers as having some parts
providing poor rideability. The other set includes sections from a rural state highway in NZ
identified by a driver of a heavy articulated (prime-mover semi-trailer combination) vehicle as
providing unpleasant ride. The study objectives and the approaches adopted in addressing
them are highlighted below:
1. Validating HATI and assessing its applicability to other regions by establishing whether
the candidate sections from the two data sets are associated with HATI values greater
than the threshold (1.7 m/km) or not.
2. Assessing the effectiveness of other ride measures including TRR, TR-Index and IRI in
highlighting candidate sections involved comparing the number of sections that could be
highlighted by the different measures. The assessment also involved determining how
many of these candidate sections are associated with HATI values > threshold to assess
the correlation between the different measures and HATI, which represents truck drivers’
perception of pavement rideability. TRI was excluded from the comparison considering
its high correlation with HATI (0.98).
3. Identifying the characteristics of sections associated with HATI values > threshold that
may contribute to the deteriorated ride. Such characteristics include variations in crossfall
and roughness between the two wheel paths, curvature and longitudinal gradient.

The following sections provide detailed description of the two data sets, the analysis of the data
and a summary of the findings.

Description of the data sets

VicRoads (VR) data

Nine sections were considered in this study ranging in length between 1 and 5 km (a total of 209
100 m-segments). All these sections are located in expansive soil areas but with different
reactivity levels and lie within a climatic region that is prone to having soil movement problems.
The data set included raw Multi-Laser Profiler (MLP) data for these sections. TRR and TR-Index
values for VicRoads sections could not be determined as their geometry data including crossfall
were not available.

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Table 2 Summary of characteristics and data requirements for the four truck ride
measures

Roughness Measure Threshold- poor Data required Results Software

Index ride, units

IRI Accumulated > 3.5 m/km Longitudinal Results can RoadRuf or

(mean absolute) surface profile be reported any available
Speed of normal
vertical response data, IRI in 100m software for
use= 100 km/hr
of a QCM to the model sections calculating IRI
measured road
surface profile in
the frequency
range that affects
the comfort of
passenger car
occupants

TRI Weighted rms > 0.5 m/s2 Longitudinal Results can ARRB-TR
vertical surface profile be reported software
accelerations data, TRI in 100m
transmitted to the model sections
driver

PIt Truck driver’s > 2.00 m/km Longitudinal Using Requires a

perception of surface profile RoadRuf, computer
Pavement data, PSD need to cut program to
serviceability analysis of the profile calculate PIt at
represented by profile slope into 100m 100m intervals
RMS profile sections
variation in the and then
waveband 4.88- perform
19.51 m PSD
analysis

TRR-NZ Resultant of Lane IRI∗√Speed Longitudinal Results can Requires

truck’s pitch and >18 surface profile be reported simple
roll rotational data /Lane IRI, in 100 m computer
Standard
response speed and sections program to
Deviation of
crossfall data identify
Crossfall∗√Speed
(reported in sections with
>5
10m- these
Speed >18 segments) parameters
exceeding
IRI m/km, Speed
their threshold
m/s, Crossfall %
values

HATI Accumulated > 1.7 m/km for a Longitudinal Results can RoadRuf or
(RMS) vertical speed of 100 surface profile be reported any available
response of a km/hr data, HATI in 100m software for
QTM to the model sections calculating IRI
measured road
surface profile in
the frequency
range that affects
the comfort of
heavy vehicle
occupants

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NZ data
Transit NZ contributed to this project by providing the data that was used to validate the TRR for
a tractor-trailer combination unit. The data included geometry and longitudinal profile data for a
350 km section of a state highway along the east coast of the south island (Canterbury and
Marlborough regions) where mainly sediments (non-expansive) make up the subgrade soil. The
data also included the locations of the sections that were identified by the driver as providing
unpleasant ride, which resulted in a total of 7 sections (both direction) ranging in length between
1 and 12 km (a total of 282 100 m-segments). Geometry data included longitudinal grade and
curvature for 100m-segments and crossfall data were reported at 10m intervals.

Data analysis and findings

For each data set, HATI, IRI, TRR, TR-Index and STDdiff values were calculated for every 100
m segments. The crossfall data were used to calculate the standard deviation of crossfall
(STDCF) for 100 m-segments. The recorded travelling speed on the poor sections in NZ (90
km/h) was used for calculating TRR three criteria.

Careful examination of the two data sets indicated the following:

• 30% (62 sections out of 209) of Vicroads 100 m-sections have HATI values > 1.7 m/km.
50% of these sections are associated with STDdiff > 1.5 (Figure 5).
• 26% (73 out of 282) of NZ sections have HATI values > 1.7m/km. Assessment of the
geometric characteristics of these sections showed that 60% are located in areas with
high variation in crossfall (Figure 6) and curvature and high gradient. The remaining 40%
of these sections have no geometry problems. These sections provide poor ride to heavy
vehicles due to vertical vibrations caused by long and medium wavelength roughness
caused by subgrade soil subsidence, settlement or poor longitudinal alignment. Seventy
(70) % of all these sections have STDdiff >1.5 (Figure 6).
• HATI highlights much more of the candidate sections than TRR criteria.
• For the NZ data set, 48 sections (out of 282) satisfy TRR criteria, 37 with HATI>1.7
(STDCF>1, 41% of them have STDCF>2), the remaining 11 sections are located on
curves and 8 have high standard deviation of crossfall >2 (TRR criterion 2 >10).
Eight sections only have a calculated TR-index >4.25 deg/s and satisfy TRR
criteria.
• Not all the sections that satisfy TRR criteria have TR-Index > threshold and at the
same time not all sections with TR-Index>threshold meet TRR criteria. These
results coincide with those reported by Jamison and Cenek (2003).
• For both data sets the majority of sections with HATI values greater than the threshold
have IRI values > 3 m/km and a great proportion of them have IRI > 3.5 m/km (Figure 7).

Assessing suitability of IRI

An IRI value > 3 m/km was found to have a 65% success rate in highlighting sections with HATI
> 1.7 m/km. However, no specific criterion was established or observed to signify these
sections, which makes further investigations essential to establish the cause of ride
deterioration i.e. whether it is short or long wavelength roughness. The latter is hard to
determine without conducting waveband analysis since IRI is responsive at high and low
frequencies with higher responsiveness to the first (Figure 2).

Results from a study in Sweden (Granlund et al, 2000) relating whole body vibration (WBV) to
surface roughness confirmed this threshold value of 3 m/km for IRI. Their study indicated that a
roughness level of IRI > 3 mm/m (m/km) results in ‘uncomfortable’ ride in trucks (new and old) at
75 km/h and in a high-speed ambulance. The Swedish study also showed that the excitation of
WBV in road vehicles riding rough roads is largely caused by crossfall variation and long
wavelength roughness. Power Spectral Densities (PSD) of the vibration series showed that high

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levels of vibration energy occur at low frequencies, excited from road roughness with long
wavelengths (Granlund et al. 2000). However, combining IRI with crossfall variation in TRR
criteria did not prove to be as effective as HATI in highlighting sections with poor ride.

Assessing contributions of geometric characteristics and

roughness variation
Road surface roughness and geometry characteristics that may contribute to the deteriorated
ride include roughness variation within and between the two wheel paths, curvature, super-
elevation, crossfall and gradient. Roughness variations within and between the two wheel paths
of a section have two effects. Longitudinal elevation variations along the wheel paths of a
section present vertical excitation (body bounce and pitch) input to the vehicle body and can be
represented by the standard deviation of average roughness (STDave) of the two wheel paths.
The rotational roll and pitch input to the vehicle body could be represented by the standard
deviation of crossfall (STDCF) and the standard deviation of the difference in roughness
between the two wheel paths (STDdiff).

Using NZ data set, IRI values were calculated for every 10 m section in the outer and inner
wheel paths then the standard deviation of their averages (STDave) and differences (STDdiff)
were calculated over 100 m segments. The STDCF for each 100 m section was calculated in
the same manner. Considering wheelbase dimensions of prime mover semi-trailer combination
units, 4 m (6.2 m max) for the prime mover to about 10 m for trailer (12.5 m max), variations
over 10 m-segments were considered to be suitable. The other variables including crossfall (CF
%), curvature (inverse of horizontal curve radius, m-1) and longitudinal gradient (Grade %) were
combined with the other corresponding variables to develop the regression models.

Multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate how these variables relate to drivers’
perceptions represented by TRNHATI and to assess their contributions. The values of TRNHATI
were calculated using HATI as the predictor by applying the model shown in equation 3. Table 3
presents the best model for NZ data set.

The results in Table 3 indicate that the contributions of curvature and absolute values of
crossfall and longitudinal gradient are not significant (at 95% confidence level) and were
excluded from the model. The variable STDave is the most significant contributor (high partial r)
followed by STDdiff then STDCF. This model explains about 69% of the variation in TRNHATI (r2
= 0.69). The contributions of the different variables can be assessed by squaring the relevant
(partial r) value. They are; STDAVE = 42%, STDdiff = 15% and STDCF = 4%.

Table 3 Best multiple regression model for NZ data set

Unstandardized Standardized
Variables coefficients coefficients Sig. Correlations
Zero-
B Std. Error Beta order Partial Part
(Constant) 3.986 .050 .000
STDAVE -.667 .048 -.587 .000 -.785 -.644 -.470
STDDIFF -.286 .040 -.295 .000 -.660 -.392 -.238
STDCF -.047 .014 -.116 .001 -.286 -.199 -.113

These results indicate that in addition to longitudinal elevation variation, crossfall variation is an
important parameter in assessing pavement rideability as perceived by truck drivers. The
variables STDave, STDdiff and STDCF were plotted against the predicted TRNHATI values to
identify the threshold values for these parameters that result in TRNHATI values < 2.5. It was
found that for STDave (Figure 8) and STDdiff, the threshold value is 1.5. For STDCF values

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22nd ARRB Conference – Research into Practice, Canberra Australia, 2006

the results showed that 60% of the sections with TRNHATI < 2.5 have STDCF > 1.5 and 50% of
them have STDCF > 2, hence the threshold value was set to 1.5.

SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION OF ANALYSIS RESULTS

The findings of data analyses are summarised below:
• HATI proved effective in highlighting most of the sections identified by heavy articulated
vehicle drivers as providing poor ride quality in expansive soil areas of Victoria.
• HATI is applicable to other regions, soils and climatic conditions. It proved to be effective
in highlighting sections that are rough to heavy vehicle drivers. These sections are
located along the coast of the Canterbury region in NZ where mainly non-expansive
sediments make up the soil.
• TRR criteria correlate well with HATI for NZ data. However it highlights less candidate
sections than HATI. The good correlation between the two measures could be attributed
to the fact that most sections with HATI > 1.7 m/km were found to have high STDCF and
STDdiff (both>1.5) responsible for inducing the rotational response.
• TR-Index is not effective in highlighting sections with poor ride and has poor correlation
with HATI, TRR criteria and IRI.
• HATI is more effective than IRI in highlighting candidate sections in Victoria. This is
mainly due to its sensitivity to long wavelength roughness, which is a characteristic of
pavements built on expansive soils. These roughness wavelengths are responsible for
exciting low frequency vertical, longitudinal and rotational vibration motions to which the
human body is most sensitive. Long roughness wavelengths are usually associated with
high variations in elevation, hence result in high vertical accelerations. WBVs measured
on most sections with HATI/PIt values >threshold were greater than 0.7m/s2, which
corresponds to a fairly uncomfortable ride. Further the results of multiple regression
analysis for NZ data confirmed that the vertical excitation input attributed to the variation
in roughness within the two wheel paths has the highest contribution to the deteriorated
perceived ride.
• Most sections with HATI > 1.7 m/km are associated with high roughness variation
(STDdiff > 1.5) between the two wheelpaths (both data sets) combined with high crossfall
variation (STDCF >1.5) for some sections (NZ data). These characteristics are
responsible for inducing rotational motions due to excitation of body roll and pitch.
• Road geometry and roughness variations within and between the two wheelpaths have
serious implications on how truck drivers perceive pavement rideability. Roughness
variation variables were found to have the highest contributions and there is some
contribution from crossfall variation. NZ model indicates that drivers’ ratings of pavement
rideability increase (better ride) with decreased roughness variation and STDCF. The
same variables were identified in the NZ study (Jamison and Cenek, 2003) as the main
parameters for highlighting rough sections with almost the same order of significance.

In summary, provided below is a list of the characteristics of which sections with poor rideability
could have one or more. Also included in the list are the measures that best capture the effects
of the different characteristics:
• High contents of short wavelength roughness (< 3 m long) such as corrugations, potholes
and localised depressions result in vertical motion due to excitation of the axle hop mode.
IRI would accurately indicate these sections. However studies have shown that new
vehicle design (suspension systems including seat and cabin suspensions) alleviates the
vertical vibrations resulting from excitations by these deformations. This indicates that
sections with high IRI and low HATI would provide poor ride to vehicles with poor
suspension system design.
• High content of long wavelength roughness (3-20 m) caused by ground heave or
settlement or poor alignment excite the low frequency vibration modes (body and trailer
bounce and pitch and structural bending) of the truck body resulting in vertical,

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22nd ARRB Conference – Research into Practice, Canberra Australia, 2006

longitudinal and rotational vibrations. HATI would be the best indicator for such sections
due to its high sensitivity at low frequencies. An IRI > 3 m/km would have a 65% success
rate in identifying these sections however, further investigations would be essential to
establish the cause of roughness whether it be long or short wavelength roughness. The
effects of long wavelength roughness on ride could not be eliminated by vehicle design
but by road works, which would involve special treatments to control moisture migration
and soil movement.
• Variation in transverse crossfall or in roughness between the two wheel paths induces
rotational vibrations due to excitations of body roll and pitch modes. Relatively high
gradient and crossfall or adverse crossfall exacerbate the effects of these characteristics.
The best indicator for these characteristics is the STDdiff, which was found to explain
more of the variation in TRNHATI than STDCF. A threshold value of 1.5 was set for both
measures above which the perceived ride starts to deteriorate.

The findings of this study are applicable to heavy articulated trucks, in particular, prime-mover
semi-trailer combination units. However, the methodology is transferable and could be applied
to other freight transport vehicles but the results need to be validated using subjective
assessment surveys.

CONCLUSIONS
HATI proved to be more effective than IRI in highlighting sections with characteristics that affect
heavy articulated vehicle ride quality in Victoria. This is mainly due to its sensitivity to low
frequency roughness in the longitudinal profile responsible for inducing vertical and longitudinal
vibrations in the driver’s cabin. In addition to that, most sections with HATI > threshold are
associated with high variation in roughness between the two wheel paths.

HATI also proved to be applicable to other regions, soil type and climatic conditions. For NZ
data, HATI also proved more effective than IRI, TRR criteria and TR-Index and 60% of the
sections with HATI > 1.7 m/km were found to be associated with high variation in roughness
between the two wheel paths and/or high crossfall variation, which are responsible for inducing
lateral, longitudinal and rotational vibrations.

Considering the findings, it was recommended to Vicroads to use HATI as the measure to
highlight sections providing poor ride quality to the freight industry. It was also recommended to
use the variable related to roughness variation (STDdiff) as a diagnosis tool to establish other
causes for the degraded ride and adopt the most effective remedial measures in addition to
highlighting other candidate sections.

IMPLEMENTATION
Vicroads decided to adopt HATI and will use it in 2007/2008 to trigger projects under the
pavement rehabilitation subprogram ‘Improving roughness for the freight industry’. Until the
HATI data becomes available, VicRoads adopted an interim measure is being used to identify
these sections. The criteria used are the difference in IRI between the wheelpaths with an
average lane roughness of 3 m/km on sections with travel speeds > 90 km/h. These criteria
were found to have an 80% correlation with HATI.

Using the VicRoads data set (209 100 m segments) described herein, an assessment can be
made to identify the number of sections that can be triggered for rehabilitation using HATI or IRI.
In this assessment two HATI threshold values were considered. They include 1.7 m/km, which
corresponds to a fair to poor ride (TRNHATI < 2.5) and 2.2 m/km, which corresponds to a poor
ride (TRNHATI close to 2). The intervention level of IRI for pavement rehabilitation is 4 m/km.
• 18 sections with IRI > 4.2 m/km and all have HATI >2.2 m/km
• 62 sections with HATI > 1.7 m/km and 28 sections with HATI > 2.2 m/km

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22nd ARRB Conference – Research into Practice, Canberra Australia, 2006

These results indicate that HATI > 1.7 m/km triggers over double the number of sections
triggered by HATI > 2.2 m/km and about three and a half times the number of sections triggered
by IRI. HATI > 2.2 m/km triggers about one and a half times the number of sections triggered
by IRI.

REFERENCES
Austroads, 2000, A Road Profile Based Truck Ride Index (TRI), AP-R177/00, Austroads,
Sydney, Australia

BTRE, 2003, Working Paper 60: An Overview of the Australian Road Freight Transport Industry,
Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics, Canberra, Australia.

Granlund, J.,Ahlin, K., and Lundström, R. (2000), Whole Body Vibration When Riding on Rough
Roads, Vagverket Publication 2000:31E, Sweden.

Hassan, R., 2003, Assessment of Road Roughness Effects on Heavy Vehicles on State
Highways in Victoria/Australia, PhD thesis, Swinburne University of Technology,
Melbourne/Australia.

Hassan, R. and McManus K., 2003, ‘Assessment of the Interaction between Road Roughness
and Heavy Vehicles’ Transportation Research Record, Vol. 2, No. 1819, pp 236-243.

International Standard ISO 2631-1,1997, Mechanical vibration and shock Evaluation of human
exposure to whole body vibration, Part 1 General Requirements, 2nd edition, International
Organization for Standardisation.

Jamison, N.J. and Cenek, P., 2002, Validation of a Proposed Truck Rotational Response Model,
Central Laboratories Report 02-529706.00, Opus International Consultants Limited, New
Zealand.

Jamison, N.J. and Cenek, P., 2003, Application of Procedures Used to Identify Poor Truck Ride:
State Highway 1 (Picton to Christchurch), Central Laboratories Report 03-529712.00, Opus
International Consultants Limited, New Zealand.

Papagiannakis A.T. and Gujarathi M.S., 1995 ‘Roughness Model Describing Heavy Vehicle-
Pavement Interaction’, Transportation Research Record 1501, pp. 50-59.

RoadRuf (1998), http://Umtri.umich.edu/erd/roughness/rr.html, viewed January 2004.

Sweatman, P., McFarlane, S., 2000, Investigation into the Specification of Heavy Trucks and
Consequent Effects on Truck Dynamics and Drivers: Final Report, Federal Office of Road
Safety, Australia.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The project for developing HATI was sponsored by Vicroads, the road authority of Victoria. The
author would like to thank all the staff from Vicroads Road System Management and Information
services who supported the project by providing direction, input or data. The authors would also
like to express their gratitude to Mark Owen and Chris Parkman from Transit New Zealand,
Peter Cenek from Opus International Ltd., Steven Karamihas from the University of Michigan /
USA, Eduardo Alcazar from Geopave for their support and contributions to this project.

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22nd ARRB Conference – Research into Practice, Canberra Australia, 2006

BIOGRAPHIES
Rayya Hassan, Senior Research Engineer, ARRB Group, is a member of the asset
management research group contributing to the development of tools and applications to
support road asset managers in managing their networks. Rayya holds a PhD in Civil
Engineering and a MEng in Construction Management from Swinburne University of Technology
(SUT). She obtained her BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Baghdad and started
her career as a traffic engineer with the Municipality of Baghdad. Before joining ARRB in 2005,
she worked for seven years as an academic at SUT responsible for teaching undergraduate civil
engineering courses and conducting research on the interaction between road surface
roughness and heavy vehicles.

Dr. Kerry McManus is an Associate Professor in Civil Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering
and Industrial Sciences at Swinburne University of Technology. His research interests include
the performance of civil infrastructure systems including pavements and pipeline systems. He
has published over a hundred journal and conference papers in related topics. He is a past
Victorian State Chairman of Engineers, Australia. He is on the board of the Centre of Pavement
Engineering Education. He has served in the Army Reserve reaching the rank of Brigadier. He
was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1991.

Ian Cossens is a Civil Engineer who has worked at VicRoads for over 30 years. His career has
involved Bridge Design and Construction, Pavement Design and Rehabilitation Design, Major
Project Construction on the Hume Freeway, Metropolitan Regional projects, Surfacing Specialist
in GeoPave and his current position is Pavement Management Systems Engineer in the
VicRoads core business of Road System Management. While a surfacing specialist he has
contributed to many Austroads projects including many GeoPave Technical Notes and
Austroads/AAPA Worktips and was chairman of the team that produced the Guide to the
Selection of Road Surfacings. In his current position he is responsible for reviewing pavement
rehabilitation and periodic treatment bids and for assisting in the development of yearly
guidelines for targeting projects.

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22nd ARRB Conference – Research into Practice, Canberra Australia, 2006

FIGURES

msd= effective mass of seat and driver= 0.067

ks= seat suspension stiffness= 8.26 s-2
-1
cs= seat suspension damping= 0.7 s
Ms= sprung mass= 1
-2
K2= suspension stiffness= 250 s
-1
Cs= suspension damping= 30 s
µ= unsprung mass= 0.150
K1= tyre stiffness= 400 s-2
b= tyre enveloping (base length) = 300mm
V= travel speed= 100 km/hr (rural),
= 60km/hr (urban)

Figure 1: TRI model (Austroads 2000)

[RETURN TO TEXT]

Figure 2:Transfer functions of TRI and IRI in the spatial frequency domain (speed of
100km/hr) (Austroads 2000) compared to the PIt filter (dashed line)
[RETURN TO TEXT]

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22nd ARRB Conference – Research into Practice, Canberra Australia, 2006

seat/driver

1.6 TRI
HATI
1.4
PIt
1.2
Gain 1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0.1 1 10 100
Frequency, Hz

Figure 3: Transfer function of HATI compared to TRI and PIt

[RETURN TO TEXT]

VG
4

G
3
MPR

F
2

P
1
VP
0

HATI, m/km

Figure 4: MPR and corresponding HATI values and scale categories

[RETURN TO TEXT]

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22nd ARRB Conference – Research into Practice, Canberra Australia, 2006

5.00

4.50

4.00

3.50

3.00
STDdiff

2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50

0.00
69
79
81

84
87

91
96
04
19
20
30
40
57
60
64
74
83

89
17

72
26
1.
1.
1.
1.
1.

1.
1.

2.
2.

2.
2.
2.
2.
2.
2.
2.
2.
2.
3.
3.
4.
HATI

Figure 5: STDdiff of VicRoads sections with HATI values > 1.7m/km

[RETURN TO TEXT]

7.0
6.5 STDCF
6.0 STDdiff
5.5
5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
1.71

1.72
1.74

1.74
1.75
1.78

1.80

1.87
1.91

1.93
1.99

2.03
2.06
2.12

2.16
2.22

2.29
2.30

2.39

2.43

2.54
2.73

3.10

HATI

Figure 6: STDCF and STDdiff for NZ sections with HATI greater than threshold
[RETURN TO TEXT]

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22nd ARRB Conference – Research into Practice, Canberra Australia, 2006

6.50

6.00

5.50

5.00

4.50
IRI

4.00

3.50

3.00

2.50

2.00
66

69

73

75

79

82

87

91

99
04

10

19

23

30

40

53

62

75

89
72
1.

1.

1.

1.

1.

1.

1.

1.

1.

2.

2.

2.

2.

2.

2.

2.

2.

2.

2.

3.
HATI

Figure 7: IRI values for sections with HATI greater than threshold (both data sets)
[RETURN TO TEXT]

3.5

3.0

2.5
STDave

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0
0.99

1.98

2.35

2.49

2.56

2.63

2.72

2.83

2.93

2.99

3.05

3.14

3.2

3.3

3.35

3.4

3.46

3.53

3.62

Predicted TRNHATI

Figure 8: STDave vs predicted TRNHATI (NZ data)

[RETURN TO TEXT]

© ARRB Group Ltd and Authors 2006 18