Vibration Effect Produced by Raised Pavement Markers on the Exit Ramp of an Expressway

Abstract

Driving over raised pavement markers (RPMs) spaced at different spacing, the human body will experience different vibrations. To explore whether RPMs situated at the exit ramp of an expressway induce a good vibration warning effect, this paper determines the spacing of RPMs situated along a deceleration lane and curved ramp. Models of roads, vehicles, and RPMs are first established in the ADAMS software, after which an integrated human-chair model constructed in SolidWorks is imported into ADAMS, and then the complete model is formed so that vibration simulations of different types of vehicle at different spacing and speeds can be carried out. The results show that the vibration warning effects of the spacing proposed by the existing Chinese specifications and this paper are basically between level III and level IV, the driver’s subjective feeling is between less comfortable and uncomfortable, and both induce a good vibration warning effect. For a linear deceleration lane, when considering traffic safety, a spacing of 3 m is recommended; when considering the economy, a spacing of 6 m is recommended. For a curved deceleration lane and curved ramp, according to the actual curve radius, the spacing of RPMs can refer to the spacing recommended in the paper. In addition, the vibration warning effect for cars and semi-trailer trucks initially increases with an increase in the speed; then, after reaching a certain peak speed, the effect decreases with an increase in the speed, and finally, it tends to become gentle at speeds exceeding 100 km/h. The vibration warning effect for a semi-trailer truck is better than that for a car under the same spacing and speed.

Document type: Article