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Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations

 
SUMMARY REPORT
This summary report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information
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Publication Number:  FHWA-HRT-14-059    Date:  August 2014
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-14-059
Date: August 2014

 

The Exploratory Advanced Research Program

Use of Vehicle Noise for Roadways, Bridge, and Infrastructure Health Monitoring Workshop Summary Report August 20-21, 2013

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Notice

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document.

The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers' names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.

Quality Assurance Statement

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.

 

Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No.

FHWA-HRT-14-059

2. Government Accession No. 3 Recipient's Catalog No.
4. Title and Subtitle

Use of Vehicle Noise for Roadways, Bridge, and Infrastructure Health Monitoring Workshop Summary Report

5. Report Date

August 2014

6. Performing Organization Code
7. Author(s)

Mohammed Yousuf and Tom Morton

8. Performing Organization Report No.

 

9. Performing Organization Name and Address

Woodward Communications, Inc.
1420 N Street, NW, Suite 102
Washington, DC 20005

10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)

11. Contract or Grant No.

Contract DTF_H61-09-F-00027

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

Office of Corporate Research, Innovation Management, and Technology
Federal Highway Administration
6300 Georgetown Pike
McLean, VA 22101-2296

13. Type of Report and Period Covered

Workshop Summary Report, August 2013

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

HRTM-30

15. Supplementary Notes

FHWA's Contracting Officer's Task Manager (COTM): Zachary Ellis, HRTM-30
Technical Contact: Mohammed Yousuf, HRD0-04

16. Abstract

On August 20-21, 2013, at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, VA, the Federal Highway Administration's Exploratory Advanced Research Program convened a 2-day workshop entitled, "Use of Vehicle Noise for Roadways, Bridge, and Infrastructure Health Monitoring." The objectives of the workshop were to discuss the possibilities of using vehicle noise for roadways, bridge, and infrastructure health monitoring and to use a noise-based data collection system that could assess infrastructure for proactive and efficient infrastructure maintenance and operations, higher infrastructure safety, and less traffic congestion.

17. Key Words

vehicle noise, passenger vehicle, vehicle sensors, roadways, bridge, infrastructure, health monitoring, data collection, assessment, maintenance, safety, traffic congestion, technology, transportation, integration, analysis, damage, vibration, harshness, sensors

18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions. This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161.

19. Security Classification
(of this report)

Unclassified

20. Security Classification
(of this page)

Unclassified

21. No. of Pages

46

22. Price

N/A

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized

SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors

Table of Contents

Introduction

Panel Discussion

Day 1 Presentations

Day 2 Presentations

Facilitated Discussion

Appendix A: Agenda

Appendix B: Workshop Participants

List of Figures

Figure 1. The versatile onboard traffic-embedded roaming sensors (VOTERS) test van.
Figure 2. Longitudinal road profile.
Figure 3. The contactless impact-echo scanning system.
Figure 4. Effective presentation of impact-echo data with transparency.
Figure 5. Fully contactless scanning system.
Figure 6. Highway Performance Management System traffic data.
Figure 7. Data uses and analysis and processing proposed system.
Figure 8. Microphone placement.
Figure 9. 24-GHz millimeter-wave radar array.
Figure 10. Pavement debonding detection.
Figure 11. Metal characterization example.
Figure 12. Multiple sensor confirmation.
Figure 13. Pavement monitoring system visualization.
Figure 14. Three-dimensional optical bridge evaluation system.
Figure 15. Bridge deck three-dimensional model.
Figure 16. Spall analysis.
Figure 17. Bridge deck delamination by thermal infrared and chain drag.
Figure 18. The decision support software interface.

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

 

3D three-dimensional
4D four-dimensional
AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
ABS anti-lock braking system
DAS data acquisition system
DOT Department of Transportation
DSS decision support system
DTPS dynamic tire pressure sensor
DUAP data uses analysis and processing
EAR Exploratory Advanced Research
ESRI Economic and Social Research Institute
FHWA Federal Highway Administration
GIS geographic information system
GPR ground penetrating radar
GPS Global Positioning System
HPMS Highway Performance Monitoring System
IR infrared
IRI international roughness index
LIDAR light detection and ranging
LTBP Long-Term Bridge Performance
MASS mobile acoustic subsurface sensing
MDOT Michigan Department of Transportation
MTD mean texture depth
MWR millimeter-wave radar
NBI National Bridge Inventory
NDE nondestructive evaluation
NHS National Highway System
NVH noise, vibration, and harshness
PAVEMON pavement monitoring
PCA principal component analysis
PCI pavement condition index
RABIT™ Robot-Assisted Bridge Inspection Tool™
R&D research and development
RD&T research, development, and technology
TFHRC Turner–Fairbank Highway Research Center
VIDAS vehicle-based information and data acquisition system
VOO vehicles of opportunity
VOTERS versatile onboard traffic-embedded roaming sensors

Introduction

On August 20–21, 2013, at the Turner–Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) in McLean, VA, the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program convened a 2-day workshop entitled, "Use of Vehicle Noise for Roadways, Bridge, and Infrastructure Health Monitoring." The objectives of the workshop were to discuss the possibilities of using vehicle noise for roadways, bridge, and infrastructure health monitoring and to use a noise-based data collection system that could assess infrastructure for proactive and efficient infrastructure maintenance and operations, higher infrastructure safety, and less traffic congestion.

Michael Trentacoste, Associate Administrator for Research, Development, and Technology (RD&T) and Director of TFHRC, welcomed workshop participants. Trentacoste introduced the subject of the workshop and encouraged participants to think beyond the technology that is currently available for the transportation industry. He also asked participants to consider several themes during the workshop, including how to collect data in a cost-effective manner, how the data would be integrated for analysis, and if there are any technologies that are being applied in other fields that might be applicable for this discussion.

Joe Peters, Director of the Office of Operations Research and Development (R&D), then highlighted some of the current issues facing the industry. These issues include congestion, safety, and the inspiration for the workshop, reactive maintenance. Peters also emphasized the need for a delivery system to send informational messages from damaged infrastructure and encouraged participants to think beyond technologies that are available today.

Next, Cheryl Richter, Assistant Director for Pavements Research and Development of the Office of Infrastructure R&D, described her vision of a future in which the need for infrastructure damage alert systems would be eliminated by performing preventative maintenance at the appropriate time. This type of system would include technologies that assess infrastructure so that aging infrastructure could be addressed appropriately.

David Kuehn, EAR Program Manager, provided an overview of the EAR Program and described the focus areas for this discussion. Topics included connected highway vehicle systems, technology for assessing performance, and information sciences.

Mohammed Yousuf, who is with FHWA’s Office of Operations R&D, offered participants some perspective on how far technology has come in the past 100 years, specifically within the automotive industry. He also provided an overview of how much data are available today and explained the importance of asset management. Yousuf proposed using noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) as a metric to study roadways, bridges, and infrastructure by creating infrastructure-aware vehicles that act as mobile sensors and by leveraging emerging technologies and existing vehicle systems. Yousuf also noted that advanced data-processing methods need to be developed to interpret the data. He went on to provide several examples of using embedded microphones in vehicle systems, which included tire-pressure monitoring, wheel sensors, and infotainment systems. Yousuf explained that, after the noise data collection, using a series of sophisticated processing techniques could provide alerts for specified criteria for a given scenario or condition. In summary, Yousuf noted that potential impact of creating such a system could lead to new methods of asset-based data collection. In addition, with new forms of data available, gathered by using passenger vehicles as probe sensors, further discoveries could lead to other tools that would benefit the field, and supervisory site visits for asset management could be eliminated.

Shane Boone at the Office of Infrastructure R&D provided key background information on FHWA’s nondestructive evaluation (NDE) activities and the Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) program. He said a reliable NDE method that bridge owners have been using for the last 40 years to evaluate bridge delamination and debonding is chain drag.1 Boone explained that, although chain drag is inexpensive, it cannot be performed at highway speed; thus a lane must be closed, which causes congestion. Boone encouraged participants to consider how this type of measurement could be performed at highway speeds, what frequencies would be required, what properties of the materials could be evaluated, and how this process could be automated in the future.

1 For more information on chain drag, visit http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/shrp2/SHRP2_S2-R06A-RR-1.pdf

 

Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000
Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center | 6300 Georgetown Pike | McLean, VA | 22101